House of Annie

The Chocolate Haupia Pie recipe comes in two parts: a crust containing macadamia nuts, and the haupia filling.

Haupia Pie Crust Recipe

from the “Hilo Haupia Squares” recipe by Sam Choy

Ingredients

1/2 cup macadamia nuts (roasted, unsalted)
1 cup cold butter
2 cups flour
1/4 cup light brown sugar

Method

1. Heat oven to 350*F.

2. Pulse nuts in food processor till coarsely chopped.

3. Cut butter into pat-sized pieces.

4. Add butter, flour, and sugar to processor.

5. Pulse till butter is fully incorporated; it will just look like a dry, crumbly mixture.

6. Dump it into a 9x13 baking dish, and press with your hands to cover the bottom and about an inch or so up the sides of the pan.

7. Bake 15 minutes, till golden brown.

While the crust is baking, you can start making the haupia pudding for the filling.

Haupia Pie Filling Recipe

adapted from “Maika’i Favorites” by way of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin

Ingredients

10 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
2, 10-ounce cans of coconut milk (we like the Mae Ploy brand)
1-1/2 cups milk
1-1/2 cups sugar
3/8 cup cornstarch
1-1/2 cups water

Method

1. Whisk coconut milk, milk, and sugar together in a small saucepan. In a separate bowl, whisk the cornstarch and water to make a slurry. Bring the coconut milk mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Slowly pour in the cornstarch slurry, whisking until thickened.

2. Microwave the chocolate pieces in a glass bowl on high for 1 minute. Stir to melt completely.

3. Separate half the haupia mixture into another bowl. Add the melted chocolate into the bowl of haupia.

4. Mix the chocolate and haupia together until well incorporated.

5. Pour the chocolate haupia mixture into the baked pie crust and spread it evenly over the bottom.

6. Pour the remaining haupia onto the top of the chocolate layer.

7. Chill in the refrigerator at least 1 hour to set. Garnish with shaved chocolate and whipped cream.

I do hope you get to try out this chocolate haupia pie recipe. It’s really very easy to make, and the results are well worth it.

Aloha, Nate

Ultimate Hawaiian Backyard Lu’au Recipes

Kalua Pig with Cabbage Recipe

Lomi Lomi Salmon Recipe

Ahi Limu Poke Recipe

Huli Chicken Recipe

When Annie and I got married in Hawaii, one of my groomsmen made kalua pig for the big banquet after the wedding. Real kalua pig, cooked in an imu in his backyard the night before the wedding. Instead of coming to my bachelor party, the guy stayed up late to tend to the pig. That was a special wedding meal!

We don't have a pit in our backyard in San Jose but we still like to enjoy Hawaiian-style kalua pig and cabbage every now and then. For our Ultimate Hawaiian Backyard Lu’au, we made our kalua pig the night before. We shredded the pork and reserved the juices from the bag too cook the cabbage on the day of the lu’au.

Recipe for Kalua Pig with Cabbage

Ingredients

1, 5lb pork shoulder
2 Tbsp Hawaiian sea salt
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
4 cloves garlic, peeled
3 slices ginger
2 tsp liquid smoke
2 heads cabbage (or more), chopped

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 325*F.
2. Place the pork shoulder in an oven roasting bag.
3. Add all the ingredients to the bag and massage it in to the shoulder.

4. Seal the bag and place it in a roasting pan. Cut a few holes in the top of the roasting bag to allow steam to escape.
5. Pour some water into the pan until it comes about halfway up the sides of the pan.
6. Insert a remote probe thermometer through one of the holes in the bag and into the center of the pork shoulder. Set the target temperature for 195*F.
7. Place the pan in the oven and roast until the shoulder reaches the target temperature.
8. Remove the pan from the oven and allow the pork to cool.
9. Remove the pork from the oven bag, but reserve the juices from the bag in a stock pot. Refrigerate the stock.

10. Shred the pork shoulder using a couple of forks. The pork should shred fairly easily, but you can also chop up some of the tougher chunks.

11. The next day, you will find that the fat from the pork juices has risen to the top of the juices and congealed. You can now easily remove all the fat.

12. Bring about half of the reserved juices to a simmer in a large pot or saucepan. Add half the chopped cabbage and cook the cabbage down until softened, then add half the shredded pork.

13. Mix well until the pork has been heated through. Empty the kalua pig and cabbage into a serving tray and cook the remaining stock, cabbage and pork.

Enjoy!

Aloha, Nate

Hungry for more Hawaiian food? Click below:

Lomi Lomi Salmon Recipe

Ahi Limu Poke Recipe

Huli Chicken Recipe

Chocolate Haupia Pie Recipe

Mochi Ice Cream from Bubbies (Honolulu)

Bad Ass Coffee Company is located on the ground floor of the Tropicana City Mall, a newer mall in the SS22 area of Petaling Jaya. We showed up there around 4 PM on Friday afternoon. We couldn’t see too many patrons there at the time – just a table of young guys enjoying the free WiFi, and another couple sitting on tables outside the establishment.

Bad Ass Coffee Company, Tropicana City, Kuala Lumpur

One thing we noticed right away was that they were playing Hawaiian music over their sound system. Not the hapa-haole, steel guitar, touristy muzak, but good, contemporary Hawaiian music by artists like Keali’i Reichel, Makaha Sons, and Amy Hanaiali’i Gilliom. Wow, I haven’t heard real Hawaiian music played at a restaurant since the last time we were in Hawai’i! Nice touch.

There were other touches of Hawaii evident in the ambiance of the restaurant, like the surfboard above the counter and the staff clad in Hawaiian print shirts greeting us with a hearty, “Aloha!”

Bad Ass Coffee Company Surfboard Sign

Still, this is a lone coffee shop in a mall that also boasts a Starbuck’s. What would make anyone want to come and have a cuppa joe here? Two words: Kona Coffee.

Coffee connoisseurs know that Kona coffee – coffee grown on the Kona side of the Big Island of Hawaii, is among the best tasting coffee in the world. Bad Ass Coffee Company sells two kinds of coffee, a “Kona blend” which contains only 10% beans from Kona mixed with other beans from Columbia and Brazil, and 100% Kona coffee. 100% Kona coffee is expensive, but after you’ve tasted it, you will understand why this coffee is so prized around the world.

Bad Ass Coffee Company Coffee Menu

Besides your standard coffee preparations, they also have special flavored coffee concoctions that you can get either hot, iced, or blended. For non-coffee drinkers, they have fruit smoothies that are blended with milk, or “Hawaiian Ice” which is basically a fruit smoothie without the milk. (I was a bit disappointed to hear that, because I would have expected something more like a Hawaiian shaved ice.)

There’s a glass case to the side of the counter that contains various sweet desserts and pastries. Annie’s cousin wanted us to try their macadamia nut cream pie, which is a small pastry tart containing chopped macadamia nuts, and topped with a toasted meringue (but interestingly, no cream!). I opted for the passion fruit mousse. The mousse was delightfully tart, but a little dried out from sitting too long in the case.

Passion Fruit Mousse, Macadamia Nut Cream Pie from Bad Ass Coffee Company

What was also interesting about this place was they had a kitchen that was serving hot entrees like “Hawaiian Pizza”, “Tom Yummy Spaghetti”, and “Lamb Pita Bread”. You don’t find many coffee shops with such an ambitious and varied menu. At least, not in Hawaii.

Bad Ass Coffee Company Hot Food Menu

Daniel was enjoying the music, but he wanted to know if they could play the song “Ala Moana Annie” by Amy Hanaiali’i Gilliom over their system. I went up to the counter to ask, but the staff there said they didn’t know how to access the songs – the songs were played from the owner’s iPod plugged into their sound system. Then Annie’s cousin pointed out that the owner was actually sitting at another table there just outside the doors of the restaurant.

I went over to the table and asked if they had that song, explaining that I was from Hawaii, my wife’s name is Annie, and my son really likes this song. The owner said that he didn’t know if he had that song in his playlist. I thanked him and returned to our table.

A little later, the owner came over to talk to us. It turns out that he used to live in Hawaii, and graduated from the same alma mater – Hawaii Pacific University - as me and Annie’s cousin! He said that I was the first Hawaiian to visit his restaurant, so he wanted to meet me.

He also had one of his servers bring over a slice of cheesecake and a humongous sugar-coated donut, on the house. The kids devoured the donut while Annie and her cousin shared the cheesecake, which they liked. I thought that the cheesecake would have been better with some actual coffee grounds mixed in.

Bad Ass Coffee Company Cheesecake

The owner said that he had really fallen in love with Hawaii, and wanted to bring back a little something from Hawaii to Malaysia, especially the laid-back, aloha spirit. This coffee shop is the first Bad Ass Coffee Company to open in Southeast Asia and it’s been open for only two months. He has plans in the future to expand to other areas of Malaysia, and other SEA countries as well, but first he wants to spend time building up this flagship store and building a reputation for good, quality coffee as well as good customer service.

The hot foods menu, he admits, is a work in progress. He has a chef developing recipes for the menu, but it’s tough to balance the desire for authentic Hawaiian dishes with the Malaysian palate. (To be honest, I really didn’t think the menu was very Hawaiian. Maybe he could try selling a Spam musubi, using Turkey Spam?)

As for the drinks, the kids loved their mango smoothie. My “Jitter Juice” blended coffee drink gave me heart palpitations after drinking about 1/3 of the cup. And Annie’s cappuccino ended up as a latte after some confusion and miscommunication with the counter staff.

Bad Ass Coffee Company Latte

The restaurant’s location in a far corner of the mall, next to the San Francisco Steakhouse, is out of the way for regular mall traffic except on Saturdays. But he hopes that business will pick up when the new office tower opens up, and people begin finding out that there is good, Kona coffee being served here. I wish him well.

Aloha, Nate

Hungry for more Hawaiian food? Click below:

Ultimate Backyard Lu’au

Mochi Ice Cream from Bubbies (Honolulu)

Waiola Shave Ice: the Best Shave Ice in Hawaii

Secrets to Making Spam Musubi

We got our salmon from (who else?) our favorite fish monger, Pat from Mission Fresh Fish. He’s the same guy who supplied us with the ahi for the Ahi Limu Poke, all the seafood for our Cioppino Hot Pot meal, and the salmon bones for our Wild Salmon Cakes. We bought the salmon on Thursday at the San Carlos Farmer’s Market . That night, I skinned the fillets, pulled out the pin bones, and salted them with some Hawaiian sea salt before putting them in the fridge.

Salting the Salmon Fillets for Lomi Lomi Salmon

On Friday night, I took the salmon fillets out of the fridge and rinsed off the salt, then patted the fillets dry. Annie cut the fillets into 1/2 inch-wide strips, then diced the salmon up. The diced salmon went back into the fridge.

Dicing Salmon for Lomi Lomi Salmon

We had purchased over 10 pounds of Roma tomatoes at the San Carlos Farmer’s Market. Since we didn’t want to carry the box around while we shopped the rest of the market, we left the box with the vendor. There must have been a mixup, because when we came home, we found our box full of less-than-ripe globe tomatoes!

Since this was early June, these tomatoes didn’t have nearly the flavor of the Romas, let alone fully ripened heirloom tomatoes from our own garden. But what could we do? I cut each tomato in half and seeded them.

Halved and Seeded Tomatoes for Lomi Lomi Salmon

The Tomato Dicing Expert

Now began the arduous task of dicing up the tomatoes. I am not as skilled with the knife as Annie is. I was cutting each halved tomato into slices, then strips and finally dice. I wasn’t getting very far when Annie came up.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to dice the tomatoes.”

“You call this a dice?” She held up an irregularly shaped piece of tomato.

“Well, how can I dice this tomato so it looks uniform?”

“Why don’t you slice the tomato in half, then make strips one way and then cut perpendicular to make the dice?”

“I’m doing that but the stupid knife isn’t sharp enough and the tomato keeps slipping.”

“Oh, so it’s the knife that’s stupid, huh?”

“Well, uh…”

“Look, don’t use a sawing motion. Let the knife do the work for you. Just lay the point of the knife on the board, and cut the tomato with the back of the knife using a rocking motion.”

“A rocking motion? How…?”

“MOVE!” (slice, chop chop chop chop, chop chop chop chop) “There, see? Was that so hard? Hand me another one.”

Before I knew it, she had diced all the tomatoes as well as a red onion. She handed me back the knife so I could chop up some green onion. “By the way, a-you’re welcome!”

Diced Tomatoes and Red Onion for Lomi Lomi Salmon

(Note: I have taken creative license with the previous story. The real Annie is nothing like a “Nick Burns of the kitchen”. Love you, honey!)

After adding the chopped green onions to the tomatoes and red onions, I poured the whole pile into a large aluminum tray, then added the diced salmon. Here’s where the “lomi lomi” massage technique comes in. With both hands, I gently mixed the ingredients together until everything was well distributed. As a final touch, I squeezed some lemon juice onto the lomi lomi salmon to brighten up the flavors.

Lomi lomi salmon needs to be served chilled, so I put some ice in another aluminum tray, and put the salmon-filled tray on top of the ice.

Tray of Lomi Lomi Salmon

The lomi lomi salmon was a very popular dish at our lu’au. The saltiness of the salmon was tempered by the sweetness of the tomato. The red onion’s crunch and bite stood out against the salmon and tomatoes’ softness.

Lomi Lomi Salmon

Back in Hawai’i, the lomi lomi salmon served at lu’aus often was more tomato than salmon, and those tomatoes were usually hard and mealy. Our lomi salmon was better because it had a higher ratio of salmon to tomato. The best lomi lomi salmon recipe, though, would be if we used some of Annie’s own homegrown heirloom tomatoes instead of under-ripe globes.

Down with soulless tomatoes!

Aloha, Nate

If you like this post, please subscribe to our blog to receive all our latest posts to your RSS reader or to your Inbox.

Links to Hawaiian Lu’au Food recipes

Huli Chicken Recipe

Kalua Pig with Cabbage Recipe

Ahi Limu Poke Recipe

Huli Chicken Recipe

Chocolate Haupia Pie Recipe

For Starters

First off, we start with sashimi-grade ahi. You can find them in higher-end markets, but we like to go to our favorite fishmonger, Pat from Mission Fresh Fish. You can find him at many Bay Area farmer’s markets. We bought our frozen ahi steaks from him at the San Carlos Farmer’s Market.

Frozen Ahi Steaks from Mission Fresh Fish

We brought the fish home and kept them frozen until the day of the lu’au. I took them out of the fridge while the steaks were still stiff. I cut the steaks into 3/4 inch-thick slabs, then cut the slabs into 3/4 inch wide strips.

Cutting Ahi Into Strips for Poke

Finally, I cubed the ahi and set it aside.

Looking for Limu

I wanted to use a specific type of limu, called ogo, for this poke. In Hawai’i, it’s easy to find it fresh in the supermarkets. Not so easy to find it here in the Bay Area. I tried calling around to various supermarkets in the South Bay (Santo, Imahara) that bring in Hawaiian products but they didn’t have fresh ogo in stock that day.

Fortunately, I was able to find another store in Cupertino that stocks Hawaiian products: Marukai on Stevens Creek Blvd. Lucky thing, this store is open to the general public, as most of their other stores are members only. They sell a “poke mix” by Noh Foods that comes with dried ogo, Hawaiian salt, and chili pepper flakes. I bought four packages.

Noh Brand Poke Mix with Dried Ogo

The recipe for Ahi Limu Poke is really easy. You just have to reconstitute the dried ogo in water for a few minutes, chop it up into bite-size bits, and mix it in with the fish, some sesame oil, and the salt and chili pepper.

Ogo and Seasonings for Ahi Poke

I used all the ogo, but ended up using only about 3 packets’ worth of salt, which was just right. Hawaiian salt (called alae) is a coarse sea salt that is very salty. Too much could ruin a dish.

After mixing, I let it chill in the fridge for the flavors to combine.

Ahi Limu Poke

It’s not everyday that one gets to enjoy fresh, sashimi-grade tuna. The combination of salt, sesame oil, seaweed, and sashimi is a winner. The crunchy ogo plays off against the soft fish, and the slight chili heat adds spark to the cool dish. Everyone enjoed our ahi limu poke, going back for seconds, thirds, and more.

For me, this dish takes me back to my home. I can imagine driving along Kamehameha Highway, past Kualoa Ranch, with Ka’a’awa Valley on the left and the azure Pacific on the right. The ocean breeze carries an intoxicatingly fresh scent of the sea. I can’t stop breathing it in… Ahhhh…

Leftovers

We actually did have some leftovers after the party was done. The next day, we decided to make some fried poke for dinner. Simply heat a non-stick pan on medium-high, add a little sesame oil in the pan, and toss the ahi poke in. Quickly brown the fish on all sides, cooking it just a couple of minutes.

Making Fried Ahi Poke

We took some salad greens, including some mizuna, from the CSA share we got from our friend J (thanks again, J!). Put the fried poke on top and then drizzle with some Shiitake & Sesame dressing from Annie’s Naturals. Excellent meal!

Fried Poke Salad

Aloha, Nate

This post was entered into the June 22 edition of Weekend Herb Blogging, managed by Haalo and hosted by Erbe in Cucina - Cooking with Herbs

Links to Hawaiian Lu’au Food recipes

"Huli Chicken" recipe

Kalua Pig with Cabbage Recipe

Lomi Lomi Salmon Recipe

Huli Chicken Recipe

Chocolate Haupia Pie Recipe

The chickens would sit above the coals on big grids with four long handles, two on each side. Every so often, the grill masters would place another grid on top of the chickens. Then two guys grab the handles. One guy calls out, “huli!” and they would both turn the grids over to flip the chickens.

It was hot, sweaty, smoky, oily work. I should know. I helped cook the huli chicken one year at a Boy Scout fundraiser at my school’s carnival. I still remember the smell.

Nowadays, you don’t see so many of these kinds of fundraisers. But every weekend, somewhere in Hawaii, huli chicken is being sold. Only now the chickens are being turned on chain-driven rotisseries. That’s progress for you!

Not Typical Lu’au Food

Huli chicken is not a dish you normally see at lu’aus. Nevertheless, I wanted to showcase this dish because it is simply a delicious Hawaiian dish. But I had to make an adaptation for our party.

Huli chicken usually uses chicken halves or leg quarters. I didn’t want our guests to be overwhelmed with such large pieces. So I opted to use chicken thighs and drumsticks instead.

Huli Chicken Recipe

based off of the Huli Huli Chicken recipe on About.com

Ingredients

20 chicken thighs
10 chicken drumsticks
2/3 cup ketchup
2/3 cup shoyu
1/2 cup brown sugar
6 Tablespoons dry sake*
1 inch piece ginger, grated**
4 cloves garlic, grated**

*The original recipe called for sherry, but I only had cream sherry.

** The original recipe called for crushed but I grated them to infuse more flavor.

Mesquite charcoal for grilling.

Method

1. Trim (but do not remove) the skin of chicken pieces.

2. Mix the marinade ingredients together and marinate the chicken pieces overnight in the refrigerator.

3. One hour before grilling, remove the chicken from the refrigerator.

4. Start the coals for the grill. When the coals are all lit, spread them out evenly.

Here is where I diverge from the normal grilling method. I have a Weber Smokey Mountain smoker, which I use frequently for grilling jobs. I like it because it helps keep the meats from getting overcooked and also imparts that wonderful smoky flavor that you just can’t get on a gas grill. I also like it because you have two grates on which to cook the food.

Before putting the bottom grate in the smoker, I removed the water pan. This gives direct heat to the chicken, but keeps the meat about 2 feet over the coals instead of just inches. The chicken would have enough time to cook through without getting too burnt. It’s similar to the method I use to cook tri tip roast.

I arranged half the chicken pieces, skin-side down, on the bottom grate and half the pieces on the top grate, then covered the lid. Ten minutes later, I turned the pieces over. After another ten minutes, I carefully swapped the chicken pieces between the top and bottom grates (this was the trickiest part about the cook).

Cooking Huli Chicken on the Weber Smokey Mountain

As you can see, there was some charring on the chicken skin. The rendered fat from the chicken was dripping down onto the coals. This caused some flare up issues when I had the lid off while turning the huli chicken. But oh, the smell! That heavenly aroma took me back to my day tending the huli chicken at the school carnival.

Another ten minutes, another flip, and then a final ten minutes to finish. I took one of the larger pieces out and pierced it to the bone with a paring knife. The juices ran clear, so it was time to pull!

Huli Chicken Done

If you are doing this over a regular charcoal or gas grill, you have to be more vigilant with the flare ups. You want the huli chicken to be flame-kissed, not flambéed!

“Huli” Chicken

The huli chicken was very moist, and mouth-watering. This was the first dish to run out at our Ultimate Backyard Luau. Mostly because there was really only one piece of chicken per person. But I’m sure that even if I had twice as much chicken, it would still have run out.

I hope you get to try this recipe at your next grillout!

Aloha, Nate

We will be posting the recipes from the other dishes from our luau. Don’t miss a single one! Subscribe now to receive new posts to your RSS reader or in your Inbox!

Links to Hawaiian Lu’au Food recipes

Kalua Pig with Cabbage Recipe

Lomi Lomi Salmon Recipe

Ahi Limu Poke Recipe

Chocolate Haupia Pie Recipe

The Pitch

I actually pitched this idea for an Ultimate Backyard Lu’au for the inaugural Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24 back in September 2008, but Foodbuzz chose Michelle the Accidental Scientist (who we met at dinner in Hawai’i) to feature her excellent ‘Aha ‘Aina instead. So when I pitched the idea again for the May 2009 24, 24, 24, I wasn’t sure we’d be successful.

Fortunately, Foodbuzz selected us, and we couldn’t be more thrilled! Our previous “24, 24, 24” meals were smaller in comparison. The Cioppino Hot Pot dinner was only 6 adults plus our 2 kids. The Ultimate Rib Showdown fed 10 adults and 2 kids. This lu’au was a big party, with 16 adults and 16 kids!

The Preparation

With that many people coming, and many different dishes being served, we had to get started prepping early. The first thing we did was call one of our guests, Melissa (who is a great baker), to prepare the chocolate haupia pie for us. One less dish for us to worry about!

Ultimate Backyard Lu’au: Chocolate Haupia Pie

We have a friend who is part of a CSA – Community Supported Agriculture. Every week, they get a box of vegetables from Live Earth Farm. Since they were going on vacation, they asked us to pick up their share for a couple of weeks (thanks, J!!!). On Thursday, we picked up their share – it was a huge amount of vegetables! Right before the party started, Annie took some of the lettuce and other veggies and made a fresh green salad.

After picking up the CSA share, we went to the San Carlos Farmer’s Market to pick up some salmon and ahi from our favorite fishmonger, Pat from Mission Fresh Fish. I salted the salmon fillets that night, and Annie diced them up on Friday night. On Saturday morning we diced up the tomatoes and onions to complete the lomi salmon dish.

Ultimate Backyard Lu’au: Lomi Salmon

I marinated some chicken thighs and drumsticks on Friday night, using a “huli chicken” marinade. On Saturday afternoon, I fired up my Weber Smokey Mountain cooker and grilled / smoked them similar to our Smoked Shoyu Chicken recipe, except this time I left the water pan out so the chicken could get some direct flame action.

Ultimate Backyard Lu’au: Huli Chicken

We also made the oven kalua pig late Friday night / Saturday morning. I shredded the pork after it came out of the oven, and reserved the cooking juices. In the afternoon, we combined the pork with chopped cabbage to complete the Kalua Pig with Cabbage.

Ultimate Backyard Lu’au: Kalua Pig with Cabbage

Saturday morning I cut the ahi into cubes. In the afternoon, we went looking for the ogo (seaweed) for the ahi limu poke. Unfortunately, no store around here had fresh ogo, so we had to settle for dried ogo as part of a packaged poke mix from Marukai Market in Cupertino. After reconstituting the ogo in water, I chopped it up and mixed it together with the ahi and the other seasonings

Ultimate Backyard Lu’au: Ahi Limu Poke

By the way, we will blog all the recipes in future posts. So you’ll want to bookmark this page and come back to it to view the links to each dish.

The Pa’ina (Party)

We set the time for 5:00, but the only guests to actually arrive on-time were our ha’ole (Caucasian) friends Melissa and Patrick. Everyone else came on Hawaiian time ;-) I was a little concerned because the hot foods weren’t going to stay hot for long (the weather outside was sunny but cool).

While we waited, some of the kids entertained themselves by drawing on the patio floor with chalk.

Abigail and Brandon

Eventually, everyone did show up so I put on some Hapa in the CD player and we started dinner. Most of our guests never had Hawaiian food before, so I briefly explained each dish. At least no one had any qualms about eating raw fish.

The huli chicken was the first to run out. It was very good! I should have prepared more, but there wasn’t that much more room on the smoker anyway.

Another popular dish was the lomi salmon. People kept going back for second and third helpings. The ahi limu poke was also a winner. Even though it had some chili pepper in it, our friend Winnie (who can’t take spicy foods) couldn’t stop eating it.

The funny thing about the kalua pig dish was, we initially didn’t have enough cabbage to balance out the pork. So we had to have one of our friends bring another head of cabbage to add to it. We also used the kale that came from the Live Earth Farm CSA share. That kale brought an enjoyable, deep earthiness to the dish

Pineapples, Pudding and Pies

Even though we were quite happy with the main courses, we still had desserts to enjoy. Winnie brought a couple of pineapples filled with chunks of pineapple, strawberries and papaya.

Ultimate Backyard Lu’au: Tropical Fruit in Pineapple Bowl

Besides the aforementioned Chocolate Haupia Pie, our friend Melissa also made a Tropical Bread Pudding that everyone could not get enough of. I was fortunate that Annie saved the last bit of bread pudding for me (which I am enjoying as I write this post!). Unfortunately, she did not take pics of the baking process so I guess we will have to make the recipe again (oh, the hardships we endure… ;-) ).

Our friend Felicia (who made the Pavlova for us for the Ultimate Rib Showdown) made a Strawberry Cream Freeze pie with Oreo cookie crust. It was seriously good. I did not have a chance to take a picture before it was all gone. (Sounds like another assignment, Felicia! ;-) )

As the evening got cooler, everyone headed inside to continue the party in the warmth of the house.

Hawaiian Etiquette: Leave Your Shoes Outside

We gabbed about this and that while the kids entertained themselves with Wii Sports. The night wore on and people started packing up and leaving. I was pretty fried once the last family left.

Post Mortem

In hindsight, there are a few things I would do differently:

• start cooking the kalua pig earlier so I won’t be up so late shredding pork
• marinate more chicken and get another charcoal grill to grill them
• not eat so much so I would have enough room for dessert

I can’t thank our friends enough for coming and sharing this lu’au experience. Especially those who took the time to make desserts for us – you really took a load off our minds and made preparing for the lu’au much easier! I also must thank Foodbuzz for helping make it all happen!

As for you, dear Reader, I thank you for sticking with me on such a long post. I hope that it will encourage you to make your own backyard lu’au and bring a little Hawai’i to your neck of the woods.

Aloha, Nate

If you liked this post, won’t you bookmark it and share it with your friends on social networking sites like StumbleUpon, Facebook, or Twitter?

Links to Hawaiian Lu’au Food recipes

Kalua Pig with Cabbage Recipe

Lomi Lomi Salmon Recipe

Ahi Limu Poke Recipe

Huli Chicken Recipe

Chocolate Haupia Pie Recipe