Author: Allison

Our first and only Hawaii trip, over a decade ago, really opened our eyes to all the amazing foods of Hawaii. We were little baby foodies back then, so this was the first time we ever had Japanese curry, the first time we had real, non-instant ramen, the first time we had poke – this was back in 2008, before the poke craze hit the mainland.

But the one thing we somehow missed on that trip, and I’ve never managed to try since… loco moco.

A burger patty, gravy, and a fried egg over rice? Sounds pretty amazing to me. But we must have inadvertently avoided going to any restaurants that served it… and remember, beginner foodies. We had no clue what we were doing back then, when it came to planning a trip around food!

I may not have known what I was missing at the time, but when I saw loco moco in the Aloha Kitchen cookbook (and Son immediately was pulled to that page!), I knew it was time to fix this grave omission in our lives!

Shrimpy made the gravy in our previous video, so all we gotta do is make the patties and fry up some eggs. Let’s get cooking!

Shrimpy already took care of the loco moco gravy for us, but if you’re making both on the same day, then you can start the gravy first, and make the patties when you’re waiting for the onions to caramelize.

For the patties, we’re going to start with some ground beef. I tend to prefer the slightly fattier 80/20 ground beef – that’s 80% meat to 20% fat. But a leaner grind is fine as well.

Add in a bit of salt, and freshly ground pepper.

We’ll add a bit of worcestershire sauce for a tangy umami.

And some chopped sweet maui onion.

A couple of cloves of grated garlic, and you’re ready to mix!

Combine that all thoroughly – without overmixing – and then form your meat into 4 patties. Aim for about 1/2″ thick.

Refrigerate your patties for 20 minutes or so.

When you’re ready to cook, add a little oil to a skillet and heat it over a medium heat. Once the oil is hot, cook the patties about 4 minutes on each side, until nicely browned.

When your patties are done, it’s time to stack your loco moco!

A layer of rice.

One of your patties.

A bit of the gravy Shrimpy made.

A fried egg.

And a sprinkle of green onions for garnish.

Loco Moco

from the Aloha Kitchen cookbook

Ingredients

• 1 lb 80/20 ground beef
• 1 tsp kosher salt, plus more as needed
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed
• 1 1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 medium maui or yellow onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely grated
• 1 tbsp neutral oil
• 4 cups steamed white rice
• 1 batch loco moco gravy
• 4 large eggs, fried sunny side up or over easy
• 2 chopped green onions, green parts only, for garnish

Cooking Directions

1. In a bowl combine the ground beef, salt, pepper, worcestershire sauce, onion, and garlic. Gently mix with your hands or a wooden spoon until just combined, being careful not to overmix. Form into four equal-size patties about 1/2″ thick. Place the patties on a plate, cover with plastic wrap, and transfer to the refrigerator to rest for 20 minutes.
2. After the patties have rested, add the oil to the skillet and set it over medium heat. When the oil is hot, swirl the pan around to evenly coat it, then gently place the patties in the pan, leaving room around each one. Cook until browned, about 4 minutes on each side. Using a spatula, remove the patties and transfer to a clean plate to rest.
3. Place 1 cup steamed rice on each plate and top (in this order) with 1 patty, some gravy, 1 fried egg, and chopped green onions before serving.

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We’ve got some loco moco coming up soon, so ya boi Shrimpy is here to show you how to prep the gravy!

Loco Moco Gravy

from Aloha Kitchen

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 tbsp neutral oil
• 3/4 medium maui or yellow onion, sliced into 1/2″ wedges
• 8 oz cremini mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups beef broth
• 2 tsp shoyu
• 1 1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp cornstarch

Cooking Directions

1. Add 1 tbsp of the oil to a large skillet set over medium heat. When the oil is hot (shiny and shimmering), add the onion wedges and saute until almost translucent, 5 to 7 minutes. Turn the heat to low and continue cooking for 10 minutes, stirring often. Cook until they are soft and caramelized; you should be able to smell the sugar. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
2. Add the remaining 1/2 tbsp oil to the pan and heat over medium heat until hot. Add the mushrooms and saute until tender, about 10 minutes. Season the mushrooms with salt and pepper, then add the reserved caramelized onions. Add the beef broth, shoyu, and worcestershire sauce and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat to medium-low, scoop out a tablespoon of the broth from the skillet, and whisk it with the cornstarch in a small bowl until smooth. Whisk the cornstarch slurry into the skillet and simmer until the sauce has thickened, 5 to 7 minutes.

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We’ve got another busdriv3r cookbook redemption! This time, he requested that we make something from Japanese Soul Cooking

I’m always down for Japanese food, and it was a tough decision! But one dish that I LOVE and will happily take any opportunity to make is okonomiyaki.

Okonomi means “how you like” and yaki means “grilled”, so okonomiyaki roughly translates to “grilled how you like”.

… which doesn’t really tell you what okonomiyaki is, does it.

Okonomiyaki is essentially a vegetable pancake. It usually is made up of cabbage and a batter, and often you’ll see pork belly or other meats or veggies layered in.

Sometimes you’ll see nagaimo used in okonomiyaki. Nagaimo is a type of yam, and when you shred it up it gets kind of gooey. That gets mixed into the batter. We won’t be using it today, but if you ever see it in a recipe now you know what it is.

Okonomiyaki is almost always topped with okonomi sauce, which is a worcestershire-based sauce and could be thought of a somewhere between A1 and a BBQ sauce. Then it’s drizzled with kewpie mayo, and sprinkled with aonori, which are seaweed flakes, and katsuobushi, which are shaved dried bonito flakes. You’ll also often see it served with beni shoga, which is the red pickled ginger strips.

So now that we know what okonomiyaki is – let’s cook!

We’ll start by making the batter. Two cups of regular, all-purpose flour go in a bowl.

Then add a cup of liquid. You could use water, but we’ll be using the dashi that Shrimpy made for us.

A teaspoon of salt.

And a teaspoon of baking powder, for fluffiness.

A couple teaspoons of sugar, to balance out the flavors.

Mix that all together.

And then the main ingredient. Chop up a head of cabbage – you’re looking to end up with one pound, or about 10 cups – and add that to the bowl.

Mix really well – about 30 seconds or so – until all the cabbage is coated in the batter.

Now we’re going to add four eggs, to bind it all together. Mix that another 15 seconds, until it’s all just combined.

Time to cook!

Preheat a nonstick or cast iron pan over medium-low heat until it’s nice and warm, then add in a tablespoon of sesame oil.

This recipe makes four okonomiyaki, so we’ll put a quarter of the batter in. Aim for a pancake about 6″ in diameter, and 1″ thick. Don’t press it down – we want a fluffy pancake!

Then we’ll add our meat. The recipe calls for pork belly, but since it’s a lot easier for me to get bacon than pork belly, I tend to use bacon for my okonomiyaki. It’s not the most traditional, since american-style bacon isn’t common in Japan, but it’s tasty nonetheless. Regardless, layer your meat on top of your okonomiyaki.

Cook the pancake for 3 minutes, then flip it so the bacon side is down. Cook that for another 5 minutes, then flip again. Two more minutes so everything sets, and your first okonomiyaki is ready to eat!

Repeat with the other three pancakes, and then…

Drizzle with okonomi sauce.

Drizzle with kewpie mayo.

Sprinkle with some aonori.

And don’t forget the bonito flakes!

Cut it into quarters, and your okonomiyaki is ready to serve!

Osaka-Style Okonomiyaki

from Japanese Soul Cooking

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup dashi or water, cold or at room temperature
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 lb cabbage, coarsely chopped (about 10 cups)
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 cup toasted sesame oil
• 8 oz fresh pork belly or bacon, sliced
• 1/4 cup okonomi sauce
• 1/4 cup kewpie mayonnaise
• 4 tsp aonori
• 1/4 cup katsuobushi

Cooking Directions

1. To make the batter, mix together the flour, dashi, salt, baking powder, and sugar in a large bowl. Add the cabbage to the batter and mix well for at least 30 seconds, until all the cabbage is coated. Add the eggs and mix, lightly this time, for about 15 seconds, or until the eggs are just combined with the cabbage.
2. Preheat a nonstick or cast-iron skillet for at least 5 minutes on medium-low heat. Turn the heat up to medium, and add 1 tbsp of the sesame oil, making sure to coat the entire surface of the skillet. Cook the okonomiyaki in batches. Spoon the cabbage and batter mixture into the skillet to form a pancake about 6″ in diameter and 1″ thick. Don’t push down on the cabbage; you want a fluffy pancake. Gently lay about 1/4 of the pork belly slices on top of the pancake, trying not to overlap.
3. Cook the pancake for about 3 minutes. Use a long spatula (a fish spatula is ideal) to carefully flip the pancake, so the side with the pork belly is now facing down. Gently press down on the pancake with the spatula (don’t push too hard, you don’t want batter spilling from the sides). Cook for about 5 more minutes, then flip the pancake again, so the side with the pork belly is now facing up. (If the okonomiyaki comes apart when you flip it, don’t worry; use a spatula to tuck any stray ingredients back into the pancake.) Cook for about 2 more minutes. When it’s ready, the pancake should be lightly browned on both sides, the pork cooked through, and the cabbage inside tender.
4. Transfer the pancake to a plate, pork side up, and add the toppings. Squeeze about 1 tbsp of the okonomi sauce onto the pancake, in long ribbons. Squeeze about 1 tbsp of kewpie mayonnaise onto the pancake, also in long ribbons. Sprinkle about 1 tsp of aonori over the pancake. Sprinkle about 1 tbsp of katsuobushi over the pancake. Cut the pancake into quarters and serve immediately.
5. Repeat with the remaining 3 tbsp oil and pancake batter.

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As someone who is Japanese-American, and makes Japanese food often, I make dashi on a fairly regular basis.

I love dashi.

I love using dashi.

I hate that I always end up using the kombu once (mayyybe twice) and then throw it away.

It seems like such a waste for a perfectly good product!

So finally, this last time I- er… Shrimpy made dashi, I decided to figure out how I could make use of the leftover kombu.

I happened upon this kombu tsukudani recipe from Just One Cookbook It makes use of used kombu, and is exactly the sort of thing we’d enjoy with rice. Plus it’s easy to make, and if you’re cooking a lot of Japanese food, you probably already have all of the ingredients on hand!

Let’s make this happen.

Step one, use some dried kombu to make dashi! Now you have used kombu. Don’t throw it away.

Julienne your kombu into little strips, and put that in a pot. You can absolutely use the pot you made your dashi in.

Add a cup of water (or dashi, if your main recipe won’t be using everything we made!)

A tablespoon of cooking sake.

One tablespoon of mirin.

A teaspoon of rice vinegar – this will make your kombu more tender.

Two tablespoons of shoyu, Japanese soy sauce, for flavor and umami.

A teaspoon of sugar.

Half a teaspoon of katsuobushi (although I didn’t add this, since I used dashi for the liquid).

Lastly, we’ll seed and slice a dried chili pepper, and toss that in to add just a hint of spice.

Bring that all to a boil, then simmer it until just about all of the liquid is evaporated. This should take about 20 – 25 minutes.

When you’re ready to serve, sprinkle with sesame seeds, and serve as a side dish with rice and fish, tofu, or any other type of protein!

Kombu Tsukudani

from Just One Cookbook

Ingredients

• 2 oz leftover kombu from making dashi
• 1 dried red chili pepper
• 1 cup water (or dashi)
• 1 tbsp sake
• 1 tbsp mirin
• 1 tsp rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar (add more if you prefer the sweet taste)
• 1/2 tsp katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)
• 1/2 tsp sesame seeds

Cooking Directions

1. Cut the kombu into thin strips.
2. Remove the seeds from the dried red chili pepper and cut the pepper into thin rounds.
3. Add all the ingredients except the sesame seeds to a saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil.
4. Cook on low heat until the liquid is almost evaporated, about 20-25 minutes. If kombu is still not tender, add additional water and continue to cook.
5. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

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We’ll be using dashi in an upcoming recipe, so Shrimpy is here to show you how to make it from scratch!

Ordinarily you’d discard the kombu after using it for dashi, but we’ll be posting a recipe that shows how to use used kombu for a side dish, coming up soon!

Dashi

from Japanese Soul Cooking

Ingredients

• 8 cups plus 2 tbsp water
• 2 6″ pieces kombu
• 1 1/2 oz dried, shaved bonito (about 3 packed cups)

Cooking Directions

1. Add 8 cups of the water and the kombu to a large stockpot and let it steep for 30 minutes.
2. Place the stockpot over medium heat and bring to a boil. Remove the kombu. Add the remaining 2 tbsp water to slightly reduce the liquid’s temperature. Add the bonito and stir it once to mix it in. As soon as the liquid comes to a boil again, decrease the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove any scum that appears on the surface, which can affect flavor.
3. Turn off the heat and let the liquid steep for 15 minutes. Strain the liquid through a fine sieve or cheesecloth. Don’t squeeze the bonito flakes. Discard bonito flakes after using.

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The thing about having a YouTube cooking channel… is, OH DARN IT’S FIG SEASON, GUESS WE HAVE TO MAKE A BUNCH OF SEASONAL DISHES.

Heh.

Son said we should do more fig recipes “for search” and such, but I’m pretty sure he just wants an excuse for me to make more fig recipes.

Sneaky man.

We thought about tiptoeing over to our neighbor’s fig tree under the cover of night, since THEY’RE not eating them… but the local squirrels got to them first.

So I bought some figs.

And then I had to figure out what to do with them.

Can’t do the tarts, we already did those.

No cake, Son doesn’t want cake.

Oooh, that looks good, and that… and why is every recipe Son picked out an ice cream recipe?

So off we went to my mom’s-

-our car battery died.

So we called AAA, got our battery replaced because it was apparently actually dead, and off we went to my mom’s to borrow back our ice cream machine that she has permanently borrowed. It’s pretty much hers at this point.

Cleared out some space in the freezer (why do we still have those really old popsicles, anyways?) so we could freeze the ice cream maker thing…

and an entire journey later

WE’RE READY TO MAKE FIG ICE CREAM!

finally.

This ice cream recipe comes from a blog called Happy Yolks. I’d actually bookmarked a vegan version of this ice cream, but since we’re not vegan, I traced my way back to the original recipe.

We’ll start by making a caramelized fig jam that’s going to be our swirl in the ice cream.

Melt a couple of tablespoons of butter in a saucepan, over medium heat. Unless noted, you’ll always use unsalted butter when you’re cooking – this will allow you to control the amount of salt that’s added, rather than being at the mercy of the butter maker.

Once the butter is melted, dissolve a half-cup of brown sugar into it. It’ll start to smell like toffee.

The recipe says to cut about a pound of figs in half, but if I were to make this again, I’d cut them into quarters or even smaller. The skin doesn’t break down as much as I’d like when it cooks down, so expect to end up with chunks about as big as you cut them in the end result. Add them in with a bit of water and lemon juice. Let this all cook down, about 15-20 minutes, until the figs are chunky and jammy. At first it’ll smell bright and fruity, but as it cooks it’ll begin to smell deeper, more caramelized, more jammy, reminiscent of a tasty pie. The change in fragrance takes you from late summer to mid-fall.

Add a half teaspoon of salt – it may seem odd to add salt to a savory dish, but that slight bit of salt will really bring out the flavors in the jam. Stir it in, and set the jam aside to cool completely.

Next, it’s custard time. We’re making the base of your ice cream. Combine the milk, heavy cream, and granulated sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, until the sugar has dissolved.

Then you’ll temper your egg yolks by whisking a small amount of the hot liquid into the yolks before whisking them into the custard. When your yolks are whisked in, place your custard in the fridge and wait for both the custard and fig jam to completely cool.

Once everything is nice and cool, it’s ice cream time! Using an ice cream machine, pour the custard into the machine and process however the instructions tell you to. The custard should slowly thicken into a soft ice cream as it freezes in the machine.

Whenever your custard thickens, now it’s time to add in a bit of mascarpone cheese for tang, the fig jam, and some honey roasted pistachios for a bit of texture.

Let that process for about another 10 minutes, and then pour your ice cream into a freezer-safe dish. Stick that into the freezer for at least 2 hours. When you’re ready to serve, let the ice cream sit out for a few minutes until it’s scoopable but not melted.

Caramelized Fig Ice Cream with Mascarpone and Honey Pistachios

adapted from Happy Yolks

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 lb figs, chopped
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 cup mascarpone
• 1 cup honey roasted pistachios

Cooking Directions

1. Melt butter over medium heat in a saucepan. Add brown sugar and stir to dissolve. Toss the figs in the saucepan with water and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until you have a chunky-jammy mixture. Add salt with one or two stirs, set aside and let cool completely.
2. In a small pot over medium heat, combine milk, heavy cream, and granulated sugar until sugar is completely dissolved. Whisk a little bit of the hot liquid into your egg yolks, to slowly raise the temperature so you don’t curdle your yolks. Then, whisk in the egg yolks into the custard. Set mixture in the fridge and wait until everything has cooled completely.
3. Using an ice cream machine, pour liquids into the frozen basin and process according to manufacturer instructions. Once ice cream has thickened, add mascarpone, fig jam mixture, and the nuts. Continue to process for 5-10 minutes, until everything is thoroughly swirled in. Pour ice cream into a freezer-safe dish. Freeze at least two hours before serving.

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Today we’ve got another cookbook redemption from busdriv3r!

This time, he requested that we cook something from I Am A Filipino (and this is how we cook).

There were a lot of things I wanted to make (I’ve made the sisig from this cookbook before and it’s AMAZING) but these days, we’re limited by the ingredients we can easily get or already have on hand.

Luckily, we had some pork belly in the freezer… chicken and pork belly adobo? YES PLEASE.

If you have the ingredients, this is a fairly easy recipe. Marinate it overnight, cook it the next day, done!

We’ll start with the marinade.

White sugarcane vinegar is used in a lot of Filipino dishes, but most of us don’t tend to to have it on hand. Luckily, it’s easy to order white sugarcane vinegar online.

This will add that sour tang that’s fairly common to Filipino cooking.

Then, a good bit of soy sauce, for that salty umami.

A BUNCH of minced garlic.

And some whole black peppercorns, for a mild bite.

Blueberry or fig jelly – I’m using my mom’s homemade blueberry jam from last year – for a tiny bit of fruity sweetness.

A few bay leaves.

And then we add in our meat.

The recipe calls for bone-in, skin-on chicken, but I accidentally bought boneless skinless thighs. They’ll work fine, though.

Then, cube some pork belly. I left the skin on, but skinless should be okay too.

Mix that all together, and then marinate in the fridge overnight.

The next day, dump that all in a dutch oven or large pot.

Add a bunch of water, and simmer until the meat is cooked through.

Then remove everything, add some oil, and brown the meat.

Add a splash of sauce back in, and cook until the liquid has evaporated.

Serve with white rice, and that cucumber tomato relish that shrimpy made!

Even though the recipe didn’t call for it, I also reduced the sauce down and drizzled it over rice.

We were expecting the pork belly to be the star of the show, but the chicken really soaked up the marinade and ended up super flavorful. Pork belly is never a bad idea, but if all you have is chicken, this recipe is absolutely still worth making!

Definitely make the cucumber and tomato relish as well – the bright freshness of the veggies really cuts through the richness of this dish. Without some sort of fresh veggies, this recipe would be seriously heavy. Yu

All in all, we’re huge fans of this adobo.

Adobong Manok At Baboy (Classic Adobo)

from I Am A Filipino (and this is how we cook)

Ingredients

• 1 cup white sugarcane vinegar
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 10 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tsp whole black peppercorns
• 3 tbsp fruit preserves, jam, or jelly, such as blueberry or fig
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
• 2 bone-in, skin-on chicken legs
• 1 lb fresh pork belly, cut into 1″ cubes
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 4 to 6 cups cooked white rice, for serving
• cucumber-tomato relish

Cooking Directions

1. In a large ziplock bag or nonreactive container, stir together the vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, peppercorns, fruit preserves, and bay leaves until the preserves are thoroughly combined. Add the chicken and pork belly, seal the bag or container, and marinate in the refrigerator at least 6 hours, or preferably overnight.
2. Transfer the chicken, pork, and marinade to a large dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot with 4 cups water and bring the liquid to a boil over high heat. Immediately reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Turn off the heat and transfer the meat to a bowl.
3. In a dutch oven or heavy-bottomed deep-sided pot, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat. Remove the pork belly from the cooking liquid (do not discard the liquid) and add them to the pot. (Be careful, the oil may spatter.) Cook, stirring frequently, until the pork belly is brown on all sides and crispy, about 7 minutes.
4. Add the chicken pieces to the pan and cook, flipping them occasionally, until they are browned, about 5 minutes.
5. Add 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid to the pan and cook until all the liquid has evaporated and the only thing left in the bottom of the pan is the fat from the chicken and pork, about 10 minutes.
6. Serve hot, with plenty of white rice and relish, if using, making sure to pour a little bit of fat from the bottom of the pan over each serving of rice.

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