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Go Hawaiian like Obama? Yes you can

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McClatchy Newspapers (MCT) - You voted for Obama.

Highlights

By Cheryl Truman
McClatchy Newspapers (www.mctdirect.com)
1/19/2009 (1 decade ago)

Published in Home & Food

You embraced change for Obama.

Now eat like Obama.

Here, a brief guide to why the president-elect and his fellow Hawaiians love Spam, how to fake a Hawaiian dish that you're not really going to cook, where to buy the appropriate exorbitantly priced Obama cookie, and finally, how to top it all off with a scoop of high-butterfat hope.

What's the deal with Hawaiians and Spam cuisine, anyway?

Fresh meat was scarce during World War II, and Spam was a staple in soldiers' rations. It crossed over to become popular with civilians, too. It was portable and required no refrigeration. Hawaii hosts an annual Spam Jam in the way that Kentucky's Owensboro hosts International Bar-B-Q Festival in May.

Whereas mainlanders look at severe weather and stock up on milk and bread, Hawaiians look at severe weather and buy Spam and rice. The wisdom of the 50th state on this score cannot be disputed. Hawaiians consume nearly 6 million cans of the canned pork product each year, or almost six cans for every man, woman and child.

What's this Hawaiian dichotomy between fresh, healthy foods and loco moco, which looks like what might happen if a Burger King slammed into a Waffle House during a thunderstorm of Heinz brown gravy?

Loco moco is associated with surfer culture, which calls for a source of quick, dense, cheap nutrition. Loco moco is rice topped with a big hamburger patty and a fried egg and covered with brown gravy, often served with a side of macaroni salad. We in Kentucky would slap that right down our gullets, then call for a dessert menu.

Where is the Obama cuisine for those who aren't going to bother with too much cooking?

Make yourself a Spam musubi (pronounced mu-soo-BEE) just like the president-elect had on his recent Hawaii vacation.

Spam musubi is a snack made of molded sticky rice topped with a slice of Spam and tied together _ or sometimes wrapped entirely _ in seaweed. OK, so we in the heartland aren't exactly rolling in seaweed. Reach across cultures and make yourself a spam musubi burrito by wrapping your spam and sticky rice in a tortilla.

Where can you get cookies that look like the Obamas?

Max and Benny's Restaurant/Deli/Bakery in Northbrook, Ill., www.maxandbennys.com, also produces cookies shaped and frosted to look like Abraham Lincoln and Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. They cost $1.75 to $4.95 each and are available in lots as small as eight.

Instead of cookies that look like the Obamas, could I get some cookies that the Obamas like?

Chocolate-chunk cookies beloved by the Obama family, in particular daughters Malia and Sasha, are available from Baby Boomers Cafe in Des Moines, Iowa. Buy them for $11 a dozen plus shipping at the cafe Web site, www.babyboomerscookie.com

How about a food product that reminds me of the phrase "Yes We Can"?

Ben & Jerry's has created a flavor in honor of the new president: "Yes Pecan," which the company describes as "amber waves of buttery ice cream with roasted non-partisan pecans."

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FOR A GOOD OBAMA DISH, GO HAWAIIAN

So you want to cook in the Hawaiian style that nourished Barack Obama when the president-elect was growing up in Hawaii?

Says former Hawaiian Nash Werner, who worked in several Japanese restaurants and now lives in Lexington, Ky., "These aren't traditional Hawaiian food recipes. They're local style-fusion. Very popular in Honolulu and my hometown of Pearl City."

Werner, who grew up in Hawaii as the son of surfer parents, is a man who can eat rice for every meal. The trick is to vary the taste of the grain and how you combine it with other ingredients.

Werner describes the food in these recipes as "so ono, going broke da mouth," which means: So delicious, it's going to knock you out.

And he says "hurricane popcorn" is "sold at every movie theater in Hawaii."

CHICKEN KATSU CURRY

3 cups sushi-grade rice

4 cubes Japanese golden curry mix (mild)

Vegetable oil for frying

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup milk

2 cups panko (Japanese bread crumbs)

2 tablespoons salt

2 tablespoons black pepper

Set rice to cook first. Use an automatic rice cooker or combine 3 cups rice and 4-˝ cups water in a deep pot, cover and set to medium-high. After it comes to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until water evaporates.

Rice is finished when no liquid is visible. Rice should be shiny but not wet.

While the rice is cooking, prepare the curry.

In saucepan, bring a quart of water to a boil then add Japanese curry mix, stirring. When cubes dissolve, reduce heat to low and stir until thick. Remove from heat and set aside. Finish rice and curry before cooking the chicken.

Heat oil in a deep-fryer to 375 degrees. Combine beaten eggs and milk. In a separate bowl, combine panko, salt and pepper, and mix thoroughly. One at time, dip chicken strips into egg mixture, then into panko mix; set aside to rest. Cover a plate with 4 paper towels and put the plate next to the deep-fryer.

Put all the breaded chicken strips into the fryer at once, and fry until golden on each side, about 2 minutes. Remove chicken strips and let them rest on paper towels to absorb excess oil.

Fill half of each plate with rice and pour curry on the other half. Lay 3-4 chicken strips across curry and rice. Makes 2 to 4 servings.

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HURRICANE POPCORN

1 bag (all-natural) microwave popcorn

˝ stick butter

˝ cup furikake (ground seaweed, non-fish/meat flavor)

1 cup kaki mochi (soy-flavored rice cracker, medium spicy)

Microwave popcorn as directed. Melt butter. Cover popcorn with butter, then furikake and then rice crackers. Says Werner: "It doesn't have to look pretty. It will be delicious."

___

© 2009, Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Ky.).

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