baked beans with portuguese sausage

With a couple of linguica, I made a really small batch of baked beans for our Sunday dinner, and had enough leftovers for dinner on Monday…whoo!

I hadn't bought catsup in ages, but needed some for this recipe, so I bought a small bottle.

Also didn't have a can of pork and beans, just a can of baked beans, so that is what I used.

Found a "bigger" can of kidney beans...110 grams!

Will stock up on more "real size" canned beans the next time I go to the import market to buy our coffee beans.

I didn't have prepared mustard, only grainy, so that is what I used.

I should've added the molasses and brown sugar to give it another layer of flavor, but I felt there was enough sweetness from the beans and catsup.

And since I didn't have worcestershire sauce, I used a little okonomiyaki sauce.

No white vinegar either so I used rice vinegar.

Really ad-lib.

My mom would often make a big pyrex pot of this for our Sunday dinner gatherings and use kielbasa instead of portuguese sausage though.

Good memories and this hit the spot.

portuguese "bean" soup

Made a small batch of Portuguese Bean soup with a couple of the linguica...my only problem was that I couldn't find a can of kidney beans at the market I was at.

I ended up buying these kidney beans...50 grams.

This product is intended to be added to salads.

And this one with 5 beans and 5 grains...40 grams. 

Tastewise, the soup came out pretty close to what I've had at home.

I'm glad I got to make this.

vinho verde

I am probably late to the game but I just stumbled on Vinho Verde.

Wines from the Vinho Verde region of Portugal.

Most have bubbles, light, fruity, some are dry and there are also rose versions too.

Don't forget to look for the seal of guarantee too.

What are you enjoying these days?

foodie festivals

There were many festivals over the past weekend. Luckily the weather was cooperative.

We started out at the Sweet Onion Festival. This was on the grounds of the Aloun Farms.

$2 per adult to enter and then everything had to be paid for in scrips (50-cents per scrip).

For $32 in scrips, we picked up a seedless Thai watermelon, canteloupe, honeydew melon, dozen corn, green beans, (5) sweet potato (purple kind) and lots of onions (40 to be exact)!

We shared a lot of these fruits and veggies with Mom's friends.

Afterwards, we checked out the Portuguese Festa.

It was small in comparison to the Sweet Onion Festival.

My brother had a Vinha D'Alhos (pickled pork) sandwich and I picked up some malasadas.

The malasadas were fluffy and kept their shape even after they were cool. I would say they are 2nd to Champions (which is saying a lot).

Before heading home, we picked up lunch from Leeward Drive-Inn.

It was my first time ordering from this place, even though they've been around since 1964 (it says so on their sign).

I ordered their BBQ hamburger with cheese...this was a quarter pound and I enjoyed the teriyaki sauce that was on the burger. I thought it was a nice balance of sweet and salty.

Mom had their fried noodles. I think she enjoyed this one even though their portion is massive and she only ate a fourth of it.

My brother said the mochiko chicken had too much coating on it...

All in all, great weather and lots of good food.

Leeward Drive-Inn
94-209 Pupukahi Street
Waipahu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.671.7323

hawaii remembers

What kinds of things did you have for breakfast growing up?

We were lucky because on weekends Mom used to make all sorts of things for my brother and I.

One dish in particular was her peanut butter french toast.

Make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. (Jelly preferably guava.)

Dip into milk and egg mixture as you normally would french toast and cook with butter.

The version we had recently was different from "small kid times" (childhood) because my mom doesn't buy Love's white bread anymore, only whole wheat bread.

Another nostalgic breakfast is portuguese sausage, eggs and rice.

The spiciness and texture of portuguese sausage is something that cannot be found in Japan, though some chorizo can come quite close.

The egg has to be sunny side up or over easy...anything that will ooze over the plate, picking up some of the "juices" from the sausage, and soaking into the rice.

(Don't forget some ketchup on the eggs.)

Nowadays though, mom "fries" the sausage in the oven without having to stand by the stove (gets out a lot of oil too).

Looking back on the foods we eat nowadays, they have changed considerably from when we were growing up, but the tastes and memories have not.

odds & ends

It is the end of the month which means that I need to clear out some photos.

Taste Delight's Maple Leaf Cream Cookies. Maple syrup flavored cookies with cream centers. Pulling them apart reminded me of Oreos, I loved the maple syrup flavor. The cream center wasn't maple syrup flavored, if it were I think it would have been too much.

My Smoothie's Superfruit acai smoothie, a product from Sweden have these great design boxes, the box folds up after drinking.

According to the outside of the box, the smoothie has 19 acai berries, 1 apple, 1/2 banana, 14 raspberries, 52 blueberries and 9 blackberries all in this tiny box. I loved the taste but didn't like the pulp, almost made me gag, I'm such a wuss.

Sekai no Kitchen's Tiramisu Latte, was very almond extract-y (is that even grammatically correct?) and combines marscapone and espresso. I don't think I would drink this one again.

Lipton's extra shot Chai....this one was more on the clove side, not sure if I would get this one again.

Dean & Deluca's Bretagne Caramel Walnut Ice cream....delicious. Lots of walnuts in caramel ice cream.

Awhile back, I bought these hotate (scallops) which were grilled at Daiei, 150 yen (about US$1.50) a stick. I also picked up some tako (octopus) and then made a donburi (bowl) with rice, lettuce, the hotate and tako, a little kim chee and yuk-hoe sauce, a fast delicious dinner.

I was surprised at how small the filet-o-fish at McD's is...it was the size of my palm! This sandwich reminds me of my grandma.

When we were growing up we would catch The Bus with my grandparents to Ala Moana shopping center. We would eat lunch at McDonald's and my grandma would always eat the filet-o-fish.

I recently defrosted some homemade portuguese sausage and paired it with kim chee fried rice for a quick weekend lunch.The month flew by so fast!

re-creating and a re-do

If you recall, last month I made taegu which was too salty. With the rest of the dried codfish, I soaked it in water overnight then used the same recipe for the sauce and I also added 1 teaspoon of kim chee starter.

I liked this version, it wasn't as salty as my first trial and the fish was softer. It was definitely easier to separate from the bone too (though I did find while eating that I missed some). I think the next time I try making this, I will try it with cuttlefish.

Since I had some potatoes that needed to be used, I wanted to try making the korean potatoes that I sometimes get in Hawaii whenever I eat Korean take-out. I found an easy recipe in Jean Watanabe Hee's "Salads, Sides and Soups".

Here is the recipe if you want to try making it:

Korean Potatoes : 6 servings

3 medium potatoes (about 2 pounds)
2 cups water
1 tablespoon Hawaiian salt

Soy sauce mixture:
1 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon pepper (or less, adjust to taste)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Peel and cut potatoes into bite sized pieces. Immerse in brine of water and salt for 10 minutes; drain. Place potatoes in skillet and pour soy sauce mixture over. Cook, uncovered, over medium-high heat for 10 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender.

NOTES: while typing this recipe, I realized I didn't put the oil into the sauce. Still, the potatoes are tasty and just like the potatoes you can get at most Hawaii Korean take-out places.

Another comfort food I tried making was portuguese sausage. When we lived in Hawaii, Satoshi and I loved this especially for breakfast and loved putting it into chili. There is supposed to be a flavor packet made by Noh Foods for making portuguese sausage, but I've never found it at the local markets in Hawaii. My mom clipped out the recipe from the paper and sent it to me this past Christmas. (Thanks Mom!)

Portuguese Sausage Patties from HSB "By Request", who got it from Muriel Miura's "Hawai`i Cooks & Saves"

2 pounds pork, coarsely ground or chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 to 2 chili peppers, chopped
2 to 2.5 teaspoons salt or 1.5 teaspoons rock salt
1/8 teaspoon cumin, optional
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 cup water
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red food coloring, optional
1 tablespoon vinegar
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke

Combine pork with garlic, chilies, salt and spices.
Combine water with food coloring, vinegar and liquid smoke.
Pour over pork mixture and mix well.
Cover and refrigerate 2 days, mixing occasionally.
Shape into thin, 2-inch wide patties and fry in ungreased skillet 5 to 10 minutes, until lightly browned and cooked through.
Makes 32 patties, serves 8.

NOTES: I didn't add the cumin, food coloring or liquid smoke. The texture was more like pork sausage, a little different from the portuguese sausage that we know, but it tasted ono (delicious in Hawaiian)! When I fried some up for breakfast, I used a tablespoon to scoop out the sausage mixture, rolled it in my palms then flattened it. The rest of the sausage mixture, I divvied up and put it into the freezer so we have some to fry up for other breakfasts.

The last thing I tried re-creating was a reuben. We don't have delis here where you can get sandwiches made, so I was happy to come across pastrami, rye bread and sauerkraut at the supermarket. The rye bread tasted more like white bread with hard seeds in it, but the pastrami and sauerkraut were delicious. I didn't add any type of dressing, but I did add some cheese and cornichons on the side....delicious.

What have you been eating?

agnes' bakeshop

One of the cool things about growing up in Hawaii is the diverse cultures and cuisines. Most times, if you crave something, you'll almost always be able to find it somewhere on the island.

Before the internet and blogs, most establishments were known by "word of mouth" or from info in the newspapers.

Since we had an appointment in Kailua, we decided to check out a Portuguese bakery my mom had heard about that made great malasadas.

We investigated in the phone book to get the address, then looked in our pocket map and went to check out Agnes' Bakeshop. Now, if you check out their website, they boast "the best malasadas", we decided that since we weren't going to eat what we bought right away, we would have to try their malasadas another day.

The assortment that we picked up were (top row) 3 scones, (middle row) a brownie, (bottom row) their bread pudding and a walnut sticky bun...Everything was delicious! I love Hawaii!

Agnes' Bakeshop (UPDATE: 2018 no longer in business)
46 Ho'olai Street
Kailua
Phone: 808.262.5367
Closed on Mondays

hawaii eats (part 2)

As I look back, growing up in Hawaii was great, because of all the different kinds of foods you can get your hands on. Not only can you buy them as take out, but with all the different ingredients found at the local supermarkets, you can also make a lot of these foods too.

So, coming home for me is a chance to re-connect with all the foods that I loved while growing up.

Recently, my mom made a batch of Portuguese bean soup. I'm not too sure if it actually is a Portuguese dish, but one of the main ingredients is the spicy Portuguese sausage or linguisa. Linguisa is similar to chorizo. And although living in Hawaii doesn't always have soup eating climates, this soup is perfect for those wet, rainy days.

Another of my favorites is Korean food...kal-bi, mandoo, meat jun, kim chee...yum! Today I had lunch with my friend, Gaye. We ate at the Y'kele Korean BBQ at the Waikele Premium Outlet. For US$6.27, you can get this huge portion of Bi Bim Kook Soo--a cold somen noodle in a sweet broth, with lots of "namul" (a kind of marinade) veggies and a piece of barbecued beef on top. So filling and very delicious.

Y'kele Korean BBQ
Waikele Premium Outlets
94-799 Lumiaina
Phone: 808.676.0988