Malasada, Hawaii's Most Cherished Snack!

Mmm. . . Hot and fresh fried doughnuts covered in sugar! Yeah yeah yeah, I know it's not exactly healthy but hey, it's hot and fresh fried doughnuts covered in sugar! ;)

Let me start off by saying that the use of the word "doughnut" is used lightly. There are some people who would argue that it's not a doughnut, but I'd rather not use the term "fried balls," and giggle every time I type it out. With that aside, let's get this thing started!

If you've ever been to Hawaii, there's a high chance that you've tried a malasada! In addition to being a local favorite, it's huge on the tourist To-Do list. This is good and bad at the same time. Good for Leonard's Bakery, the ONLY place to get your malasada fix when you're on Oahu, but bad for locals who now have to wait in a ridiculously huge line just to get a box of these delicious morsels. And don't get me wrong, the long lines are not a deterrent, just an irritant. You can't stop a hungry local from getting whatever they crave! If you don't believe me, just try it and see what happens!

Growing up I didn't get this as much as I wish I had but that probably added to the reason why I love it so much now days. Unfortunately, where I currently live there is not a single place to get it. Well, at least not as good as Leonard's! On the bright side, I love to cook, so finding a recipe similar and tweaking it to my liking wasn't too hard. Ok, I lied, it was hard! But like I said, you can't stop a hungry local!

I started by searching online for malasada recipes. I found a bunch, most of which claimed was "Leonard's" recipe, but by looking at the ingredients I can usually tell the outcome of the finish product. After scouring around the net and finding a few recipes, I eventually landed on a couple I wanted to try. They didn't come out quite like I wanted it, or should I say not quite like Leonard's, but they were good. With a lil bit of dis and a lil less of dat I was eventually able to land on the recipe I liked. I like it so much that I actually am not gonna give it out! =) But what I will give out is the actual Leonard's Bakery Malasada recipe that was provided by their very own chef, Leonard Rego, via the Food Network. I know you probably thought I was gonna give out my recipe but the fact is that I want people to go out and try new things, then tweak it to your liking! The only way to get good at anything is repetition. It took me several tries, with the exact same ingredients and measurements, to perfect my recipe. I encourage you to do the same. 

Malasada

By Leonard Rego, via The Food Network

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoon dry active yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1 tablespoon sugar plus 1/3 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 eggs, well beaten
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
• Vegetable oil, for frying
• Cinnamon-sugar for coating (about 1/4 cup sugar mixed with cinnamon to taste)
  
  Preparation:

1. In a medium bowl, combine the yeast with 1/4 cup lukewarm water and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Mix until the yeast dissolves then set aside for 5 minutes. Stir in the milk, vanilla, eggs, and butter and reserve.
2. In a large bowl, mix the flour with 1/3 cup sugar, salt, and nutmeg. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour the yeast and milk mixture into the well. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry, forming a soft, smooth dough. Cover the dough with a clean towel and set aside to rise in a warm place until dough doubles in size, about 1 hour.
3. Punch the dough down, then with oiled fingers, pinch off pieces about the size golf balls. Place the dough balls on greased baking sheets. Cover the malasadas with a clean towel and set aside to rise in a warm place for about 15 minutes.
4. In a heavy, high-sided pot, heat a bout 2 inches of oil over medium-high until the oil reaches 325 degrees F. Working in small batches, fry the malasadas until they are uniformly golden brown, 7 to 10 minutes per batch. Drain the malasadas on a plate lined with paper towels just until they are cool enough to handle then roll them in cinnamon sugar and serve.

I used a large outdoor propane heated wok to fry them since I was making semi-large quantities (good or bad outcome, I wanted to eat a lot of them). For this particular recipe I would advise you to use a clean wet towel, rather than dry towel, let the second rise last about 30 minutes or more, instead of 15 minutes, and be ready to get somewhat messy. The dough should be really soft and smooth, making it difficult to work with, without practice. Also be sure to adjust rise times according to your environment. I live in an area that's HOT during the summer and COLD during the winter, meaning shorter rise times in summer and longer rise times in winter. Ideally you want a warm kitchen, or room, to let your dough rise. To see a glimpse of how it's done, here's a video of malasada's being made at Leonard's, courtesy of KITV:

Here are some pictures of the ones I made. You'll see that the dough will tend to float in the oil at exactly the halfway mark of the malasada. When it's ready to flip, you can just nudge it with a wooden spoon, or whatever you're using, and it will flip over to fry the opposite side. It's quite easy and fun to do, just be careful not to splash hot oil around.

When you remove the malasadas to briefly drain, you'll notice that it seems hard/crispy and un-doughnut like. Don't freak out! It's natural for it to be like that at first. Once you let it sit for a bit, it quickly becomes soft (assuming you did it correctly). 

After a quick drain, roll it around in sugar and that's it! Serve it up while it's still hot! 

It's not an easy recipe and it takes time to master, but the benefits far outweigh any reason not to learn this recipe. Once perfected, you can do fundraisers, parties, birthdays and more. Especially if, like me, you live in the mainland. Good local recipes are hard to come by despite being in high demand!

Try this recipe and tell me what you like or didn't like. Feel free to contact me with questions too!

Peace & Poi,

Dis Hungry Hawaiian

Gramma's Chili and Zippy's Recipe!

Mmm, Chili. . . Who doesn't love chili? It's a seemingly simple dish with a complexity of flavors that can be molded to suit anyones craving. Best of all, it's good no matter what time of year it is. And everyone's got that Grandma, Grandpa, Aunty, Uncle, Mom or Dad that is known for making a killer bowl of chili. Some are known for making a ridiculously spicy chili, while others are known for making a mild but super savory chili. No matter what kind of chili it is, everyone loves it!

When I was young I would visit my grandparents every summer, and every summer I would learn a different recipe from my Gramma. Gramma was an awesome cook. She would make cooking, and cleaning, seem like a smallest of chores. The best part about her was that almost all of our vegetables came from her and Grandpa's garden. They were serious gardeners. She even taught me a system for cleaning dirty dishes as we made them, during the cooking process (best thing I ever learned in the kitchen). 

Coming from Hawaii to San Jose, the weather was kind of a shocker for me. Super hot days with freezing cold nights. I was already familiar with the heat but with night temperatures below 60 degrees, I was always wrapped up in a blanket or jacket or towel or whatever I could get to keep warm. I loved the cold though, as long as I had something to keep warm when I needed it. It always felt refreshing and clean. 

Well, one summer Gramma decided to teach me how to cook chili. What I loved about how she taught me things was that she would explain the whole process beforehand and while actually doing it she would go step by step on what we're doing and why we're doing it. I think the "why" was a key part in how I learned her recipes so easily. It's hard for me to do something without knowing the purpose or the outcome (applies to almost everything in life for me). 

So for her chili, we had to buy the ground beef from the store, but everything else came straight from her garden. I helped her chop up all the vegetables while she carefully watched me, correcting when I need it too. She would tell me about how all the veggies need to be cut around the same size so that it cooks evenly together. Most of the men were tall, on my father side of the family. Since I was also very tall, I was tasked with grabbing the big heavy pots that Gramma was somehow able to store in the tallest part of her cabinets but never able to retrieve, at least while I was in town. She liked making chili in her heavy duty enameled cast iron french oven (not a cheap kitchen accessory). After everything was    prepped and ready, we got started:

Gramma's Chili

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1-2 onions, chopped
• 1 med. green bell pepper, seeded & diced
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 cans stewed tomatoes
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 1 can kidney beans, drained & rinsed
• 1 can pinto beans, drained & rinsed
• 3 tbsp. chili powder
• 1 tbsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tbsp. brown sugar
• 1/2 tbsp. cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste
• water to cover
• flour & water for optional thickener 

Preparation:

1. In a large pot, combine ground beef, garlic, onions, bell peppers and sauté until meat is browned and veggies are tender.
2. Drain excess fat and add stewed tomatoes, tomato paste, all dry seasonings and water (to cover).
3. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring occasionally and adding water as needed, in 1/2 cup increments. 
4. Add kidney and pinto beans and simmer for additional 30 minutes.
5. Salt to taste.
6. Thicken with a mixture of flour and water, if needed.

If you make this recipe enough times, you'll learn how to thicken it up on it's own due to the tomato paste and pinto beans. But if you're on a budget and want to make little go a long way, you can thicken the chili with flour and water. Practice and patience is key.

After your chili is made, you can spruce it up with just about anything you want. Some like onions and cheese. Some like it in a bread bowl. In Hawaii we love it with rice. My personal favorite, however unhealthy it is, is with mayonnaise and on a heaping pile of rice. Yes, mayo! Just a spoonful is all it takes, but the chili becomes creamy and delicious!! There are numerous other things you can do with chili too, like throw it over homemade country fried potatoes and add some eggs (another personal favorite), or make an omelette, or just eat it straight up. Add some hotdogs or throw in on a hotdog. Options are endless. 

Also in Hawaii is a local restaurant called Zippy's. It's a local favorite known for their fried chicken and chili, among other things. Actually, their whole damn menu is pretty amazing. The best part is that you can buy their chili by the bucket! And their chicken, and their mac salad, and their rice. It's fairly common for locals to buy each, by the bucket, and combine it all for one meal. 

People for years in Hawaii have all speculated about Zippy's chili recipe. It seems like a simple mix of spices, ground beef, kidney beans and tomatoes but somehow making it at home just doesn't come out the same way. There's a creaminess to it that some have said was peanut butter and others said was well, cream. Since everything now days can be found on the internet, I decided to do a little digging and see what comes up. Sure enough I eventually found an scanned copy of the original 1969 Zippy's Chili recipe, as printed in the Star Bulletin in celebration of Hawaii's 10th year of statehood!! To my surprise, there was no peanut butter or cream in the ingredient list. There were, however, a couple of ingredients I wouldn't have imagined ever being put in chili. Without further adieu, I present Zippy's Chili Recipe:

Who woulda thought that ginger and ajinomoto was in there!?!?!?! And did you notice the bacon? Wow! Try it out and tell me what you think!

Peace & Poi,

Dis Hungry Hawaiian