Ryukyu Chakan

Helping friends look for and buy taiko drums, uniforms and equipment to send back to Hawaii, went to lunch at this little shop, Ryukyu Chakan, off Kokusai Dori in Naha. Primarily a Chinese tea shop, there was only one dish available for lunch. Below is owner Yutaka Yamashiro and his assistant.



Dish was a ground pork and shiitake mushroom mix, and greens mix served over rice. Also a couple pieces shoyu pork. Included was corn soup, daikon tsukemono and a dessert of milk cream. Was very, very oishii! When I do go back to Kokusai Dori, I will most definitely go here again.





Ryukyu Chakan
1-3-17 Makishi
Naha City, Okinawa 900-0013
098-862-3031

Batayaki

The other night I went out to dinner with some friends visiting from Hawaii and went to this restaurant very, very near to where I live - Sabani. It's a place that specializes in "Okinawan Seafood". Little history - a sabani is a traditional Okinawan wooden fishing boat.

Usually eat tempura there, but decided to eat a dish that my daughter loves to eat whenever she visits. It's just called "Batayaki". Grilled fish with a butter and garlic sauce that you pour over or dip into. Comes with rice, salad and miso soup (lots of nori and aburage). Really delicious! Only cost 1,000 yen. Was special of the day, regular 1,200 yen.

This is another fish dish someone tried, called "Masuni". Is very simply done, steamed with just salt I was told.

The batayaki's fish is tama (tai or red snapper). The masuni's fish is hokke (sea bream).

Sabani
2-6-3 Mihama
Chatan-cho, Okinawa-ken
098-936-1215

Hone Jiru 2

This week got a chance to go back to Gajimaru shokudo and eat hone jiru again. I wrote about it in an earlier post. This time I had my camera and could take a larger picture. Last one was from a friend's camera phone.

Here it is - pig backbones done Okinawan-style - very, very similar to Chinese-Hawaiian oxtail soup. Oishii!

Steamed Pork Hash w/ Salted Fish

Old favorite last night - steamed pork hash (gee yuk baang) with salted dried fish (hum nyee). Dish I grew up with.

Just ground pork mixed with some shoyu, cornstarch and sesame oil, spread on dish, topped with soaked piece salted dried fish, sprinkled with julienned ginger, and steamed 20~30 minutes or until pork is cooked. Usually mix in the pork chopped up water chestnuts, green onions, black mushrooms and chung choi, when I have the inclination or have the things on hand.

My mother used to make a variation at least once a week. Pork was cheap, still is actually. Particularly remember:

• salted duck eggs (whites mixed in pork, yolks on top)
• lup cheong (sliced, laid on top)
• hum nyee (soaked piece on top)
• dried cuttlefish (soaked, thin sliced, mixed in pork)

Have to get the salted fish from Hawaii (strange as it may seem with China so close to Okinawa but can't find much here, long route for ALL my Chinese ingredients: China - Hawaii - Okinawa).

Another way my mother prepared hum nyee was to just put a soaked piece in a dish with some julienned ginger over and steam it in with the rice while cooking.

Hum nyee is so smelly (to most but not to me, gets the saliva going), but oh so delicious with rice!

Chinese Herbal Chicken Soup

This is soup I sort of grew up with that my mother made quite often. And I got an urging for it again. So looked for herb packets at Sun Chong when I was home getting the jai ingredients. Didn't have a chance to go to herbal shops where my mother always bought hers since time was tight. Settled for the nowadays commercially packaged stuff. Widely made throughout Asian countries. Many different variations too.

It was pretty good! Enjoyed it last night and have a couple more bowls in the refrigerator. Just chopped up some chicken, boiled it in water a while, then added the dried ingredients from the packet, and simmered for an hour.

Below is picture of the packet. Has pearl barley, lotus seed, dioscoreae (Chinese yam), lily bulb and foxnut. Added some goji berries and red dates. Will be making this often. It's very good for your health.

Three Minute Eggs

In conjunction with my earlier post on Onsen Tamago, here is my preference - soft boiled eggs or 3 Minute Eggs.

The eggs are put into already boiling water and boiled for 3 minutes. Then put into cool water and peeled quickly. How simple is that! Results are that the white is pretty firm and the yolks are still very runny.

I then just break the yolks, gently chop up the whites and add some shoyu. This is my favorite way for eggs.

Jai

Only cooked one time when I was home (not including a hibachi session). One reason I did go home was to be there for Chinese New Year's (Feb. 18) so I could cook jai for my family. Lots of ingredients and lots of prep time (soaking and cleaning of the dried stuff which my daughter painstakingly did, she also took the picture).

I make it here in Okinawa when I get the urge, then freeze in portions so I can eat it when I feel like it. Usually make at least a 6-quart pot of it. All kinds of tasty Chinese stuff - all vegetables! Almost all of which I need to bring back with me or have sent to me from Hawaii. I have a store in Chinatown (Sun Chong) that sends me what I need or want. My cousins Ann and Shirley take care of me!

For those who don't know what jai is, it's Chinese Monk's Food, hence only vegetables. But you may notice there are a few exceptions, especially in the seasoning sauce. I use the braised method. This dish is traditionally always eaten as the first meal in the morning on New Year's Day.

Ingredients I put in this time:

• dried mushrooms (doong goo) - spring, opportunities
• dried bean curd sticks (foo jook) - house blessings
• dried lily buds (gum choi) - wealth
• driedblack fungus (chin yee)
• dried tree ear fungus (ha mok yi) - longevity
• long rice (fun see) - long life
• dried black moss or hairy 'seaweed' (fat choy) - wealth
• gingko nuts (bak ko) - silver ingots, good fortune
• water chestnuts (matai) - unity
• fried tofu or aburage (chow doufu) - house blessings
• Chinese cabbage (won bok)
• bamboo shoots (jook tseng) - long life
• peanuts (far sung) - birth
• dried chestnuts

Seasoning sauce based on red bean curd (nam yue) and yellow bean curd (tofu mui), but also includes a little dried scallops (gong yau gee), oyster sauce (how yau), hoisin sauce, star anise, shoyu and sugar. Plus chicken broth.

But didn't have a favorite though - lotus root (lin gnau), looked for it but couldn't find any in neighborhood markets, though Chinatown probably had.

Each ingredient has a special meaning for New Year symbols as shown. Can also add:

• dried oysters (ho see) - good luck, good things
• snow peas (lam dao) - unity
• carrots, sliced (hong lao bok) - gold coins, wealth
• arrowroot (fun kok) - good life

If I remember to buy, never take a list, just sorta do it from memory.

Poke Stop

A place I had been wanting and waiting to go to for months after seeing it in various food blogs. I was able to meet up with Kat of Our Adventures in Japan for lunch at Poke Stop in Waipahu.

She mentioned about our lunch in her blog. Wanted to try so many things but the one thing I was always thinking about was the Surf & Turf.

Here is my picture of my lunch, different angle from hers. The shrimp were very, very delicious! But was disappointed with the kalbi. Was kinda tough. Not the easiest to chew and savor though the flavor was OK. With scoop rice and kinda really manini (tiny) scoop of their "special" potato salad (actually really nothing very special about it).

Don't know if I would make the trip again out there to specifically eat there like I did this time unless I had something else to do in the area. There are many other good places in Waipahu to eat. Was disappointed.

Put Poke Stop's shrimp with Kiawe Grill's kalbi and that would be a real winner!

Kiawe Grill @ Old Stadium Mall

Night before I left, decided to go and get take-out and eat at home to enjoy my last night together with family, so went to Kiawe Grill at the Old Stadium Mall in Moiliili.

Choice was kalbi. So two regular plates - one kalbi ($8.75) and one grilled shrimp & kalbi ($9.75). The kalbi plate had 5 slices and a mass of rice. The grilled shrimp & kalbi had three slices kalbi besides the shrimp and also a mass of rice.

The shrimp was kind of tough, like over-cooked, maybe was just reheated, with the shrimp meat really sticking to shells!

But the kalbi was great. Really, really good! Very tender! Very tasty! The flavor with the smokey kiawe grilled taste is one of the best! Probably also true with rest of the kiawe grilled offerings!



Second pix is some of the banchan (sides) can get. Left has Korean shoyu potatoes, blanched choi sum, chap chae and bean sprouts namul - unspicey for grand daughter. Right has cabbage kim chee, cucumber kim chee, cabbage namul and hidden underneath gourd namul. Allowed with regular plate to take 4 different sides up to 16 oz. per plate! Left one was 15 oz., right 14 oz.

My son-in-law also had a regular hamburger deluxe ($4.75) which he said was ONO! The two plates plus the burger was more than enough to sate 3-1/2 of us!

Think Kiawe Grill will be a regular place for my family now. Next time I'm home, going to try the kiawe grilled BBQ beef, BBQ pork, lamb chops, pork chops...



Close up of kalbi and shrimp - at least shrimp looked good.

AMC Flight Box Meal

Trips I take to and from Okinawa to Hickam when going on leave (vacation) are on USAF Air Mobility Command aircraft on a space available basis. Overseas we get two trips a year. Best of all is that it's free! This time, going to Hawaii rode a KC-10, returning yesterday rode a KC-135.

Only cost is if you want a box lunch. Only $3.65! No regular seats, no cabin attendants, no booze, but can't beat it! Was very thirsty for a beer when I finally got home to my apartment!

Sorry, but I ate half the turkey and cheese sandwich before I remembered to take a picture. The sandwich was pretty good! Lots of meat and cheese. Cup of applesauce, apple, carton of milk, Oreos, chewing gum and a muffin dessert. Plus a bottle of water.

Back to my own cooking now in Okinawa.

10 hour flight time direct to Kadena AB from Hickam. Only direct flight there is between Hawaii and Okinawa. Plus getting there 2 hours earlier though. Worth the web seating and sleeping on the metal floor (actually a plus, can stretch out with a couple blankets I bring with me)!

Makino Chaya @ Aloha Tower Marketplace

Back in Okinawa after a two week vacation at home. Free trip but that's another story.

The first place I went with my family was the new Makino Chaya at the Aloha Tower Marketplace for the lunch buffet. One word comment - GREAT! Another word - AWESOME!

Pixs are of plates with my first pass with my favorite foods - shrimp and crab legs! There's shrimp tempura, breaded shrimp, garlic shrimp, clam soup, kabayaki unagi, King crab legs (some plain steamed shrimp above the crab legs) and some pork siu mai. And a dish of butter.

Sorry but after my first plate(s) I forgot about the camera!

There's also snow crab legs available - everything is never ending! Snow crabs are easier to eat but the King crabs taste much better.

And it's only $12.99 per person!

I really liked the clams in a clearish soup!

Also lots of sushi, sashimi, gyoza, stir-fried dishes, roast beef (I've heard), oysters-on-the-half shell, and a salad bar available - a FEAST!

Easily at this point the best lunch buffet in Honolulu in my opinion! Beats Todai's lunch buffet hands down! My other plates were just crab legs! Family ate through whole mess of crab legs! Had plate of crab leg shells 5''~ 6'' high!

Brings up only problem of place (at least that day), staff did not clear dishes from table unless asked and still took a while before actually do. Ended up putting on empty adjacent, uncleared tables. There wasn't even a place where you could do yourself if wanted. But all in all it is really a fantastic buffet, well worth it.



My grand daughter getting into her piece of mochiko chicken. Also a shrimp tempura, some noodles and a couple sushi (including a little inari sushi).

2-1/2 years old, here she's checking out some musical entertainment downstairs in the center court after we finished eating.