Hawaiian Nights #3 Pudding

What else to eat on Hawaiian night but Pineapple Upside Down cake.

This was a particularly toothsome sweet treat but to go with it I thought I'd make a proper Island recipe called Haupia.

When I first read this recipe I imagined it would be like a coconut custard, a sort of tropical blancmange that would go nicely with the cakey goodness of the pineapple cake but by the time I'd finished my research I was beginning to worry as pictures showed something more like coconut ice, cut into cubes and served on ti leaf saucers.

Anyway, I went ahead and cooked the gloop, and stirred it, and stirred it and stirred it and then put it to set in the fridge.

Come serving time, oh my, it was still gloop and rather unattractive gloop at that. Think wallpaper paste, think porn films, think disgusting.

We did try to eat it, honestly, but we were all laughing too hard.

Hawaiian Nights #2 Main Course

O.k. so this isn't going to be quite the erotic feast of words I had planned for this entry but rather more of a quick summary for completeness.

Hawaii has imported a number of significant food crops, pineapples are extremely well known but actually on the decline as a major agricultural effort. In their place have come large plantations of Macadamia nuts. There is a similar nut tree indigenous to the islands but the nuts are coarser and not so lucrative on the world market. Macadamias have therefore assumed a key role in the island's cuisine.

Macadamia crusted Tofu is surprisingly good. Marinade slices of firm tofu in lime and salt for an hour or so, top with a crust made of melted vegan fat, crushed macadamia nuts, coarse large breadcrumbs (panko style) and a few green herbs and bake in a hot oven for 20 or so minutes.

We served this with a Potato and Celeriac mash (to substitute for Poi) and some foil wrapped parcels of cabbage leaves wrapped around vegetables in a slight imitation of Lau lau. Lacking ti leaves or even banana leaves to make the outer wrapping and without taro leaves for the inner casing meant authenticity was lost entirely but I was still pleased at the way the vegetables turned out and it's a great way to pre-prepare everything. We just popped the parcels of veg into the oven with the tofu steaks and everything cooked while the cocktails were going down.

As a side Lomi Tomatoes, a sort of salsa made from peeled well chopped tomatoes well mixed with finely chopped onion which was a vegan attempt at another Hawaiian favourite Lomi Lomi Salmon.

Still to come - pudding. Don't hold your breaths.

er what?

Yes, it's been a while.

The food experimenting hasn't stopped, in the interim I cooked a 13 course meal for 12 and even at this moment I'm chomping on a Kimchi sandwich made with our own cabbage and winter radish grown on the farm. It's good, but I was too timid with the chillies.

It's just that sometimes I wonder what it's all about. Who really cares what I do with my food after all.

Anyway, expect a small rash of postings while I catch up with the Hawaiian experiment and then it will be Yule.