Hapa Farm Girl: Shiso

For this Hapa Farm Girl edition, I am going to introduce you to some herbs that I've started from seed, called shiso.

In Japanese cooking, there are two types of Shiso. First is the green variety, that you are probably most familiar garnishing a sashimi plate. The leaves (ohba) is used all sorts of ways, whole and salted to wrap around onigiri, chopped or shredded to top dishes, or as a garnish to platters like the aforementioned sashimi. The flower buds (hojiso) are usually salted or pickled, or added to soy sauce as as fragrant dipping sauce. while even the sprouts (mejiso) are used on dishes. My mom eats them like a rabbit, but especially loves the variety used to roll up in her favorite Vietnamese dish. 

wikipedia's picture of Shiso ohba

Shiso is a herb of the perilla family, related to the mint. It used to be called the "beefsteak plant" in the English speaking world, but thank goodness the Japanese name is winning that war, because I think of large beefsteak tomatoes with that name, not the herb. It is broad and leafy, with a wonderful aroma and tang, kind of like a cross between basil and mint.

Spam Musubi: Hapa Food

Spam Musubis are probably the most famous hapa food. Go into any self respecting Hawaiian food joint and it has a place on the menu. Go into any Japanese American market and you will see a nice tidy row of Spam, often with musubi makers right next to them.

Why is Spam so ubiquitous in Hawaii? Well during the World War II, it was difficult to transport fresh meat to the soldiers that were there on the Japanese/American war front.  Enter spam. Of course, surplus from the soldiers made their way into civilian kitchens.  Hawaii has a big Japanese American population, so its only natural that they would take the meat and use it in a way most familiar to them: wrapped up in nori and rice.

Now a lot of Americans look down on Spam as being a poor person's food, "mystery meat," trashy food, or generally disgusting canned meat.  Next time you hear someone denouncing Spam, ask them if they have ever actually tried it. Chances are, they actually haven't tried it but they are just parroting a stigma. They are like food racists! I just say don't knock it 'til you've tried it.

Las Amigas: Downtown Los Angeles

My mother takes frequent trips to the Los Angeles Fashion Distict, a sprawling 100 block behemoth of wholesale fabric, clothing, shoes, jewelry, and flowers. Since she sews, she first went there for fabric and notions, but it has become a mecca for her for their amazing flowers as well as clothes. My prom dress was bought there, as well as my graduation lei. The nice thing about the L.A. Fashion District is that you can find something unique that no one shopping at the mall will find. Cash talks, haggling is accepted, and my mother turns into a Baghdad trader, wheeling and dealing.

Once she was shopping for fabric trim and flowers for Mother's Day, she realized she was famished. She asked the shop owner where the closest place to grab a bite was. He pointed directly across the street, to a place she didn't even realize was a restaurant.

Las Amigas is a teeny little shop, with a seating area right across the alley that leads to parking.  It is definitely not the flashiest place, and if you're looking for slick atmosphere you are certainly not going to find it here. I can safely call it "hole in the wall" territory. But she toodled over there anyways and ordered a chile relleno. You know it's ethnic when a Southern California native with a working understanding of espanol has to point to what she wants because they couldn't understand what she wanted. It didn't matter-- it was delicious.

Bubble Up Pizza

I've been having a rough week. Since I haven't been doing much other than sleeping and working, cooking has not been a top priority. But my boyfriend and I have a new no fast food rule.

Fast food is great on occasion. I will never be one to bash a juicy delicious double double, or french fries. But it should be for ultra casual get-togethers with friends, not dinners with your significant other.  Its expensive both on the wallet and waistline.

And believe me, my wallet and waistline need all the help they can get!

To the rescue: cheap and easy no brainer foods for when I'm craving something horrible.

Puppy Chow

I had tons of leftover chex, from the Nori Furikake Chex Mix, so I decided to make some puppy chow.

My good friend Riki was the first person to show me this recipe.  I've known Riki since elementary school, so I'm not sure exactly when she first showed me, but it was at an age where we probably weren't trusted with sharp knives that would be needed for anything more difficult. So probably sometime last year... lol just kidding!

It is definitely a good girl's get together food, and I am pretty sure we first made this at a sleepover.   It is super easy to make, tastes amazing, and has all the elements of a good recipe for friends to make together:

A) You get to shake everything at the end
B) No oven, no stove, just a microwave
C) You get to fight over who gets to lick the bowl vs spoon
D) There's no waiting for them to cool down like baked goods, where someone always burns their tongue, usually me

Okay that makes me sound like a special ed kid, but really sometimes simple is better, especially when you're doing nails, watching movies, and making something delicious all in the same night.

Nori Furikake Chex Mix: Hapa Food

Furikake is a dry Japanese condiment usually sprinkled over rice. It contains things like: dried fish flakes, sesame seeds, tiny bits of seaweed, egg, teeny shrimp, wasabi, and usually flavored with salt or soy. My favorite to sprinkle over rice is the one with lots of savory bonito tuna flakes, called katsuobushi.

A typical furikake bottle

Now I am sure everyone reading this blog knows what chex mix is. It is something very American, at home at casual parties and tailgates. Game day snack food, it has also seen many a college dorm study session.  My boyfriend always picks out the rye chips out of chex mix. And all the red sour patch kids out of my sour patch kids. With impunity.

Setting aside my boyfriend's annoying quirks, this is a traditional hapa food, taking American chex mix and putting a twist on it. Before commercial chex mixes were in stores, chex cereal was spiced up at home.  This is the Japanese American version.

Chocolate Berry Jam

Continuing my obsession with words, this recipe was originally called "Sundae in a Jar" which I took issue with. I've never had a sundae with raspberries in it. I think of sundae flavor principles as chopped peanuts, whipped cream, maraschino cherries and hot fudge. So I changed this to "Chocolate Berry Jam" because it has nothing to do with sundaes. Although I encourage you to make this yourself, and see if you disagree.

Using fresh strawberries, from Manassero's Farms of course, this is easily my new favorite preserve. It is so bright and fresh, like all good berry jams, but the chocolate brings it to a new level. I want to spoon it over angel food cake and top it with fresh berries. Or just eat it with a spoon. I'm down with that too. Or in a chocolate layer cake! Literally I have been wanting to stuff this in everything. I did not even know chocolate liqueur existed! I ended up going to Bevmo to find it, because Stater Brother's didn't have any chocolate liqueur. I must have expensive taste, because this jam is not only my new favorite preserve, but wins the award for the most expensive. The liqueur alone was 30 dollars!  However, I have plenty more liqueur to make more, since it only has a little bit mixed in this recipe.