Recipes

[Mothertrucker]

The Hawaiians actually sort of over cook their macaroni..so cook a little softer or "fatter" than "Al Dente" for this one...Tastes just like plate lunch style

• 1 (1 lb.) box macaroni
• 2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 2 carrots, shredded
• 1/4 c. onion, shredded or 4 thinly sliced scallions
• 2 1/2 c. Best Foods (or Hellman's) mayonnaise... no substitutes!
• 1/4 c. whole milk
• 2 tsp. sugar
• kosher salt & pepper, to taste

Instructions

• Cook macaroni - Drain well and place macaroni in a large bowl 
• While macaroni is still hot, sprinkle on vinegar and add carrot and onion. Toss together until well combined. Allow to cool for about 10-15 minutes.(otherwise the milk and mayo will curdle if its not cooled off)
• In a separate bowl, whisk together mayo, milk, and sugar. 
• Fold mayo mixture into the macaroni until  evenly coated. Add salt and pepper to taste. 
• Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours (best if overnight). Gently stir before serving (adding a little more milk if needed, no more than a Tbsp. or two).

[KingstonsMom]

Sounds good, but I'm curious what makes it Hawaiian?

[Mrsq2022]

This does sound like that plate-lunch macaroni salad.  The grated carrot, the shredded onion and vinegar, sugar and the milk are all things that I think of as pretty unique to the Hawaiian style.  Some of the macaroni salads receives I normally see call for things like egg, chopped onion, more mayo (no milk) and maybe chopped red peppers and onions. I like the Hawaiian style

[Campion]

To answer your question, a favorite lunch at diner-type restaurants in Hawaii is the "Plate Lunch." This is cheap food based on filling lunches for plantation workers. The plate has a 2 scoops of rice, a scoop of this macaroni salad (the vinegar, scallion and carrot are a Japanese influence) and a meat. The meat can be Japanese style breaded pork cutlet, poke (a raw tuna like ceviche, which is my addiction in Hawaii), hamburger with gravy (topped with an egg), or pulled pork. They also have laulau which is pork and salmon steamed in a leaf wrapper as one of the meats. Can also find teriyaki or fried fish. 

It used to cost about five or six bucks, now it's usually about eight--which is a huge amount of food for short money if someone is really, really hungry. 

[momtochloe]

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@Campion wrote:

To answer your question, a favorite lunch at diner-type restaurants in Hawaii is the "Plate Lunch." This is cheap food based on filling lunches for plantation workers. The plate has a 2 scoops of rice, a scoop of this macaroni salad (the vinegar, scallion and carrot are a Japanese influence) and a meat. The meat can be Japanese style breaded pork cutlet, poke (a raw tuna like ceviche, which is my addiction in Hawaii), hamburger with gravy (topped with an egg), or pulled pork. They also have laulau which is pork and salmon steamed in a leaf wrapper as one of the meats. Can also find teriyaki or fried fish. 

It used to cost about five or six bucks, now it's usually about eight--which is a huge amount of food for short money if someone is really, really hungry. 

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Campion, would that be a brown gravy made from the hamburger patty and I am assuming a sunny side up egg.  That sounds delicious and I would love to try it along with a big scoop of that macaroni salad, yum!

[Mothertrucker]

Campion, I love the "Loco-Moco" too! 

and IG, i just wongly assumed that everyone knows what Hawiian BBQ is..I was wrong, I guess there are many who have never been to a L& L BBQ or to the Islands themselves, and not expereinced, Spam Musubi, Katsu Chicken, Loco Moc nd other Hawaiian Plate lunch faves..

[FunkyHulaGirl]

Ohhh....I miss L&L!    And now I have to see if I have Huli Huli sauce...if not, I'll have to ask a friend to send me some. (Although it's not the same huli huli chicken sold at the side of the road....)  (sigh) 

The good news is, I have some Hawaiian goodies on the way from ABC Stores! 

[Campion]

Yes, that would be brown gravy--try not to use the packets, they are pretty vile these days. A good brown gravy. It IS called "Loco Moco" as Mothertrucker mentioned. It was invented to fill up some high school kids. My husband liked a variation of it--egg on hamburger, no gravy and rice. 

A Hawaiian kid used to cook dinner for me in college (he went to Punaho, same as the President.) We didn't get good food in the dorm, and Sundays were no dinner at all--so he'd cook things in the rice cooker. And he gave me a Hawaiian cookbook I still have and enjoy. 

By the way, I tried that mac salad. I'm not a big fan of mac salad but this is delicious! The scallion, carrot and touch of vinegar make it very good. 

[Campion]

The food we had on Kauai was mostly not great--but I fell in love with poke ahi tuna. We had spam musubi --everyone loved it until the one person realized it was pork and she doesn't eat pork. Ok, Spam makes a turkey spam, use that at home. Or use omelet. You don't need to use Spam. I sent her a musubi mold--these are great for kids' finger food. 

The fruits were fantastic, especially the apple bananas, my favorite variety. Salads were good. Fresh produce. Otherwise, the food was rather ordinary. We did try the famous hotdog from Puka Dog and I liked it but it didn't send me over the moon. It was very sweet. (Pineapple relish.) 

Most people don't know the Island foods--which are a mix of Japanese, Filipino, Chinese, Portuguese, Native Hawaiian and American.