Date I made these recipes:
August 28, 2014 (recognizing Hawaii's
55th anniversary as a state of the Union)
We, the Women of Hawaii Cookbook – Favorite Recipes of Prominent Women of Hawaii
Published by: Press Pacifica
ISBN: 0-916630-47-1;
revised edition 1986
Purchased at Talk Story Books, Hanapepe, Hawaii
Recipe: Chicken Waikiki
– p. 123
A Taste of Aloha – A
Collection of Recipes from The Junior League of Honolulu
Published by: The
Junior League of Honolulu
ISBN: 0-9612484-0-8;
First Printing September, 1983
Purchased at Talk Story Books, Hanapepe, Hawaii
Recipe: Regency Royals (bars) – p. 30, submitted by
Adele Davis
Well, Alo-ha everybody!
On August 21, 2014, Hawaiians everywhere were (hopefully) celebrating
their 55th year as a state of the union. Prior to becoming our 50th state
55 years ago, Hawaii was a territory of the United States, same as Puerto Rico,
Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and the (who knew?) Northern Mariana Islands. (The Northern Mariana Islands
are located between the Philippines
and Japan...sort
of.) Hawaii
was always popular: in addition to being
a tourist destination, the military made some of the Hawaiian islands home to
military bases (my dad shipped out from Maui
in WWII) as well as R&R outposts for Vietnam War military personnel. Still, life as a territory (technically, a
Commonwealth) is tricky as you're governed by the federal government rather
than a shared federal and state government and well...there are issues. Statehood is much better!
So hooray for Hawaii
for getting the last fender in on statehood. Now all of us visitors can move freely about
the [tropical] cabin (and from island to island) and this is a good thing.
As to Hawaiian food, I've posted a few recipes in this blog
from Hawaiian cookbooks and I think even Hawaiians would be hard-pressed to
come up with truly native food. Early
on, Hawaii
was populated with Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos and Portuguese transplants (to
name a few) and their food soon became Hawaiian food. Over the years, transplants from other
countries have just added to the mix.
Additionally, Hawaiian cookbooks published by groups like The Junior
League started including (as they all do), favorite recipes for casseroles or
appetizers or soups that are definitely not Hawaiian.
So when selecting recipes for this blog post, I tried to
find recipes that at least included Hawaiian ingredients and this is why you
are getting two recipes containing macadamia nuts. And let me tell you, these suckers are so
expensive that I considered flying back to Hawaii to pick them up at the airport for a
lot less money. As it is, I sourced mine
at the Seward Co-Op. (Note: Macadamia nuts are not indigenous to Hawaii but rather, Australia. Please store this
information for future use in a quiz show.)
So, let's look at Cookbook #1, We, the Women of Hawaii
Cookbook. I loved this cookbook
because it contained an entire chapter called Island Recipes. This is
where I found the recipe for Chicken
Waikiki which is coated with macadamia nuts. Other recipes included Miso Soup; Shrimp Tempura;
Lomi Lomi; Shrimp Chinese; Fried Mahi
Mahi and Korean Ribs. I could have easily made several of these
recipes. By comparison, I was
disappointed in the Fish chapter as almost every recipe called for either
shrimp or lobster or shrimp and lobster.
Huh. I guess the few recipes in
the Island Recipes section are it for the time being but that makes sense given
that the cookbook was published in 1986.
Now, every menu in Hawaii
has several fish options.
Two interesting items of note about this book: First, "We, the Women of Hawaii,"
is the name of a club originating in 1946, to protest a general utility
strike. Mrs. E. E. Black, who started
these strikes, said "There is nothing a woman can not do, once she makes
up her mind," and from that the We, the Women of Hawaii club was
born. Alas, I cannot find any
information that tells me whether or not the club still exists. Maybe it's taken on another name and another
purposes—that would be fun.
The second interesting thing about this book is that it used
to be a library book and the inside front cover is loaded with due date stamps,
as well as the card catalog information using the Dewey Decimal System. Well,
if this doesn't bring me back to my high school student librarian days, I don't
know what will! Love this unexpected
added touch.
As to the recipe, we loved it! The chicken was moist and tender and the
macadamia nuts made for a nice crust.
Although the recipe said to "dice" the macadamia nuts, I found
it far easier to use my mini food processor to do the chopping. This recipe is to be served with a chutney
sauce and I have to say we were split on this:
Andy wasn't too keen on it, saying that the sauce was too thick. I thought it was fine although the batch was
huge. No way could we use that much
sauce! I also baked the chicken breasts
whole even though the recipe called for small dices that you then loaded onto a
toothpick along with pineapple and parsley.
Not sure about that parsley part.
The second cookbook du jour, A Taste of Aloha, is a compilation of recipes from The Junior League of Honolulu (Junior League: they're everywhere!). Surprisingly, this cookbook, published three
years before We the Women of Hawaii
Cookbook, contains a lot of (native) fish recipes. Not that I'm all that fond of fish, mind you,
but I like to see recipes match the location.
Again, it was hard to choose from some of the recipes, especially those
in the Luau section ("serves 20" is a bit of a problem), but since I
already had the chicken recipe lined up, I went with dessert. Since I was on a roll with the macadamia
nuts, I decided to make Regency Royals, bars made with macadamia
nuts and shredded coconut, topped with a orange juice, lemon juice and chopped
macadamia nut frosting.
So here's the thing about these bars: they're pretty dense and gooey and I'm not
sure that was the intended result. You
see, I knowingly and willingly baked them with "old" baking powder. And here's why: evil food manufacturer's must still think
that everybody is baking themselves silly and so they put things like baking
powder into cans that I will never use up "in time," never mind that
the cans are on the small side. And I
hate to waste things. So...I had an
unopened can of baking powder in my pantry but I was loathe to open it because
I hadn't used up half the can of the stuff I opened already...in 2011!
So I crossed my fingers and made the bars anyway and they
were good if not a bit gooey. Maybe they
are supposed to be that way, in which case, I win! If not, oh well, we ate them anyway. Still, this poses a problem: the holidays will soon be upon us and that is
the one time I do bake. So it's likely
that the new can will be opened and then sit there but better that than to take
a chance of a complete holiday Armageddon in the baking department!
Now this book wasn't library stamped like the last one but I
loved the simplistic two-color drawings of Hawaiian flowers that separated each
chapter by artist, Pegge Hopper. Shall I
just tell you that for the first time ever, I'm tempted to deface my own book
and cut them out? (No, I shall not tell
you that. Forget I said it.)
And with that, Hau`oli la Ho'omana'o! (Happy
Anniversary, Hawaii!)
Chicken Waikiki – serving size not stated
*Requires 30 minutes to marinate
1 lb chicken cutlets (boned – skinned)
¼ c. dry sherry
¼ c. lemon juice
3 T. Worcestershire sauce
½ c. flour
1 egg (beaten)
½ c. Macadamia nuts (diced)
½ c. dry unseasoned bread crumbs (Ann's Note: the book said "crimbs." Ah, the days before spellcheck...)
¾ c. mayonnaise
¼ c. prepared mustard
3 T. chutney (Ann's Note:
I used Major Grey's)
Cut chicken into 1 in. cubes (Ann's Note: I left them whole). Place in a bowl. Combine sherry, lemon juice, and
Worcestershire sauce. Pour over chicken,
toss to coat completely. Marinate for 30
minutes.
Place flour in one bowl and egg in another bowl and combine
macadamia nuts and bread crumbs in the third bowl. Remove chicken from the marinade. Dip chicken first in flour, then in egg, then
coat with macadamia nut mixture.
Place chicken in a single layer on a greased shallow baking
pan. Bake (uncovered) in a preheated
oven at 350 until chicken is cooked through and browned, about 20 minutes. (Ann's Note:
if you are using whole breasts, bake another 10 minutes.). Skewer on toothpicks with pineapple chucks
and parsley.
Serve with chutney sauce.
To make the sauce, combine mayonnaise, mustard and chutney (recipe says
to chop the chutney). Refrigerate until
ready to serve.
Regency Royals – makes
2 ½ dozen
Crust
1 cup sifted flour
½ cup butter
Filling
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 ½ cups brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tablespoons flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup shredded coconut
1 cup chopped macadamia nuts
Orange-Lemon Frosting
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon lemon juice
½ cup chopped macadamia nuts
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix flour and butter. Press into
a 9-inch square baking pan. Bake for 15
minutes.
In a bowl, combine eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, salt
and vanilla. Stir in coconut and
nuts. Spread over warm crust and bake at
375 degrees for 20 minutes. When cool,
ice with Orange-Lemon Frosting.
For the frosting: mix
butter and sugar together. Add juices. Spread over Regency bars and sprinkle nuts on
top.
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