As, to the Mayans, human beings had been born from corn, so Hawaiians were born from taro, the vital staple food of the historical Hawaiians. The younger leaves of the kalo plant (aka taro) are identified as “lu’au,” a word that also implies to gather and rejoice whilst ingesting lu’au, a dish made with all those leaves, coconut milk and chicken or squid.
It is a phrase we use casually in Hawai’i, usually with little thought to its roots, indicating not only the displays with fireplace knife dancers and hula in Waikiki but the relatives gatherings celebrating graduations and birthday parties in our backyards. To me, the term lu’au is only jarring when taken out of the context of Hawai’i.
I was born into a point out of perpetual homesickness, my coronary heart and my loved ones rooted in two island territories, Hawai’i and Hong Kong. As a youngster, I was raised in both equally spots, and if you check with me where I’m from I’ll say “Hawai’i Hong Kong” in a single two times-aspirated breath, like my residences are a person conjoined place.
Now residing on the mainland and away from both facet of my family, my homesickness and comfort-foods cravings manifest them selves into shoyu hen in excess of rice, congee topped with smoky kalua pig, Spam musubi, spring rolls and wontons fried right up until crispy golden brown and then drenched in vinegar. I codified the food stuff recollections of my youth for Poi Doggy, a restaurant in Philadelphia that, in the course of the pandemic, also grew to become a memory. Opening the cafe pressured me to solution dishes and flavors much less haphazardly. The dishes I grew up on experienced to be turned into recipes and taught to line cooks to be replicated about and around and shared with the inhabitants of my new mainland house.
Contemporary taro leaves, specially the youthful types ordinarily applied for lu’au, are often hard to come by on the East Coastline (while at times found in Caribbean marketplaces). But I observed a acceptable replacement for them with collard greens. At Poi Pet dog, we rotated a variation of “lu’au” dishes, producing it with rooster, pork and squid. For specific functions, we topped it with brief pickled chiles and pork floss (fried, dried and shredded seasoned meat), dressing it up like Chinese congee (rice porridge). Earning it allays my homesickness for both of those Hawai’i and Hong Kong.
Collards are loaded in anti-oxidants and vitamins and minerals like potassium, folate, vitamin K (which assists you soak up calcium) and fiber, essential for gut health and fitness. It can be a dish I usually make for my private-dining customers, who are usually athletes or abide by rigid diet programs. It has turn out to be a kind-of top secret weapon, considering that I can make it for approximately anyone following a certain nutritional pattern—it’s gluten-cost-free, dairy-free, vegan and more.
It is also a dish that can be made significantly in advance and frozen into lazy weeknight meal parts. Blend it into the regularity of congee and it will scratch that itch of currently being a warming thick porridge. Leave sections of it unblended and it will be infinitely more fulfilling on your Thanksgiving table than creamed spinach. I like to thaw it to consume along with rice and a rotisserie chicken from the store. And any time I consider a chunk, it tastes like both equally of my houses.
