By Request

By Catherine Kekoa Enomoto

Wednesday, September 3, 1997

By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
Taste-testing a coconut cake made from a recipe in the
Moiliili Senior Center cookbook are center members, from
left, Charles Mason, Ruth Miller, Shizuko Mukaida
and Bessie Imata.

Sweet ’n spicy
local treats

READER Lynn Stewart yearns for spicy Korean fare and coconut sweets. She seeks recipes for kalbi sauce, Chicken Alice's chicken wings, cucumber kim chee, Korean kook soo somen and Korean mandoo dumpling soup. Also, for moist coconut cake and Mililani Bakery (now closed) coconut turnovers.

"I am particularly interested in getting the exact texture of the cake," she wrote, "very light, moist and crumbly, but not spongy -- probably made with cake flour."

Recipes follow from the upcoming "The Tastes and Tales of Moiliili" cookbook for two coconut cakes, both made with cake flour, and for Koraku Restaurant's Korean-Style barbecue chicken. The cookbook premieres next month as a benefit for senior programs at Moiliili Community Center.

The book features more than 200 pages of recipes and stories by author Glen Grant of Honolulu TimeWalks. Local-style recipes include Gov. Cayetano's Favorite Chicken Adobo, Lt. Gov. Maizie Hirono's Tofu Salad, Willows coconut cream pie, Kona Inn banana bread, Waioli fried chicken, Waioli guava dressing and Waioli apple pie.

The cookbook premieres at the Oct. 25 Discover Moiliili Festival. Preorder the book by sending a $12.50 check ($10 plus $2.50 postage) made to: Moiliili Senior Center, 2535 S. King St., Honolulu, HI 96826. Call 955-1555 to charge to Mastercard or VISA.

Or send a $10 check and pick up the cookbook from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 25 at Moiliili Community Center. The price increases to $12 per book Oct. 26.

Meanwhile, can any readers help Stewart find her recipes?

Koraku's Korean-Style
Barbecue Chicken

1 pound boneless chicken thighs

Marinade:

3/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon shaved ginger
5 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1-1/2 teaspoons sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped green onions

Combine marinade ingredients. In a shallow baking pan, marinate chicken at least 2 hours. Grill and serve. Makes 2 to 4 servings.

Approximate nutritional analysis per serving, without skin: 340 calories, 12 grams total fat, 2 grams saturated fat, 95 milligrams cholesterol, 2,850 milligrams sodium. Per serving, with skin: 440 calories, 25 grams total fat, 6 grams saturated fat, 95 milligrams cholesterol, 2,850 milligrams sodium.*

Butter Cake with Coconut Frosting

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
5 large eggs
3 cups cake flour
4-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 box (4 ounces) lemon pie filling

Frosting:

2 egg whites
1 cup white corn syrup
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup grated fresh coconut

Cream butter; add sugar gradually and beat until light. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift dry ingredients together. Add alternately to butter with milk, starting and ending with dry mixture. Add extracts and pour into buttered 10-by-15-inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until done. Cool. Fill with lemon pie filling, prepared according to box directions.

To prepare frosting, beat egg whites until frothy. Heat corn syrup and salt until mixture begins to boil. Slowly add hot syrup to beaten egg whites, beating until stiff and of spreading consistency; add vanilla. Frost cake and sprinkle coconut on top. Makes 12 servings.

Approximate nutritional analysis per serving, using unpacked coconut: 550 calories, 22 grams total fat, 13 grams saturated fat, 150 milligrams cholesterol, 450 milligrams sodium.*

Ono Coconut Cake

3 cups cake flour
1-1/2 cups sugar
1-2/3 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 egg whites
1-1/2 cups fresh or canned coconut milk
1-1/2 cups fresh or packaged grated coconut

Sift together flour, sugar and baking powder. Add salt to egg whites and beat until stiff but not too dry. Beat coconut milk into dry ingredients until smooth. Fold in coconut and egg whites. Pour into 2 greased and floured 9-inch pans. Bake at 350 degrees 35 to 40 minutes or until done.

Cool. Frost with white frosting. Sprinkle generously with more grated coconut, if desired. Makes 10 servings.

Approximate nutritional analysis per serving: 370 calories, 13 grams total fat, 10 grams saturated fat, no cholesterol, 400 milligrams sodium. Per serving with low-fat coconut milk with less than 1 gram fat per tablespoon: 320 calories, 8 grams total fat, 6 grams saturated fat, no cholesterol, 410 milligrams sodium.*