By Request

By Betty Shimabukuro

Wednesday, May 19, 1999

Sam Choy's Island Flavors cookbook.

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Grandkids enjoy
their shrimp

Ruth Sato's three grandchildren are on the finicky side, but they do love shrimp.

She has 5 pounds of the stuff and she'd like to make them happy, so she called in search of a recipe for garlic shrimp.

The grandkids should consider themselves lucky. Sato says her own children ate what she served, even if it was liver.

Her trick was to fix it, set it out, then call out, "Kids, 'Mickey Mouse Club' is on," and they'd sit and eat it without knowing what it was. Dirty trick -- guess that proves what a distraction television really is.

With the grandkids, Sato says, she sneaks pureed vegetables into their creamed soups, peas and carrots into their macaroni and cheese, chopped veggies into their fried rice.

Hopefully, she won't have to sneak around here. This dish calls for a complement of vegetables; the garlic and the shrimp should make them palatable.

The recipe comes from Sam Choy's newest cookbook, "Sam Choy's Island Flavors" (Hyperion, $27.95), released just last month. It's his first cookbook in national release and incorporates many dishes from his previous local cookbooks.

Choy calls this an elegant dish with rich flavors as well as colors. "The juice from the shrimp goes into the oyster mushrooms, along with the garlic and spinach. Add the piquance of the chile pepper and you've got fireworks."

Also found in this cookbook is a recipe for beef shortribs with a seasoned salt rub, sought by Star-Bulletin sports writer Bill Kwon. Choy says this is the traditional Hawaiian way of preparing meat for the barbecue -- his favorite.

GARLIC SHRIMP WITH
SPINACH, RED PEPPERS AND
OYSTER MUSHROOMS

3 large bell peppers
8 tablespoons olive oil
12 ounces oyster mushrooms, sliced
3 bunches fresh spinach, whole, but rinsed and dried
6 large cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 tablespoon finely chopped hot chile pepper
1-1/4 pounds large shrimp (26-35 count), peeled and deveined
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Char bell peppers over a gas flame or under a broiler until the skin on all sides is blackened. Place peppers in a plastic bag for 10 minutes; then remove skin, cores and seeds. Quarter peppers and arrange on a plate.

Heat half the oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat, then saute mushrooms and spinach until tender, about 6-8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Arrange on plate with bell peppers.

In the same skillet, heat the remaining 4 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat. Saute the garlic, chiles, shrimp, salt and pepper until the shrimp turn pink and opaque, 2-4 minutes. Fold in cilantro and arrange shrimp over the peppers, mushrooms and spinach. Serves 4.

Approximate nutritional analysis, per serving: 400 calories, 29 g total fat, 4 g. saturated fat, 170 mg cholesterol,840 mg sodium*

BIG ISLAND BEEF SHORT RIBS

1 tablespoon kosher or rock salt
1 teaspoon cracked peppercorns
2 pounds beef short ribs
1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
1 cup dry vermouth
1 tablespoon soy sauce

Mix salt and pepper and rub into the meat.

Massage in the garlic, then put the ribs in a bowl and pour over the vermouth and drizzle with soy sauce.

Marinate 20-30 minutes.

Grill over hot coals 5-6 minutes for rare; 6-8 minutes for medium rare. Serves 4.

Approximate nutritional analysis, per serving: 590 calories, 46 g total fat, 20 g. saturated fat, 100 mg cholesterol,greater than 1500 mg sodium.*

Send queries along with name and phone number to:
By Request, Honolulu Star-Bulletin Food Section,
P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802.
Or send e-mail to features@starbulletin.com

Asterisk (*) after nutritional analyses in the Body & Soul section indicates calculations by Joannie Dobbs of Exploring New Concepts, a nutritional consulting firm.