By Request

BETTY SHIMABUKURO

Wednesday, August 15, 2001

GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Eddie Yasana stirs his pot of chili. Also competing, from the
front, were Terry Teal, T.J. Stockinger and Gail Woliver.

---

Winning gumbo
uses pineapple wine

Perhaps it was the bottle of pineapple wine that did it for Eddie Yasana, that flourish that made his gumbo the Island Fresh champion of the first Hawaii State Farm Fair cookoff. Or maybe it was the way he poured part of the wine into his soup and the rest into himself.

Whatever, Ed's Island Kine Gumbo won over three other contestants in a cookoff Sunday, the hottest contested category of the fair.

Yasana, a baker for Foodland in Pupukea, converted his usual gumbo recipe to make use of local products, in keeping with the contests charge to use island ingredients.

Winner of the children's competition was Tevin Togami, age 9, who put together an elaborate layered salad tossed with a creamy Oriental Dressing. Togami also used a healthy dose of island produce -- his corn from Kahuku, his tomatoes from Hauula and greens from Waimanalo.

Toshio Kagehiro's shiso-laced sanbaizuke won the tsukemono competition, and Francine Wai won the jams and jellies category with her Mango-Pineapple Jam.

The cookoff was sponsored by the Hawaii State Farm Bureau and the Star-Bulletin, along with four restaurants that provided dinners for four as prizes -- Roy's, Alan Wong's, 3660 on the Rise and L'Uraku.

ADULT OPEN

Ed's Island Kine Gumbo

Eddie Yasana

1/3 cup oil
2 10-ounce Portuguese sausage links (hot), halved and sliced into 1/3-inch pieces
1 pound boneless chicken thighs, in bite-size pieces
1 pound Japanese eggplant, cubed
1 4-ounce stick butter
1/2 cup flour
1 large Maui onion, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
1 EACH green and red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 bunch green onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1-1/2 pounds okra, in 1/3-inch pieces
2 tablespoons hot garlic chili paste
Hawaiian salt and pepper to taste
1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes
1 box Zatarain's gumbo mix
1/3 bottle Maui Blanc pineapple wine
2 tablespoons Louisiana hot sauce
1-1/2 pounds Kahuku prawns, peeled (save shells and heads)
2 pints oysters, cut into bite size pieces, reserve liquid

>> Stock
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Trimmings from vegetables, above
Shells and heads from prawns, above
2 quarts chicken stock
Liquid from oysters, above

To make gumbo stock: Heat oil over high heat. Add vegetable trimmings and shrimp heads and shells. Sauté 5 minutes or until shells are crispy. Add chicken stock and oyster liquid. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer.

Sauté sausage and chicken in hot, deep skillet until chicken is golden. Add eggplant and sauté 5 more minutes. Drain and set aside.

Discard all but four tablespoons of oil in skillet and add butter. When melted, add flour to form roux and cook until caramel brown. Add onion, celery, bell peppers and green onion. Sauté about 3 minutes, then add garlic, bay leaves and 3/4 of the okra, 2 tablespoons of garlic chili paste, salt and pepper.

Transfer roux and vegetables to large stock pot. Add tomatoes, with liquid. Crush tomatoes and add gumbo mix. Whisk strained stock slowly to avoid lumps. When all the stock is in the pot, add chicken, sausage, eggplant and remaining okra. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes. Pour 1/3 bottle of wine into pot.

Add 1 tablespoon Louisiana hot sauce to the raw shrimp and 1 tablespoon to the oysters and mix.

Add shrimp during the last 10 minutes of cooking. Add oysters for the last 5 minutes.

Serve with steamed rice and crusty French bread. Garnish with green onion.

Approximate nutritional analysis, per serving: 330 calories, 21 g total fat, 7 g saturated fat, 100 mg cholesterol, 550 mg sodium, 16 g carbohydrate, 19 g protein.*

CHILDREN'S

Hawaiian Rainbow Salad with Oriental Dressing

Tevin Togami

Japanese cucumbers, sliced
Radish, sliced very thin
Greens
Carrots, sliced very thin
Fresh corn, cut off ear
Tomatoes, cut in wedges
Sprouts, any kind

Get a nice clear glass bowl because you want everybody to see how great your salad looks. Layer the bottom with sliced cucumbers. On top of the cucumbers, layer radish, then greens, then carrots, then more greens, then corn, then greens, then tomatoes, then sprouts.

Sprinkle salad with croutons, macadamia nuts or sunflower seeds. Serve with dressing (below).

Oriental Dressing

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon white pepper

Put all ingredients in a blender for 1 minute.

Approximate nutritional analysis, per 2-tablespoon serving: 110 calories, 10 g total fat, 1.5 g saturated fat, less than 5 mg cholesterol, 480 mg sodium, 3.5 g carbohydrate, 1 g protein.*

GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Toshio Kagehiro's winning tsukemono
is full of hasu, eggplant and daikon.

TSUKEMONO

Toshi's Sanbaizuke

Toshio Kagehiro

3 large daikon
2 large cucumbers
1 medium Japanese eggplant
4 strands nishime konbu
1/4 cup Hawaiian salt
1 medium hasu (lotus root), sliced and par-boiled
5 shiso leaves, in 1/2-inch strips

>> Sauce:
1 cup soy sauce
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup vinegar
Thumb-sized piece ginger
1 small hot chili pepper

Toss daikon, cucumbers, eggplant and konbu with Hawaiian salt; refrigerate 12 hours, mixing two or three times.

Squeeze vegetables and drain well.

To make sauce: Bring all ingredients to a boil, then remove from heat and cool.

Pour cooled sauce over prepared vegetables. Add hasu and shiso leaves. Refrigerate at least 3 days.

Approximate nutritional analysis, per 1/4 cup serving : 30 calories, no fat or cholesterol, greater than 550 mg sodium, 7 g carbohydrate, 0.5 g protein.*

JAMS/JELLIES

Mango-Pineapple Jam

Francine Wai

4 cups chopped mango
4 cups chopped pineapple
2 tablespoons lemon
2 packages Sure-gel
8 cups sugar

Combine fruit and lemon. Add Sure-Gel. Bring to a boil 1 minute. Stir in sugar. Bring to a boil again for 1 minute. Skim foam. Reduce heat to low for 5 to 10 minutes to thicken, stirring constantly. Skim foam again and pour into jars. Seal.

Nutritional information unavailable.

Food Stuffs: Morsels

Send queries along with name and phone number to:
"By Request," Honolulu Star-Bulletin,
500 Ala Moana, No. 7-210, Honolulu 96813.
Or send e-mail to bshimabukuro@starbulletin.com

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