By Request

BETTY SHIMABUKURO

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Maryknoll cookbook
offers ono kine way
to make ramen

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I 've had miso on the mind lately, for two reasons. One is a plea from May Kaneshiro, whose favorite teri-miso marinade is no longer available from the store where she usually finds it. And since she can't remember the brand name, tracking it down is difficult.

Don't you hate it when that happens? Anyway, she's seeking a recipe for an "awesome teri-miso sauce."

Reason No. 2 is a recipe that I found while browsing through "Around the World -- A Culture of Diversities," Maryknoll School's 75th-anniversary cookbook, just published. The recipe for Good Cheap Kine Miso Ramen stood out not just because it looks pretty good and really easy, but because of the writing style, which you can evaluate for yourself below. The recipe is credited to school staffer Gavin Min, and you've got to wonder what he's teaching those kids.

The rest of the 700-recipe collection is more straight-forward. It has an advantage over many charity cookbooks in that it is very well-organized, with recipes by cultural origin. (Min's recipe comes under "Local Style and Miscellaneous.")

Order by mail: Send $12 plus $5 postage to Maryknoll School Parent Teacher Guild, 1526 Alexander St., Honolulu 96822.

Good Cheap Kine Miso Ramen

1-1/2 cups water
1 big teaspoon aka (red) miso
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco
1 teaspoon chile pepper vinegar
1 package dried Ichiban ramen
1 egg

Start boiling da water. In one bowl, put da aka miso. Add about 2 teaspoons of water. Mix until da water and miso stay fully mixed. Add more water until da paste stay kinda liquidy. (Gotta add water, little bit at a time, bumbai da miso going take forever for dilute.) To da miso, add da Tabasco and da chile pepper vinegar. Add the dashi mix from the ramen package.

While still inside the package, break the ramen square into 4 pieces. Add 'em to da boiling water.

In one small bowl, break the egg and mix until the yolk stay fully broken up. When the noodles are soft enough, add the egg mixture, stirring until the eggs come scrambled. (You can tell when da noodles stay cooked if you tro it against the wall and it no fall off.)

Last, turn off the heat and add the miso mixture and stir in. Pour into your favorite ramen bowl and grind. Oh, but gotta be one ceramic bowl -- bumbai the plastic make the soup taste funny kine. Serves 1.

Approximate nutritional analysis, per serving: 500 calories, 19 g total fat, 3 g saturated fat, 290 mg cholesterol, greater than 3,000 mg sodium, 61 g carbohydrate, 19 g protein.*

AS FOR Kaneshiro's request, here is a teri-miso recipe from reader Susy Kawamoto. She says the beer here helps tenderize the chicken. You can use it for shortribs, chicken, beef or pork.

Kaneshiro signs herself "pregnant and loving it in Kaneohe." Hope this recipe comes through while the cravings are still strong.

Miso-Teriyaki Marinade

2 cups white miso
2 cups sugar (more or less, to taste)
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1 12-ounce can beer
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, crushed
Pepper to taste

Combine miso, sugar, soy sauce and peanut butter, then add the beer. Add green onions, ginger and pepper. Makes enough to marinate 5 pounds of chicken thighs (marinate several hours or overnight). The mixture may also be used to baste meats while grilling.

Approximate nutritional analysis, per tablespoon, marinade only: 40 calories, 1 g fat, no saturated fat or cholesterol, 360 mg sodium, 7 g carbohydrate, 1.5 g. protein.*

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.