By Request Betty Shimabukuro

---

Homemade chile water
brings zing to the table

---

Iris Kim has a bounty of peppers at hand and a yearning for that singular local condiment -- chile pepper water.

"I guess I could purchase some at the market, but since my sister-in-law has a lot of chile peppers we thought we could make our own. I hope you can help us."

Chile pepper water adds just the right amount of zing for many dishes, without the tomato flavor of many commercially prepared hot sauces. It's also thin -- well, watery -- so it stirs nicely into sauces or dips.

Make it at the table by simply crushing a pepper with salt in a couple tablespoons of water. But Kim is looking for a more advanced approach.

Chef Alan Wong provides the solution in his cookbook, "New Wave Luau." Wong's restaurants offer only chile pepper water and soy sauce at the table -- no salt or pepper.

He says he uses the water in many recipes for its subtle spiciness. "It's our form of heat."

This formulation, Wong says, was inspired by Charles Park, general manager at the Mauna Kea Beach Resort on the Big Island, who worked with Wong when both were at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel & Bungalows. The Mauna Lani's CanoeHouse is where Wong first made his mark on local cuisine.

Park suggested the condiment, based on a family recipe, and it has been a staple in Wong's kitchen since.

Chile Pepper Water

"Alan Wong's New Wave Luau"
by Alan Wong with John Harrisson
(Ten Speed Press 1999, $35)

1/3 cup cold water
1/2 clove garlic
2 red Hawaiian chile peppers or red serrano chiles, or 1 red jalapeño, halved and seeded
1 tablespoon white vinegar
2 teaspoons minced ginger
Pinch salt

Combine ingredients in a blender and purée until smooth.

Bring another 1-1/4 cups water to boil in a pan. Add puréed mixture to water and return to a boil. Remove from heat. Cool, then transfer to an airtight bottle. Keep refrigerated up to one month. Makes 1-1/2 cups.

Approximate nutritional analysis, per tablespoon: 10 mg sodium, no fat, cholesterol, carbohydrate, protein or fiber.

Can you help?

>> John Len yearns for a type of chow fun made by Liberty Restaurant in Lahaina in the 1950s or '60s. "Locals would also call this chow fun fry soup," he writes. They were homemade and stir-fried with pork, green onions and bean sprouts, served in butcher-paper cones.

>> Kathy Stroup is nostalgic for the coconut cream pie served at the Waikiki Pharmacy back in the 1960s. "I would dearly love to have a recipe for that if it exists anywhere."

>> Bruce Nakamura is searching on behalf of a friend for a recipe for French toast that used to be printed on the wrapper of Love's Bakery bread.

>> Dahlia Cullen wants to make a Filipino sweet roll called monay.

If you have a clue about any of these old-time dishes, please get in touch by one of the means listed below.

See the Columnists section for some past articles.

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.