KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Karen Kuba-Hori stirs the pot as Dwight Ikehara, center, and George Bartels squeeze miso into the andasu.
Forget about hair on your chest,
traditional Okinawan andasu will
put hair on your back, sides and
the top of your head
"Certain measurements, left eye. Other measurements, right eye."
Ronald Miyasato is diligently stirring a bubbling mixture that looks and smells quite dangerous. It is his first time as paddle man in the making of andasu -- a job awarded him because he happened to be standing nearby.
Miyasato's comment has to do with the inexact nature of mixing this very strong, very traditional Okinawan condiment. Ingredients are measured by eyeball, or feel or taste.
Okinawan Festival
Featuring: Okinawan foods, entertainment, country store. Bon dance, 7 p.m. Saturday.
When: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday
Place: Kapiolani Park
Admission: Free
Shuttle service: From Kapiolani Community College
Also: The festival is the highlight of the First Worldwide Uchinanchu Conference, "Sharing Uchinanchu Aloha," which begins Friday.
The only one with a true grasp of the proportions is George Bartels, andasu boss. It is his job to make the andasu ready for the annual Okinawan Festival. He does this by matching each batch to his sensory memory. "I just have to remember the taste every year."
Andasu -- also called adamisu and anda insu -- is a mix of miso, sugar and pork that is served with rice just as ume is served in a Japanese home or kim chee in a Korean home. Or the way ketchup goes with fries in an American home.
But andasu is incredibly potent. Very, very little produces very, very much flavor -- a deep, bracing mix of saltiness and heat, comparable to a hot, grainy mustard. It bites back.
So, do not ever confuse andasu with andagi, the Okinawan doughnut. Andagi, cake-like and sweet, is the polar opposite of andasu, which is mushy, in-your-face pungent and if you can swallow a spoonful you are a manly man.
This raises the question, "What is anda?" The word means "oil" in Okinawan (in Japanese it means "base hit"; go figure). Andagi is fried in oil; with andasu the reference is to pork oil.
At any rate, while the Okinawans have made andagi their gift to the world, they have yet to totally unleash andasu. It is not even a universal dietary habit among Okinawans, many of the younger generation being happily ignorant of the whole concept.
For others, though, this stuff is precious, being quite troublesome to make at home. A 2.5-ounce container will sell for $2.50 at this weekend's Okinawan Festival. Dollops will also be served in the Champuru Plate, alongside the shoyu pork, stir-fried vegetables and rice. At home it may be dabbed on fresh cucumbers or steamed eggplant, or stirred into soup or tsukemono (pickles).
ken ige / kige@starbulletin.com
Gladys Miyasato, left, and Naoto and Jane Tateyama measure out the andasu into 2-1/2 ounce portions to be sold at this weekend's Okinawan Festival.
It was easy to sniff out the andasu operation going full steam behind the Okinawa Center in Waipio on Sunday. The powerful scent of miso was wafting about, but also something boozy: Another key ingredient in andasu is awamori, Okinawan sake.
How much awamori? "Depends how much there is," Bartels says. Of course.
Andasu is not quite the inexact science that Bartels, Miyasato and others in the cooking crew make it out to be.
It's just that the miso is donated and varies from year to year in both quantity and strength. The other ingredients are adjusted around the miso, as is the eventual yield. "We just keep making it until we use all the miso," Bartels says.
Cooking is done in two 18-inch, industrial-strength pots set over gas burners built into two 55-gallon drums. Diced pork goes in first, followed by the awamori, then white miso, dark miso, ginger and sugar.
By now it's smelling pretty ripe, but it must be simmered 30 to 45 minutes, until golden and glistening. It requires constant stirring to prevent scorching and also to keep it from bubbling up (popping bubbles send hot andasu flying).
Anyone in the vicinity could be handed the long wooden paddle and given the stirring job, from which there is no escape. "You cannot walk away from it," Bartels says.
Andasu has been part of the Okinawan Festival for all of its 21 years, although at first it was made in private kitchens.
Five years ago, when it came time to expand the andasu-making operation and move it to the Okinawa Center, Bartels was appointed, or perhaps drafted, to learn the art.
"I had the phone call to come, and I went," he recalls. "I thought I was there to stir."
His teacher was Shigeko Asato, the center's Japanese-language secretary, who along with Violet Ogawa, drumming instructor, was the andasu-maker of that era.
"I guess she figured if she taught somebody -- more manpower," Bartels says. The next year Asato showed up for "quality control," but since then it's been his show.
Late Sunday morning Bartels shut down the annual andasu cooking line. He's done tasting it, too, for the year. For all his involvement, Bartels is not an andasu eater.
He'll keep a little container in the refrigerator at home, mostly for his wife. And it will last them until next year.
Andasu
1/2 pound belly pork
1 tablespoon awamori (Okinawan sake)
1-1/2 cups shiro (white) miso
1-1/2 cups aka (dark) miso
2 tablespoons grated ginger
1 cup sugarCover pork with water in a large pot. Bring to a rolling boil; drain and rinse. Dice pork, removing most of the fat.
Brown pork in a saucepan. Deglaze pan with awamori. Stir in both misos, then ginger and sugar (the amount of sugar may be adjusted depending on the saltiness of the miso).
Cook over medium heat 30 to 45 minutes, stirring often so the bottom doesn't scorch, until miso darkens and sugar is dissolved.
Serve as a condiment with hot rice. May be refrigerated several months.
Approximate nutritional analysis, per teaspoon: 15 calories, 0.5 g total fat, no saturated fat, less than 1 mg cholesterol, 120 mg sodium, 1.5 g carbohydrate, 0.5 g protein.
BACK TO TOP |
Fine dining, Okinawan-style
The Banyan Veranda in the Sheraton Moana Surfrider is marking the First Worldwide Uchinanchu Conference with a dinner event, Kariyushi Matsuri, a nine-course meal of Okinawan specialties.Guest chef Masaru Yamada of Restaurant Kariyushi created the menu -- which includes rafute (marinated pork), jiimami tofu (peanut-tofu cake), jyushi (seasoned rice) and duru ten (deep-fried taro and sweet potato). Cost is $46.50, or the dishes are available ala carte.
The Moana's Beachside Café is adding two specialties, Okinawan yakisoba and goya champuru (bittermelon and tofu) to its $29.95 dinner buffet. Both restaurants are serving Okinawan beer and two types of awamori (Okinawan sake).
The menu specials run through Sunday. Call 922-3111.
'Sharing Uchinanchu Aloha'
Events in the First Worldwide Uchinanchu conference (call 596-0044, ext. 18, for information):Opening reception: 7 p.m. Friday, Sheraton Waikiki, $50
International parade, 9:30 a.m. Saturday on Kalakaua Avenue from Fort DeRussy to Kapiolani Park
Okinawan Festival: Saturday and Sunday at Kapiolani Park (details, Page D1)
Conference meetings: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, East-West Center. Cost is $50 for one day; $75 for two. For meeting schedule visit the Web site, www.uchinanchu.com
Eisa Matsuri in Hawaii: Okinawan entertainment and bon dance, 6 p.m. Tuesday, Les Murakami Baseball Stadium, University of Hawaii-Manoa, free.
Click for online
calendars and events.
