DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM
Kaipo Kaluna, left, teacher Julie Morihara, Kealii Vasham, Teddy Lynne Atud and Sara Chin work on their tilapia dish in the kitchen at Campbell High School. The food service students will demonstrate their dish at the Taste of Waipahu Saturday.
Students offer a
taste of tilapia
The room is divided in half when it comes to the tilapia experience. Two of these four student cooks know tilapia only by its nasty reputation as a trash fish. The other two are frequent eaters.
"I love it," sophomore Sara Chin says.
But the time has come for all in this quartet of Campbell High School cooking students to become one with the tilapia, no matter what their previous opinions.
Saturday they will compete against their counterparts at Kapolei and Waipahu high schools in a tilapia cook-off, part of the third annual Taste of Waipahu.
Farm-raised tilapia -- not yanked from the Ala Wai, thank you very much -- is sometimes called sun fish to get around past associations with dirty water and a scummy lifestyle. Most people are wise to that bit of trickery, however, making tilapia a difficult sell, even with farming techniques improving and nice, clean fish showing up more and more in supermarkets throughout the islands.
Events such as this one, which will include free tastes of the student creations, are meant to get people over the tilapia hump.
Even experienced fishermen can be suspicious.
Campbell senior Kaipo Kaluna puts in a lot of fishing time with his dad, at Kahe Point "or in front of our house." They generally catch papio or weke and they eat all kinds of other fish, but tilapia -- "not in my life," Kaipo says.
After many trial runs on his team's dish, cornmeal-crusted pan-fried fillets, he allows that "the taste is good."
Their teacher, Julie Morihara, says the team was selected from her food service class, for the dedication they showed in sticking with the creative process through several 7 a.m. cooking sessions.
Their dish will be southwestern in style, with a black bean and corn salsa, drizzled with a squeeze of avocado aioli.
Combine cumin, cornmeal and salt in a shallow bowl. Coat fillets in mixture. Heat oil in a pan and pan-fry fillets until golden brown.Southwestern Tilapia
1 tablespoon cumin
1 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
6 tilapia fillets (from 3 whole fish, about 1-1/2 pounds each)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil>> Black Bean Corn Salsa:
2 cups black beans
2 cups corn
2 cups diced tomato
1/2 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup diced jicama
1 teaspoon lime juice
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Cilantro leaves, to taste>> Avocado Aioli:
1/2 cup ripe avocado
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon lime juice
1/2 teaspoon water
Combine salsa ingredients and mix well.
Whisk aioli ingredients together.
Serve fish topped with aioli and with salsa on the side.
Approximate nutritional analysis, per serving (not including aioli): 660 calories, 24 g total fat, 4 g saturated fat, 90 mg cholesterol, greater than 1,500 mg sodium, 70 g carbohydrate, 14 g protein.
Nutritional analyses by Joannie Dobbs, Ph.D., C.N.S.
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Taste of Waipahu
When: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. SaturdayPlace: Waipahu Intermediate School
Admission: Free
Parking: At Waikele Center employee lot on Koaki Street off Paiwa Street and at Waipahu Town Center. Free trolley service, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Call: Waipahu Community Association, 677-6939
Highlights
Tilapia demonstration: Featuring culinary students from Waipahu, Campbell and Kapolei high schools, 11 a.m. to 12 noon. Samples served.Food booths: Representing Laverne's Hawaiian food, Mom's Soul Food
Basil Thai Cuisine, Tanioka's Seafood & Catering, Kiyono's, Lucena's Rice Cakes & Catering, Pizza Hut, Honey's Hula Dog, La Familia Mexican Restaurant
Hawaii's Plantation Village: Tours offered. Panel discussion on how harvests are celebrated in various cultures, 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Also, see how different ethnicities use taro, 10 a.m. to 12 noon. Samples served.
Also: Entertainment, children's activities, basketball tournament, appearance by Waipahu graduate Jerome Williams of the San Francisco Giants.
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calendars and events.
