BETTY SHIMABUKURO / BETTY@STARBULLETIN.COM "Iron Chef" Hiroyuki Sakai observes finalist Robin Abad's cooking technique.

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Student cooks up
more than cash

He had to work for it, but Robin Abad got one heck of a birthday present.

Abad won the first Tom & Warren Matsuda Scholarship Culinary Competition on Sunday -- on the eve of his 19th birthday. This gave him a $1,000 scholarship and the chance to travel with chef Roy Yamaguchi on one of his mainland cooking events.

But that was only the beginning.

The competition was judged by Yamaguchi and chefs Hiroyuki Sakai (of "Iron Chef" fame) and Tetsuya Wakuda (of Tetsuya's in Australia) -- and once Abad was declared winner, the other chefs offered him trips to Japan and Australia to cook in their kitchens.

Well, that certainly was worth the effort.

"I'm a sucker for competition," Abad said. "I really like the rush. Any sort of event like that, I like to throw myself into."

Three community college culinary students were selected to compete, based on three-course menus of their own creation. They had two hours Sunday afternoon to prepare all the dishes and set them before the chefs.

Abad is a Farrington High School graduate who said he joined the school's food service program "because I was into beautiful girls and eating, which this program had a lot of." But he got serious fast, becoming manager and executive chef at the school's fine-dining restaurant, winning cooking contests and taking several restaurant jobs.

Three years ago, he earned an internship at Padovani's Restaurant. He still works there, while attending Kapiolani Community College.

The others in Sunday's competition were Geoffrey Seideman, who came in second, and Yuki Ito, who was third. Ito made it to the finals even though she has yet to take her first KCC cooking class.

The competition honored Thomas Matsuda, executive sous chef at the Sheraton Waikiki, who was killed by one of his cooks in 2000. His son, Warren, a senior member of the Roy's service staff, died two years later in a fishing accident.

The chef-judges, along with chefs Nobu Matsuhisa and Yuji Wakiya, cooked together at a benefit dinner at Roy's Hawaii Kai on Monday night in a benefit for the Matsudas' scholarship fund.

Abad's winning menu was Mediterranean in tone, with Pacific Rim influences, evidenced in his appetizer course, a risotto flavored with a ginger sauce reminiscent of Chinese ginger chicken.

The recipe is a little tricky, requiring attention to detail. "It's such a great dish," Abad said. "If you get it perfect it's really, really enjoyable."

To make ginger sauce: Mix 1/4 cup ginger, chives and salt in small bowl. Set aside.

Fry cilantro and green onion stems, garlic and remaining 1/4 cup ginger in olive oil until dark brown. Strain oil into the ginger-chive-salt mixture. Cool.

To make tomato juice: Bring a pot of water to a boil. Prepare an ice bath.

Core tomatoes and make an X in the bottoms. Place in boiling water until skin just starts coming off, 5 to 10 seconds. Immediately remove tomatoes to ice bath.

Remove skin with paring knife, then seed tomatoes. Dice firm outer part of tomatoes into small cubes; set aside.

Place tomato pulp in blender with 1/2 cup of chicken stock and purée.

To make risotto: Sauté shallots in butter over medium heat until translucent; do not brown. Add rice and stir until rice is translucent. Deglaze pan with wine and stir until most of the liquid is absorbed.

Add 4 cups of the stock, about 1/4 cup at a time, stirring constantly with a spatula and allowing rice to absorb liquid. Repeat process until rice is half-cooked.

Slowly add tomato juice and ginger sauce, stirring to release starches in the rice and form the creamy texture. Stir in diced tomatoes. Serves 2.

Notes: Carnaroli is an Italian rice similar to arborio, but preferred in Italy for creamier risottos. It is available at R. Field Wine Co. Arborio may be substituted. If using a store-bought chicken stock, dilute with an equal part water to curb the saltiness.

Nutritional information unavailable.