Oven Baked Kalua Pork

I totally had forgotten that my husband and I made some party food over two weeks ago.  I took the pictures and everything but forgot to make some postings about them.  We were in charge of making three dishes and this one in particular was Oven Baked Kalua Pork.

Traditionally the Hawaiian Kalua Pork is a whole pig cooked in an imu or underground oven.  Since I'm not about to dig up a big hole in my backyard to make kalua pork, the hole in my wall where my oven resides will do.

Funny story about the first time my husband made kalua pork in the oven years ago when we first moved to Oregon.  I had the bright idea of copying down recipes from local Hawaii cookbooks before I moved and one of the recipes was kalua pork.  So while I was at work my husband used that recipe I copied and let's just say it was the WORSE kalua pig ever!  I was SO salty that putting on ketchup (hubby thought that would cancel the saltiness ???) didn't work nor did rinsing it under water.  I asked him how much hawaiian salt did you use and he said 1/2 cup and that's what the recipe said!  Oops! That was MY fault, a little typo there on my part.  Needless to say that recipe was thrown into the trash along with that batch of kalua pork LOL. 

So after that little fiasco my husband created his own recipe and I give him total credit since he makes the ONO'EST oven baked kalua pork.  Heres' the recipe below.

OVEN BAKED KALUA PORK
Ingredients:
5 lbs. pork butt or boneless pork shoulder (if you find pork shoulder w/bone in that's fine)
Liquid smoke
Shoyu
Hawaiian salt
Water

Directions:
Slice pork into about 1 1/2 inch slices (when done baking it'll make for easier shredding) and arrange into at 13x9x2-inch baking pan.  Sprinkle about 1 1/2 tbsp Hawaiian salt.  Drizzle some shoyu over pork.  Drizzle some liquid smoke over pork.  Add 1/4 cup water.  Bake at 400 degrees for 2 hours.  Check for doneness, if easily shreds with fork then it's all done.  Let cool and shred all pork pieces.

July 2010 Meal #10: Teri Glazed Salmon

I wanted to try something new when preparing salmon.  You'd think with me living in the Great Northwest of Oregon I'd have plenty of salmon recipes, but I actually don't.  I think in the 10 years that I've lived here, I've only prepare salmon two different baked variations.  One style is always with onions, mushrooms, seasoning, and mayonaise and the only one time I tried something different was adding the Costco seafood dip spread as a topping and baked it.

So I looked through my many local Hawaii cookbooks and came across a very easy salmon recipe.  While I was preparing my July meal plan I for some reason put it down as "Miso Salmon" when in fact it was supposed to be "Teri Glazed Salmon".  So I made a little edit in the July 2010 Meal Plan post.  This turned out really good, but my husband wasn't too fond of the wasabi/mayo drizzle that the recipe called for.  It could just be that I added a bit too much wasabi to the mixture that turned his taste buds away.  Overall, we both liked it and I just may have to omit the wasabit mayo in the future.

TERI GLAZED SALMON
Ingredients:
2-3 lb. salmon filet, skin removed
1 jar nori furikake
1/2 cup Yoshida Sauce
Wasabi paste
Mayonaise

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees.  In a baking dish lay salmon.   Pour Yoshida sauce evenly over salmon.  Sprinkle furikake liberally over salmon.  Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.  While salmon is baking, mix wasabi paste and mayo to your taste.  Wasabi taste should be mild (this is the part where I went a little overboard).  When salmon is done baking, drizzle wasabi/mayo over salmon.

I used a piping bag and tip to make it look a little fancy since my manual drizzling skills weren't really cutting it.

July 2010 Meal #9: Easy Party Lasagna

Since our kitchen faucet is semi out of commission I have to postpone Meal #8: Garlic Chicken for another time or at least until our faucet gets fixed.  That particular meal requires me to constantly wash my hands and I can't stand it if the chicken I prepare isn't cleaned thoroughly either.  I'm using frozen boneless skinless chicken thighs, so I HAVE to trim the fat and rip out the veins stuck in there....yah I'm OCD like that.

Anyway I just skipped over to Meal #9 that required less mess which was Easy Party Lasagna.  Got this recipe from my mom years ago who got it from some friend of hers.  Believe it or not, you don't even have to boil the noodles beforehand before you layer and bake it.  The meat sauce is what helps cook the noodles and when done, the noodles are nice and tender.  Here's the recipe below!

EASY PARTY LASAGNA
Ingredients:
Lasagna noodles
Hamburger or ground Italian Sausage
2 tbsp. garlic, minced
1/2 onion, diced
1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
5 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 can condense cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cup milk

Directions:
Brown meat in garlic til brown. Drain fat and add onions till cooked.  Add spagetti sauce and mix thoroughly.  Set aside.  In a separate bowl mix 2 cups of cheese, can of soup, and milk.  Set aside.  Heat oven to 400 degrees.  In a 13x9 baking dish layer half of spaghetti mixture, noodles, all of the milk/cheese/soup mixture, noodles, and the rest of the meat sauce.  Cover tightly with foil and bake for 40 minutes.  Remove from oven and remove foil.  Layer with the remaining cheese and bake uncoverd for another 10 minutes or until bubbly.

Who said making lasagna had to be a long tedious process?  Hope you try this really easy lasagna!

July 2010 Meal #7: Pork Chop w/Cream of Mushroom Gravy

So sorry for falling behind on blogging my meals, we've encountered a mild emergency with our kitchen faucet breaking which has caused us to eat more this month than we did last month. 

With Meal #7 which was Pork Chop w/Cream of Mushroom Gravy I know there are different variations on how many people prepare this whether it is baked, browned and then crocked pot, frying, using canned condensed soup, or even making a gravy from scratch. 

My version is just simply browning the pork chop til cooked through and letting it simmer in canned condensed soup to make the meat a little more tender.  Doesn't take too long for me to cook this, it all just depends on the thickness of the meat. Below is my very simple recipe.


PORK CHOP W/CREAM OF MUSHROOM GRAVY
Ingredients:
6-8 pork chops
3 small cans of condensed cream of mushroom  soup
garlic salt
pepper
water
oil

Directions:
Season pork chops with garlic salt and pepper on both sides.  Heat oil in pan (I use a 3-qt saute pan since i reuse it to simmer the meat with the soup afterwards).  Brown meat on both sides till cooked through.  Place cooked chops on paper towels and set aside.  Drain oil.  Add the 3 small cans of condensed soup plus 1 can of water.  Whisk mixture to get rid of clumps on medium high heat.   Add cooked chops and cover in gravy.  Let simmer for 10 minutes.

I sometimes add one more can of soup since I personally like to smother my pork chop with lots of gravy over a bed of hot rice and we usually run out of gravy when it's time to eat the leftovers too. 

July 2010 Meal #6: Teri Patties

I had gone grocery shopping the day I planned to make Meal #6: Teri Patties dinner so this was going to be something really easy to make or so I thought.  I had planned on using the NOH brand Hawaiian Teri Mix only to realize I only had one packet of it which looks like this.

One packet wasn't enough for the 3 lb. batch of hamburger I had bought so I figured I'd use some Yoshida sauce.  Of course I had forgotten I had used up the rest of it the week before for the Kal Bi I made for a 4th of July bbq. 

So what to do?  I have a plethora of cookbooks from Hawaii so one of them was bound to have a teriyaki sauce recipe.  All I needed to do was find a sauce and tweek it with some eggs and bread crumbs so the patties would become nice and moist.  So below is the recipe I used with a few tweeks.  I'm not adding a picture since after "grilling" it in my George Foreman grill it looks the same as the turkey patties I made a few weeks ago.

TERI PATTIES
Ingredients:
3 lbs. ground hamburger
3/4 cups shoyu
3 tbsp. water
3 tsp. sugar
3 clove garlic, minced
3 tsp ginger, grated
4 eggs
3/4 cups bread crumbs

Directions:
Mix all ingredients and let marinate for 1 hour.  Form into patties and grill or fry in skillet.

Easy Char Siu Bao...In Other Words Mini Char Siu Manapua

This is something I made off the July menu plan.  I have always wanted to make my own manapua but been too lazy to even try and I don't want to wait for the dough to rise.  I had been thinking of ways to give my son something new to eat for lunch and snacks that I could easily freeze and re-heat later. 

My BFF told me a bit ago that her mom used to make mini manapuas out of Pillsbury Buttermilk Biscuits and baked them.  I kept that idea in mind but forgot about it for a while until I started going through my cookbooks to plan July's menu.  Lo and behold I found the mini manapua recipe in one of my books!  Who would have thought after all these years I had this recipe this whole time.  I bought the used cookbook "Garden of Flavors: Playmate School's 50th Anniversary" from Powells Bookstore maybe five years ago and was surprised to find a cookbook originating from Hawaii in there.

This was actually easy to make but a little messy, nothing but a little practice can't fix.  For the char siu I had to use store bought packaged "mainland Chinese BBQ Pork" which is REALLY dry, makes me want to just make my own but that will be for an experiment for another time.  Overall it turned out really well and I got the toddler approval since he's eaten so many of them.

EASY CHAR SIU BAO, "MANAPUA"
Ingredients:
1 cup char siu, diced
2-3 tbsp. Hoisin Sauce (enough to moisten)
1 stalk green onion, chopped (optional)
1 can Pillsbury Buttermilk Biscuits

Directions:
Combine first 3 ingredients and place about 1 tbsp. on each biscuit slice.  Fold into a half moon and pinch edges to seal.  Lay each piece onto a 3x3-inch square of wax paper.  Steam for 10-15 minutes.

Here are what they look like.  I need to practice a bit more to make them look a little neater but in any case my 2 year old didn't care ;o)

July 2010 Meal #5: Chicken Adobo

Meal #5 which was chicken adobo is another simple dish to make.  A few weeks ago I had made pork adobo for dinner and posted the recipe then as well.  Below is the same recipe and a picture provided to show what the final outcome looks like.  This is always a winner in our house!


PORK & CHICKEN ADOBO

Ingredients:
3 lbs. belly pork or chicken pieces
3/4 cup shoyu
2 cups water
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
6 cloves garlic peeled and smashed
1/2 tbsp. peppercorn
2 bay leaves

Directions:
Combine all ingredients and cook on medium heat until meat is tender.