Side Street Inn-Style Fried Rice

September: National Rice Month

When we are back home in Hawaii, we eat comfort food for cheap at L&L Drive-Inn or Loco Moco. But our best friends wanted to treat us to something a little more “gourmet” and took us to Side Street Inn on Kapahulu Avenue near Waikiki. That restaurant is always packed with people for good reason. The food is filling and tastes so ‘ono! We all ordered different dishes to share but had to double-up on the fried rice because our group can consume it quickly!

Rice is a staple in Hawaii where the food is influenced from Asia and the Pacific Rim. Like Hawaii’s cuisine, fried rice is a mixture of many cultures. Side Street Inn’s fried rice features Portuguese sausage, Chinese barbecued pork (char siu) and Japanese seasoning.

Rice is usually served as a side dish but when fried with a variety of vegetables and meat, it becomes a main entrée. For National Rice Month, cook some comfort food like the locals do and make Side Street Inn fried rice.

Recipe

(Adapted from The Honolulu Star-Bulletin)

Ingredients

• 4 cups cooked rice
• ½ cup Portuguese sausage, diced
• 2 slices bacon, chopped
• ½ cup green onions, chopped
• ½ cup char siu (Chinese barbecued pork), chopped
• ½ cup frozen peas and carrots
• 4 tablespoons oyster sauce (not oyster-flavored sauce)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons hon dashi (ramen/saimin noodle soup flavoring)

Directions

Refrigerate the cooked rice overnight to remove moisture. When ready to fry it, remove from the refrigerator and loosen up the kernels. Dice the Portuguese sausage.

Chop the bacon, green onions and char siu. In a large pot/pan/skillet, saute the Portuguese sausage and bacon until cooked through. Add rice and mix well.

Stir in the green onions. Add the char siu and peas and carrots. Season with oyster sauce, salt and hon dashi. Mix well. Transfer to a platter. Garnish with extra chopped green onions.

Notes

• Day-old rice that has been refrigerated is best for fried rice dishes.
• Although the Side Street Inn chef says that hon dashi is what adds flavor to the recipe, we eliminated the salt and lessened the oyster sauce so that the seasonings would not taste too overpowering. Hon dashi is available at most Asian grocery stores and markets.
• Search our blog for more rice recipes.

Butter Mochi (Sweet Rice Flour Cake)

September: National Rice Month

Islander’s Daddy brings butter mochi and bibingka to church meetings and Islander has continued the custom on the mainland. When a few friends get together for a prayer social, the “local expatriates” often request a Hawaii-style dessert. Islander obliges and makes a mochiko (sweetened rice flour) cake because it can feed a crowd. Our haole friends refer to butter mochi as Hawaiian cornbread because it looks like it. Some cultures consider corn as king, but to others rice is royalty! For National Rice Month, make something ‘ono with sweetened rice flour and bake butter mochi.

Recipe

(Adapted from Hawaii’s Best Local Desserts)

Ingredients

• 1 box (16 ounces/1 pound) mochiko (sweet rice flour)
• 3 cups sugar (we used 2 cups)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 stick (½ cup) butter (plus more for greasing the pan and shining the top)
• 5 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 can (12 ounces) coconut milk

Directions

Generously grease a 9×13-inch baking pan with butter. In a microwave safe bowl, place the stick of butter and microwave until melted. Set aside to cool slightly. In a large bowl, mix the mochiko and sugar.

Add baking powder and the melted butter to the mixture. Mix in the beaten eggs, vanilla and coconut milk. Stir well until smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees F for 45 minutes, testing for doneness with a toothpick (should come out clean). Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes. Rub about two tablespoons of butter on top of the butter mochi until it shines. This prevents the dessert from drying and cracking too much. Cool completely. Slice into squares and serve.

Notes

• Squares of butter mochi may be garnished with shredded coconut (optional).
• Islander’s Daddy serves the sliced squares in cute cupcake papers for a pretty presentation.
• Search our blog for more rice recipes.