Chicken Stew & Kalua Pork Manapua

CHICKEN VEGGIES STEW

Had a get together yesterday and someone left us with a bunch of celery...EWWW. I hate to waste food but that isn't something my family goes gaga for so I decided to make stew--Chicken stew

4 sticks of celery (chopped)
2 carrots (chopped)
1 small onion (chopped)
2 small red potatoes (peeled and chopped)
2 boneless chicken breasts
1 can Italian Stewed Tomatoes (chopped)
1/4 cup of barley
1/2 tbs of basil
1/2 tbs of thyme
dash of salt and pepper

1) Filled a medium size pot with half pot of water, turn heat to medium high.
2) Add in celery, carrots, onions, let simmer for 20 minutes.
3) Add in chicken, red potatoes, and stewed tomatoes and its liquid content
4) Add in barly, basil, thyme, salt, and pepper
5) Reduce heat to low, let simmer until barly and chicken are cooked through
6) Pull chicken out, dice or shred
7) Spoon about 2/3 cups of veggies into a food processor and pulse it a few times (this will help thicken the sauce)
8) Place chicken and puree veggies back in pot, simmer on low until ready to eat

Of course, if you want your stew to be even thicker, add in about 3 tbs of cornstarch mix with 1/4 cup water, allow the pot to boil, then reduce heat, and wait until sauce thickens.

I was debating whether i should put some chopped sausages in there as well but I decided to keep it simple for now. I still got sticks of celery leftover so i might do another stew again!

KALUA PORK MANAPUA

I've done quite a few manapuas previously, and I have stressed that what you put inside is totally up to you! I have made kalua pork manapua recently. Just wanted to share the same recipe with you as the pizza one, except of course you replace all the pizza stuff with kalua pork!

Kalua Pork and Shrimp Truck Bento

Kalua Pork is a must in a typical Hawaiian dish. I always buy them at the store or at fundraising events but never did make them thinking it would be too consuming. But I finally got to attempt it for Easter Sunday and it turned out GREAT!

The ingredients are simple, Pork Shoulder, Hawaiian Salt, Liquid Smoke, and Ti Leaves. Pork shoulders are also called pork butt and NO, pork butt is NOT at all the meat at the butt...I got that confused a long time ago and I'm always wondering why the heck they use that term...argh.

Traditionally they would put the entire pig in an Imu (underground oven), but they still exists today! My neighbor has an Imu in his backyard and Christmas morning he brings us fresh hot lau laus!! I'm doing it crock pot style...

Here are the measurements of the ingredients and direction:
4-5 lbs of pork shoulder** (aka pork butt *sigh*)
2 tbs Hawaiian Salt
1 1/2 tbs Liquid Smoke
3-4 Ti Leaves

1) Wash the pork shoulder and pat dry.
2) Brush liquid smoke all over pork.
3) Rub Hawaiian Salt all over pork.
4) Wrap it up in ti leaves.
5) Place in crockpot on low for 12 hours, or high for 6-8 hours.
6) Remove pork from crockpot and place in a bowl, discard ti leaves but keep drippings in crockpot.
7) Use two forks and shred the pork completely (you can remove fat as desire).
8) Place shreded pork back inside the crockpot and mix with dripping.
9) Taste and add more salt if desire.
10) Serve hot!

*Note: If your pork shoulder is frozen, you will need to defrost it COMPLETELY before cooking, otherwise you won't have the fall off the bone affect and you will be very frustrated trying to pull the pork apart. I've done that with my pull pork. :(

Leftovers can be made into kalua pork sliders, kalua pork with cabbage, and kalua pork quesadillas. Or you can freeze them to save them for another day!

Another MUST when visiting Oahu is to get shrimp scampi at a shrimp truck. I LOVE Giovanni's Shrimp Truck! They're located in North Shore and Kahuku, about $12/dozen with rice topped with garlic sauce. I have attempted to make it several times but haven't mastered it yet. A friend brought it for me when he visited out there so I was able to place it in a bento and brought it to work. The garlic infused my entire cubical and boy I could hear people sniffing the aroma. It was delicious even if it wasn't fresh. Mr. P used to take me there every Mother's Day. What a sweetie because he is allergic to shrimp so he was still willing to take me there and he orders...a hot dog for himself. But we stopped doing this for the last 2 years due to Lil P's sports. Who on Earth have games on Mother's Day?! This year will be no different. Anyway here is my delicious bento below with some apples and strawberries. D-licious!

Kalua Pork & Cabbage, Salad & Fruit Bento

I haven't made my own kalua pork yet, but if you have a slowcooker, pork butt, hawaiian salt, and liquid smoke, you'll have a delicious kalua pig in a day. Here is my recipe here.

But if you live in Hawaii and you supported a Kalua Pig fundraiser, you'll end up with some in your freezer. You can do alot besides eating this with rice. One that I often do is Kalua Pork Quesadillas (another post). The other would be Kalua Pork & Cabbage, over rice.

1 cup of kalua pork
half of a small cabbage (shredded)
Hawaiian salt
black pepper
sesame oil

1) In a pot or skillet, cook shredded cabbage until soft, about 8 minutes.
2) Add in kalua pork and stir and mix well
3) Drizzle about a tbp of sesame oil and continue to stir fry.
4) Add in a dash of Hawaiian salt (not too much as pork should already be salty), and a dash of black pepper.
5) Serve.

Some people like it alittle wet so the sauce can cover the rice, some people like it drier. Depending on how you like it. If you want it drier, you can use a paper towel to soak up the cabbage water before adding in the kalua pork.

I try to serve this dish quite often as Mr. P loves Hawaiian food. Once in a great while I would even buy lauau, poi, lomi lomi salmon, and poke to make it a hawaiian feast!

I've got no leftovers for lunch the next day. So I packed myself salad and fruits in a Fit N Fresh bowl. Bottom tier contains: lettuce, olives, carrots, and mushrooms; top tier contains: apples, grapes, and sweet juicy korean pear. Added to "What's for Lunch Wednesday"






















There is also a baby gift basket giveaway by Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats. Since I don't have any luck what-so-ever in winning, why don't YOU try?