Locavore Day 3 - Adobo Chicken

I'm hungry.

I woke up hungry. After getting ready for work, it was time to see what the kitchen held. This is only the third day in my week of eating locally but I'm already running out of breakfast ideas. Last night's dinner didn't leave leftovers. I'm out of eggs. The yogurt looks pretty good but comes from California. Other than that I have a fridge full of condiments, a head of lettuce and various herbs. Yay.

The pantry isn't much better. Oatmeal would normally be a good choice, maybe topped with raisins or a few nuts. None of those come from Hawaii though. We have several breakfast cereals on hand. Again, not local. I could whip up a batch of pancakes... but those require flour and maple syrup from distant reaches (note to self: pick up coconut syrup).

Now I'm hungry and grumpy.

I've hit a mental wall where the quest to eat locally has changed from exploring what I can eat from Hawaii to what I can't. I miss good cheese and oatmeal and a million other simple pleasures that apparently are produced everywhere else but here. In frustration I grab my bag and head out to the one place I'm pretty sure I can get local goodness: Town.

As luck would have it, the kitchen at Town was running an unadvertised special: a Ka Lei egg omelette made with Waimanalo squash, Maui onion and Big Island bacon and served with rice (unavoidably non-local) and slices of Kau orange (~$7 I think). The combo sounded strange but hit the spot. Town's house coffee is inexplicably made off-island by Illy. I know, I know, I've talked to them about it. They source everything else locally and and they have good coffee options all around, so why Illy? Regardless, they also offer french press Kona for a whopping $3.50/pot.

With food in the belly and caffeine in my veins, my outlook improved significantly. Going locavore for a week isn't just some fad diet but a genuine attempt to see if it's possible to feed myself and my ʻohana from the fruits of these islands. It's early January right now. Where else north of the equator can you get a fresh orange, or ahi or coconut? On my way home I decide it's time to eat the foods that Hawaii does best and pick myself up some poke and maybe a papaya.

Lunch a few hours later consisted of three kinds of poke from Tamura's. I picked an ahi limu kohu, a wasabi ahi and a jalapeno pipikaula ($9.99 - $10.99/lb.) after verifying with the poke man that all three were made from local ingredients. Tamura's sells several local salsas ($3.38, Arturo's, Honolulu) and they cried out to me from the case. After failing to locate any locally made chips to dip, I settled on crisp lavosh for the salsa ($3.29, The Patisserie, Honolulu) and rounded out the meal with a juicy Kahuku papaya. It was an eclectic mix that totally hit the spot.

For the last meal of the day, the family dined on adobo chicken with rice and a side salad. It wasn't a purely local meal, due to the rice, black pepper and bay leaves. Overall though, it was in the right spirit. I too am back in the right spirits, hopefully over the hump and savoring Hawaii again.

Adobo Chicken
Serves four

Adobo is often referred to as the national dish of the Philippines and is very popular through Oahu. There are as many adobo variations as their are Filipino cooks yet they all share in common lots of vinegar, shoyu, garlic, pepper and bay leaf in a sauce over meats like pork or chicken.

• 2 T. cooking oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 head garlic, chopped
• 2 lb. chicken (w/ bones or w/o) cut into pieces
• 1 c. vinegar (Aloha brand, Honolulu)
• 3/4 c. soy sauce (Aloha brand, Honolulu)
• 6-7 bay leaves, crumbled
• 1 t. ground pepper

Saute the onion and garlic in oil until soft then add the chicken pieces and cook a few minutes longer. Add the remaining ingredients, bring to a simmer then cook for 20 minutes until the chicken is just done.

This next step few steps are key to a good adobo. Remove the chicken pieces from their sauce with a slotted spoon and set them in a bowl for a few moments to drain excess liquid. Meanwhile heat a little more oil in a second pan. Once the oil is hot, pan fry the chicken pieces to get nice crispy edges. While they are crisping, continue simmering the sauce to reduce by about half.

To serve, place the chicken on a plate and pour the reduced suace over top.

Track progress through the other six days of locavore week.