Bananas are an important part of Hawaiian cooking.
Make your Hawaiian-themed dinner as festive as possible with traditional foods and tropical decor, such as bowls of fresh flowers and tropical fruits. Many Hawaiian dishes are similar to Japanese, Filipino and other Asian cuisines, but some make more use of the tropical fruits available in the area for both flavor and color.
Main Dishes
Chicken adobo is a simple dish to make, and it generally achieves rave reviews from diners. Marinade chicken pieces in soy sauce, garlic and vinegar, or substitute lemon-lime soda for the vinegar to sweeten the chicken. Simmer the chicken in the marinade after it has soaked for several hours. Kalua pig is another traditional Hawaiian dish. Rub a pork roast with liquid smoke and salt, then wrap it in banana leaves or place whole bananas (peels and all) on the roast and wrap it in aluminum foil. Oven roast the pig over low heat for half a day or until cooked through and extremely tender. Serve it shredded over rice with pineapple chunks after removing the banana leaves or bananas.
Salads and Appetizers
Seafood and tropical fruit should be the focus of your Hawaiian dinner appetizers. Macadamia nut or coconut-crusted shrimp and lomi lomi salmon, a form of salt-preserved raw salmon, make excellent appetizers, especially when paired with fruit-flavored dipping sauces. Serve the salmon in a salad of chopped onions, tomatoes and lime or on a more standard American green salad. Create a fruit salad of papaya, pineapple and banana chunks, or serve the trio of fruit on toothpick skewers as an appetizer or a digestive aid between courses.
Desserts and Drinks
Mix guava, pineapple, orange and lemon juice with grenadine and ginger ale or seltzer water to create a tropical all-ages beverage. For adults, stir up some mai tais, margaritas, pina coladas or a pitcher of sangria to accompany the meal or follow it. Choose desserts that are centered on macadamia nuts, coconut milk, bananas, guavas or a combination of these items. Coconut or banana cream pie, haupia (a coconut pudding) and butter mochi (a coconut milk flan-like dessert) are all easily found at Asian markets and some standard grocery stores if you don't have time to make your own.
Tags: banana leaves, coconut milk, tropical fruits, your Hawaiian
