Ahhhh beef luau. One of my favorite dishes ever! Beef, luau leaves, water, salt… maybe an onion… and that’s it. Aren’t the simplest dishes always the best?

This weekend I had a mean craving for this (it might’ve been because of all the Hilo rain). The problem was that I never really made this myself before and searching the google internet machine resulted in no success either.

Why is it so hard to find a recipe for this? Luckily, the helpful guys at the HawaiiThreads.com KauKau Corner were nice to help me out. *s*

I used some of the tips they gave me and adapted it for the pressure cooker. Normally this dish would take 3-4 hours, but with a pressure cooker, only 1-1.5 hours.

Ingredients:

- 1lb Luau Leaves
- 2lb Beef Brisket
- Water
- Good handful of Hawaiian Salt
- 1 Large Onion sliced thinly

First step is to prepare the luau leaves.

Just make sure to cut out the big vein section that connects to the stem. Some people take all the veins out, but it’s really not necessary.

Next, pressure cook the leaves in water for 5-10 minutes (boil ~15-20 minutes if no pressure cooker).  I’m not too sure how much this helps, but it is supposed to make the dish “cleaner tasting”.

Then drain out the brownish water which has all that itchy-mouth stuff.

For the beef I used bone-in brisket because it’s a great stewing meat with good fat content which enhances this dish. Having the bone still on creates a richer broth. Cost-U-Less in Hilo has good deals on this. If you don’t have brisket, any good stewing beef would work just as good. Note: You may want to trim some of the fat if your cut is very fatty.

Brown the brisket.

Throw in a large chopped onion sliced thinly.

Saute for a few minutes.

Next, add some water and scrape all the brown yum-yums off the bottom of the pot. Then mix in the luau leaves and add enough water to cover. Yeah, my pressure cooker was too small for this.

Pressure cook for about 50 minutes. 3 hours if no pressure cooker.

The kitchen should now smell onolicious! Open up the pressure cooker and taste test the luau leaves. Are they still a little tough? Do they make your mouth itchy? If so, you need to cook it some more until it’s tender, moist and clean-tasting.

Once the leaves are all tender, add hawaiian salt to taste.

I added more water since I wanted it a more soupy consistency…

Grindage time!!!

Serve with rice or poi, raw maui onions and chili peppa water on da side. I think I going eat some more now…

Much mahalos to da guys at HawaiiThreads.com!

And don’t throw away those turkey bones… I’m saving mine for some delicious turkey jook!

Here’s an easy way to make a quick and yummy loco moco, the classic Hawaiian soulfood consisting of 4 components: hamburger patty, rice, egg, and brown gravy.

Ingredients for 2 big servings:

• Hamburger Patties
  • 1lb Hamburger (not lean)
  • 1/4 cup grated onions (optional)
  • salt/pepper to taste
• Gravy
  • 1 can good beef broth
  • flour for thickening
  • 1 tb butter
  • couple dashes of Worcestershire sauce
• 4 eggs
• hot cooked white rice

Burgers:
1. Gently mix the hamburger, grated onions and salt/pepper. Form either 2 big patties or 4 smaller size patties.
2. Heat frying pan until very hot.
3. Place hamburger patties on the pan/grill and let sear just until juices start appearing on the top. Flip over and cook for a couple more minutes. You will want the burger slightly charred but still tender on the inside.
4. Place burgers on the side.

Gravy:
1. Pour a little broth into the same pan and incorporate the yumyums, then pour in the rest of the broth.
2. Bring to a boil and let reduce for about 3-5 minutes or so, depending on taste, for a more potent gravy.
3. Turn down heat to a simmer.
4. Add couple dashes of worcestershire sauce.
5. In a seperate bowl, mix flour with some water.
6. Using a whisk, slowly whisk in the flour/water mixture until gravy is nicely thick & smooth.
7. Turn off heat and mix in the butter until well blended.

Eggs:
Traditionally, the eggs should be sunny-side up. The secret to a good fried egg is to fry the egg slowly on low heat until it’s cooked… just don’t overcook it! It also helps to have the eggs thawed to room temperature before cooking them.

Rice:
Use regular medium grain white rice… like 3 scoops worth per plate.

Assembly (bottom -> top):
Rice -> Burger -> Egg -> Gravy all over

Optional condiments:
Shoyu, ketchup, tabasco

Enjoy!