It. Was. Glorious.
we went to two of the islands but i truly wish we had time to visit them all (10 year anniversary anyone?). our first visit was to the island of Oahu. Beautiful Island! and very full of 'born islanders'. we liked this very much because local crowds are usually much more low key and know the places to go to do things that don't cost and arm and a leg. Well....maybe literally it would, but know monetarily.
we did some fishing, swimming, sea turtle watching, sunset viewing, scuba diving and sushi eating. all very good endeavors, but not as informative about the islands them selves as i would have liked.
Chicken Long Rice
1 Huge, 2 Medium or 4 Small Chicken Thighs and all vegtable scraps
or 2 LB Chicken Cubes 2 Large Onion 4 Cloves Garlic 2 Cups Button Mushrooms (sliced thin) 1 Large Bulb of Ginger (aprox. 1 1/2" by 2") 1 tablespoon each: Onion Salt, Powdered Ginger, Garlic Powder 2 Teaspoons Each: Black Pepper, Basil, Parsley 1/3 cup Soy Sauce 1/4 Cup Lemon Juice 1 large Package Long Rice Noodles |
there are two ways you can do this. one is if you already have broth handy, you can chop breasts or tenders or boneless skinless thighs into cubes marinate in the soy and lemon juice and saute them in a pan with the spices. yoiu then dump the mixture (after deglazing the pan) into the chicken broth with the vegtables and cook 8 hours in the slow cooker. if you take this route, be sure to add extra ginger and garlic to your broth to obtain the desired flavor.
if you are using thighs, (and this is my prefered way to do it. the broth has more body) fill your crockpit with water, the thighs and the vegetable scraps from the veggies you precut and stored in the fridge. it is particularly important to get the peel of the ginger root into the broth so that you get that subtle flavor throughout the broth. i also like to have my celery ends, onion peels and small garlic cloves in the mix. set this on low for 8-10 hours. i usually let is go over night and wake up to a lovely broth in the morning. when finished, strain the broth and shred the chicken back into the crockpot. top with the soy and the lemon juice. discard the bones and vegatble scraps. add the broth and vegtables to the crockpot, then set on low for anouther 8 hours. when you return home from work, place your rice noodles into a large bowl and stir while ladeling hot broth over the top. this only takes 2-3 minutes. while not nessisary, the soups we had in hawaii had the VERY long rice noodles chopped into 1 1/2 inch sections. much better for neat eating. to do this, take a fork and lift sections of noodles from the broth bowl. use a pair of scissors and snip the noodles, from the bottom up, into the desired size. strain the broth back into the pot and place the desired amont of noodles in each bowl. top with soup and enjoy |