KOLOA — Events leading up to the climatic Koloa Plantation Days parade and ho‘olaule‘a tomorrow, Saturday, July 30, were injected with a lot of flavor, as was witnessed by a large audience in Old Koloa Town’s Koloa Town Center, at
KOLOA — Events leading up to the climatic Koloa Plantation Days parade and ho‘olaule‘a tomorrow, Saturday, July 30, were injected with a lot of flavor, as was witnessed by a large audience in Old Koloa Town’s Koloa Town Center, at the annual cooking demonstration.
Espi Garcia, one of the demonstrators from the Waipahu Cultural Center, enlisted the aid of her “adopted” son Danny Sagadraca and his ‘ohana, as she talked people through the preparation process of a fried noodle dish featuring pancit, a thin, gelatinous noodle stir-fried along with a healthy helping of assorted vegetables, chicken, and ham.
Working the parade theme of “Dancing, Plantation-Style” into her commentary, Garcia effectively melded tales of buying dances for 10 cents apiece into the historical color of how she learned how to cook from her mother during her growing-up days.
Turning the show over to Sagadraca, Garcia explained that he would discuss coconut, another local favorite among visitors.
Sagadraca got help from his 80-year-old dad Hermogenes Sagadraca, who demonstrated how to cut off the husk of the coconut using a machete, splitting it open and, finally, using an ingenious Filipino invention to shred the coconut meat.
All the while, Danny Sagadraca fueled the demonstration with insightful commentary on the history and uses of the various parts of the coconut.
Melinda Uohara, one of the leaders of the Koloa Plantation Days, nine-day celebration, was on hand, and noted that this was the largest audience in the history of the cooking demonstration.
That audience was mixed with residents and visitors alike, one local lady standing next to Garcia, and between taking notes on the developing recipe, handed the demonstrator the various components for her stir fry.
Among the visitors were people from Austria, Oklahoma, Texas, and many other parts of the United States, while local people flocked in from Hanapepe to Kapa‘a.
Following the demonstration, the audience was treated to a sampling of local-style food, headlined by the stir-fry created by Garcia. Among the dishes were boiled peanuts using Hawaiian salt and anise, Japanese-style namasu with an assortment of vegetables, and a Filipino mochi-rice dessert.
“I’ve never had peppers in namasu before,” Uohara said while sampling the dishes prepared by Garcia for the event.
Danny Sagadraca noted, “When she (Garcia) stays at my house, the refrigerator is never empty.”
