Three Hawaiian Cooking Ingredients to Add to Family Dinners - Aina Meals

One of the best ways to add some excitement and pizazz to your everyday meals is to enhance your dishes with a few Hawaiian ingredients. Although traditional, there are three Hawaiian cooking ingredients to add to family dinners that will more than satisfy every taste bud.

POI, WE HAD TO START WITH POI

Poi is a traditional staple food in Native Hawaiian cuisine. Not only is this amazing staple food hypoallergenic but it is naturally gluten free. In fact, poi is considered one of the best digestible foods on the planet. According to Nutrition Data, poi is high in vitamins and minerals, is a good source of vitamin B6, high in slow-release fiber, contains vitamin A and C, and is rich in potassium, calcium, magnesium, thiamin and phosphorus. Poi also offers quite a few possible health benefits like creating strong bones, preventing cavities, reducing gastrointestinal issues and is good for those who are undernourished.

Aina Meals is a full-service meal delivery service. We provide you with a week's worth of fully prepared meals. Freshly delivered so you can enjoy restaurant-quality food at home. You can have a week's worth of ready-to-eat meals delivered right to your door.Aina Meals is a local company looking to provide a valuable service for our community. We care about having high quality ingredients so that the results are the best. We also offers the best Gluten free catering in Hawaii. We have different menus for any occasion. We have vast experience by working side by side with event planners, brides and grooms or business partners. We care to adapt so that our goal is always stands out and meets the expectations of our customers.

Poi is made from the corm or stem of the taro plant (known as kalo in Hawaiian). Generally it is steamed or baked and then mashed. Traditionally, it is baked for many hours in an imu (an underground oven). During the puree process, water is added to get the desired texture. In regards to consistency, Poi is known as “one-finger,” “two-finger,” or “three-finger”. One finger would be the thickest and so forth. The flavor is very subtle and rich, similar to sweet potato but not as smooth. It has a beautiful purple color that had a nice contrast to many Hawaiian recipies.

Traditional poi recipes include poi banana pudding, crispy poi pancakes, poi noodles with shrimp, peas and scallion, poi fries with chili lime and Poi-machha ( a spinach dish and fish plate that has many popular spices like garlic, chili powder, fennel, mustard seed and turmeric).

PURPLE YAMS

Purple yams are another favorite food in Hawaii. The tubers are typically a bright lavender or intense violet in color. Purple yams are in fact a delicious yam grown locally that add the perfect color and taste too many traditional Hawaii dinner plates. Actually, there are several Hawaiian recipies with purple yams that are quite inviting. Some of the dishes include Hawaiian yam casserole, mashed purple sweet potatoes and purple sweet potato Haupi (a cream pie with shortbread crust, sweet potato filling and rich coconut cream).