Try these recipes when it has to be homemade

By Kaui Philpotts
Advertiser Staff Writer

When you've got a crowd to feed, the temptation is to pick up something already made.

One challenge when you do want to make a large dish yourself is to figure out how to buy and prepare just the right amount of food and to know if the recipe you've chosen will multiply well (some dishes just don't work for large numbers).

Here are a couple of recipes that work well for crowds. You can double or triple these as you wish.

Pan Spam Musubi

• 1 12-ounce can Spam
• 2 tablespoons shoyu
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon mirin
• 1 tablespoon water
• 6 cups hot cooked rice
• 6 tablespoons furikake

Slice the Spam into 12 pieces. In a bowl, combine the shoyu, sugar, mirin and water. Stir to dissolve the sugar. In a frying pan, fry the Spam until lightly browned. Add the sauce and simmer, turning once, and remove from the heat. Press half the hot rice into the bottom of an 8-by-12-inch pan (aluminum foil is fine if you are going to the beach or playing field). Sprinkle the rice with 4 tablespoons of the furikake. Top with the Spam, pouring any remaining liquid on top. Then press in a layer of the rice. Sprinkle the remaining furikake on top. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and press down firmly on the layers with your hands. When you are ready to serve, cut into 12 portions.

Fried Garlic Chicken

• 24 boneless chicken drummettes or thighs, cut into pieces
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup bottled teriyaki sauce
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons garlic salt
• Pepper to taste
• 2 teaspoons sesame seeds
• 4 cups cooking oil
• 8 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup butter
• 3 tablespoons chopped parsley
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, mix the eggs and teriyaki sauce. Place chicken in the mixture and set aside. In another bowl, combine the flour, garlic powder and garlic salt, pepper and sesame seeds. Drain chicken and toss in flour mixture.

In a pan with deep sides, heat the 4 cups of oil. Fry the garlic until golden brown; remove and discard garlic. Fry the coated chicken in the garlic oil until golden brown. Remove from oil, drain on paper towels and place on a baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes to cook through.

In a saucepan, combine the butter, parsley, salt and pepper and melt. Remove the chicken from the oven and drizzle the butter mixture over it. Serve warm. Makes 12 servings.