Low-sodium versions of your favorites won't taste the same but will grow on you if you give them a chance.

At the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific, food and nutrition services manager Terry Leong makes an Island-style cucumber and carrot namasu (Japanese-style salad) with no salt or shoyu. This salad is tart rather than salty — a great accompaniment to a simple grilled fish with brown rice.

Cucumber and carrot namasu

• 1 pound cucumber
• 1/2 pound carrots
• 1 tablespoon ginger
• 1 cup rice vinegar
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Wash cucumber and carrot well. Cut cucumber in half lengthwise and use a spoon to scrape out seeds. Peel and thinly slice carrots and cucumbers (you can make rounds or matchsticks, whichever you prefer). Place in bowl.

Peel ginger and mince fine. Mix together rice vinegar, sugar, ginger and lemon juice. Taste and correct seasonings.

Pour marinade over cucumber and carrot, cover and refrigerate overnight.

Makes 4 servings.

• Per serving: 190 calories, 0 g total fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 25 mg sodium, 48 g carbohydrates, 2 g fiber, 44 g sugar, 2 g protein.

Chicken long rice — a stew of chicken and bean threads with ginger and green onion — is an Island favorite. But when my Grandma made it, she used a tablespoon of salt plus shoyu, too! By layering low-sodium, high-flavor ingredients such as sesame oil, ginger, star anise, mushrooms and vinegar, we can cut the sodium dramatically and still enjoy this filling dish. It won't taste as salty as you're used to, but my husband happily went back for seconds.

I developed the low-sodium Asian-style broth on which this recipe is based with a little help from the late Barbara Tropp's "China Moon Cookbook." This is a recipe you can also use for Asian-style soups — watercress, egg flower, fish or jook — or whenever broth is called for in recipes. Note that the recipe uses a very large amount of ginger; don't worry, it won't overpower the dish.

I've used a whole chicken here, cooking the goodness out of most of the meat for the stock, but reserving the tender breast for the final dish. If you prefer, you can use inexpensive backs and wings in the stock and a skinless, boneless chicken breast for the long rice.

It makes sense to make this a two-day project. Make the broth one day and long rice the next. That way, you have time to refrigerate the broth and skim off the fat before you make the long rice, making the dish even healthier.

I used Yamasa Less-Salt Soy Sauce with 570 milligrams of sodium per tablespoon — a choice that also did well in a shoyu taste test we conducted (see Food for Thought).

Low-sodium Chicken Long Rice

• 1 chicken (about 2 1/2 pounds)
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon peanut oil
• 1 onion
• 2 (8-inch lengths) ginger
• 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley
• 1/2 stalk leek
• 1 teaspoon whole peppercorns
• 5 whole star anise
• 10 cups water
• 6 green onions
• 2 carrots
• 12 Chinese black mushrooms
• 3 (1 3/4- to 2-ounce) bundles long rice
• Sesame oil for sautéing
• Ground Chinese five-spice
• Fresh-ground pepper
• 2-4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar or Chinese black vinegar

Make broth: Cut chicken into parts: legs, back, wings, breast. Reserve breast; cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator. Heat sesame oil and peanut oil in heavy-bottomed soup pot or dutch oven. Brown remaining chicken parts in oil, turning once.

Meanwhile, peel onion and cut into eighths. Peel ginger and slice half of it; reserve the rest for later use. Wash parsley and chop roughly. Wash leek well and cut into crosswise pieces. Place onion, half the ginger, parsley and leek in pot with chicken and add peppercorns, star anise and water. Bring to a boil, skim foam and turn down heat. Allow stock to gently simmer for 90 minutes.

Strain out solids and return broth to pot. Or you can refrigerate broth overnight and skim fat before finishing the dish.

Make chicken long rice: Wash and trim green onions and thinly slice (both white and green parts). Wash and peel carrots and cut into matchsticks. Soak long rice in warm water for 10-15 minutes. Soak Chinese black mushrooms in warm water for 10-15 minutes. Drain both of these and reserve. Peel remaining ginger and cut into thin matchsticks.

Skin reserved chicken breast, cut breast meat away from bones and cut into small cubes. Sprinkle chicken with five-spice and pepper to taste. In a small pan, sauté chicken briefly in sesame oil along with minced garlic.

Bring broth to a boil and turn down heat to gently simmer. Add chicken, three-quarters of the green onion, carrots, ginger, long rice, low-sodium soy sauce and cider vinegar. Simmer until chicken is tender. Taste to see if more pepper, vinegar or five-spice is needed. Garnish with remaining green onion.

Makes 8 servings.

• Per serving: 170 calories, 7 g total fat, 1.5 g saturated fat, 20 mg cholesterol, 115 mg sodium, 17 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber, 2 g sugar, 9 g protein.

"Alu Like's Healthy Local Recipes for Hawai'i's Kupuna" by nutritionist Elizabeth Meahl focuses on recipes that are low in fat, sodium and sugar, high in vitamins and minerals, and based on traditional Hawai'i diets. Meahl tried to keep every recipe below 300 milligrams of sodium per serving. She suggests using this number as a benchmark unless you are on a severely sodium-restricted diet. A healthful diet may contain one or two 300-milligram dishes a day, with the remainder of one's intake focused on fruits and vegetables and other low-sodium foods.

The book's version of a longtime favorite, chow fun, uses lean chicken in place of the usual pork or char siu and ups the crispness and flavor quotient with extra vegetables and flavorings.

• Chicken chow fun
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced, broken up
• 1 1/2-inch piece ginger, crushed
• 1/2 package chop suey vegetables
• 1/4 cup julienned carrots
• 1/4 cup julienned celery
• 1/2 cup cooked, lean, skin-off chicken
• 2 teaspoons low-sodium shoyu
• Pepper to taste
• 1 (20-ounce) package chow fun noodles, cut in 1/2- to 3/4-inch pieces
• 2 stalks green onion, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Heat sesame oil in large skillet or wok. Stir-fry the garlic, onion and ginger until limp and translucent; add the chop suey vegetables, carrots and celery and cook a couple of minutes. Finally, add the chicken, shoyu, pepper, noodles and green onion. Toss and stir, cooking for several minutes until heated through.

Makes 4-6 servings.

• Per serving: Approximate nutritional analysis per serving: 170 calories, 2.5 g total fat, 0 g saturated fat, 10 mg cholesterol, 100 mg sodium, 28 g carbohydrates, 3 g fiber, 5 g sugar, 5 g protein.

This recipe from the "American Heart Association Cookbook" uses a sweet-tart pineapple juice and vinegar mixture to flavor the pork, and no shoyu.

Sweet and Sour Pork

• 12 ounces lean pork, cut into 1/4-inch strips
• 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon sherry
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 cup sliced onion
• 1/3 cup sliced green pepper
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced carrots
• 3/4 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 thin slices peeled fresh ginger
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tablespoon water
• Freshly ground black pepper

Mix pork strips with 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch. Stir to coat. Add sherry and mix. Set aside.

Spray a nonstick skillet with vegetable spray. Heat over high heat. When skillet is hot, add pork and cook until no longer pink. Remove and set aside.

Sauté garlic and onion briefly, then add green pepper and carrots. Sauté for 2 minutes. Add pineapple juice, vinegars, brown sugar and ginger. Bring to a boil and pour cornstarch-and-water mixture into pan. Stir constantly and return to the boil. Cook until thickened. Add pork and cook until heated through. Season with black pepper.

Serve over rice.

Makes 4 servings.