TASTE
Gourmet amigos
By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Food Editor
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It's easy to see why chefs Jeffrey Mora and Sam Choy are friends.
Both do a lot for their communities. The two met introduced by another mutual friend, Paul Prudhomme a couple of years ago when Mora, who operates a catering firm in Los Angeles, came to Hawai'i to work on the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument. (Mora serves on the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation as well as several other environmental organizations.) Later, they would cook together for a reception at the governor's mansion here when Jean Michel Cousteau premiered a PBS documentary about the preserve.
Choy and Mora also both love to laugh and can't resist a joke. When I asked Mora why he chose a career in the kitchen, he deadpanned, "I couldn't sing or dance."
Actually, Mora's first career was in the childcare field, and he's a former Big Brother. Which also explains why Choy, who annually hosts Gourmet Affair, a fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Honolulu, would invite his pal to be guest chef at the event March 3 at Kapi'olani Community College.
Mora is bringing Brazil with him or at least, a number of Brazilian dishes. He's got that country on his mind right now because he's preparing to go on an expedition with Cousteau into the Amazon.
"It's good to be chef, huh?" quipped Mora, who, like Choy, counts a lot of celebrities among his friends. His family company, Metropolitan Culinary Services, feeds the Los Angeles Lakers at their training facility at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. There, he said, the players get whatever they want for lunch "just like 'I Dream of Genie,' if they want it, we conjure it up."
Mora suggested the Brazilian theme for the Gourmet Affair because Brazil and Hawai'i have a lot in common: abundant tropical fruits, great seafood and Portuguese influence.
But there's much we don't share, which should make this menu more interesting than the average benefit dinner. The fish in banana leaves with coconut, lime and rum butter sounds familiar, but many will no doubt be getting their first taste of yucca chips, plantain salad and feijoada the slow-cooked black bean and pork stew that is the national dish of Brazil.
Mora was happy to explain a bit about these ingredients and dishes:
You can french-fry yucca as you would a potato or steam or boil it and combine it with liquid milk, butter, stock to make a mash. The trick is not to overbeat the mash, Mora said, because it will become very glutinous. "If you handle it right, it's got a really nice texture and it's kind of neutral in flavor, so you can do a lot of different things with it," he said. In South America and the Caribbean, mashed yucca is served just as mashed potatoes are here.
A standard relish in Brazil is farfofa, a condiment of dried and crumbled yucca served with grilled meats or feijoada, Mora said.
Mora is serving shrimp marinated in a tamarind-chili-citrus-mango mixture; then grilled and served over a yucca, fried plantain and green papaya salad with ginger-lime dressing. There will also be yucca fries to eat with rich, Rio-style black beans.
Green plantain is used mainly for chips; thin slices, deep-fried and flavored with a sprinkling of salt, or peppery spices. In Puerto Rico and Cuba, fried plantains are called tostones and are served alongside entrees, said Mora. One method is to peel and cut the plantain and marinate in a mash of fresh minced garlic and salt with a little water; drain and fry until golden (not brown).
Ripe plantain can be used in a wide range of recipes: baked, mashed, sliced into chilies, soups or stews; used as bananas are in cakes, smoothies and desserts.
Peeling a plantain can be a bit tricky as the skin is thick and stiff. Cut off either end; cut the plantain into two or three sections crosswise, then cut into the skin lengthwise along the four ridges and peel skin back. Brown or black-ripe plantains can be baked right in their skins: Wash and place in baking dish sprayed with cooking spray and bake at 375 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes. Peel and dress as you would potatoes with anything from butter and sour cream to gravy.
For the Big Brothers Big Sisters event, Mora is doing a feijoada pizza, serving a layer of the flavorful beans on top of crisp flatbread. And there also will be a traditional Rio-style feijoada.
Reach Wanda A. Adams at wadams@honoluluadvertiser.com.
