MORSELS

Learn from the best

Award-winning chef Kusuma Cooray will hold a free cooking demonstration at 2 p.m. Sunday at Kaimuki Public Library.

Cooray, culinary instructor at Kapiolani Community College and former executive chef at the Willows, is considered a pioneer in the blending of spices with Western ingredients.

The library is at 1041 Koko Head Ave.

Call 733-8422.

Takeout meals return with ‘Authentic Luau’

Kaumakapili Church’s "Authentic Luau" returns Saturday with homemade Hawaiian dishes such as kalua pig, chicken long rice, poi, lomi salmon, raw fish and opihi, pineapple, sweet potato, haupia and more, made by church members and their families. Takeout box meals will be available from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for $17.

Pick up will be on Kanoa Street, a block mauka of North King Street, off Palama Street.

Those who prefer to enjoy the meal with company and entertainment can enjoy a sit-down luau beginning at 5 p.m., at a cost of $25.

The church is at 766 N. King St., across from Tamashiro Market. Call 845-0908 for tickets.

Moana Surfrider ripe for mango recipes

Got a great mango recipe? Enter the Moana Mango Recipe Contest to be held from 9 a.m. to noon Aug. 7. The competition kicks off the Second Annual "Mangoes at the Moana" monthlong event.

The Moana Surfrider hotel will play host to the contest, which will feature entries in the following categories: pies (including cookies), quick and yeast breads, cakes and mixed plate (including jams, jellies, puddings, pickles, sauces, salsas, chutneys and preserved mango).

There is no entry fee, and the deadline is 5 p.m. Aug. 2.

Other event highlights include a mango body scrub recipe contest and the Aug. 27 finale event featuring local celebrity chefs concocting their own recipes using the popular seasonal fruit.

Call 922-3111 or visit www.mangoesatthemoana.com.

» Also: On the Big Island, the Hawaii Healing Garden Mango Festival will be held in collaboration with the Second Annual Mango Festival on July 31 at the Outrigger Keauhou Beach Resort from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The combined event will feature mango contests, including best-tasting mango varieties and best recipes. In addition, there will be cooking demos, cultural presentations and plants and produce for sale.

The event is free. Call 638-0888 or visit www.hawaiihealthguide.com.

FRESH TIPS

Green beans should be boiled, not steamed

What we call green beans are really the immature, young form of common beans, before the beans inside really develop. It’s not a color thing; string beans and snap beans are other identifiers of this vegetable than can be green, yellow, purple or variegated, slender, plump, flat, short or long.

» Buying and storing: Look for beans that break crisply; if they are limp, pass them by. Uniform color, crispness and small beans inside are key to good green beans, but different varieties can mean different lengths, shapes and size. Store green beans in the refrigerator, but eat as soon as possible for optimum flavor.

» Preparation: Cook green beans in a pot of boiling water rather than steaming or microwaving, which are not ideal for this vegetable. It takes just a couple of minutes to cook green beans so their raw taste is removed; longer cooking is a matter of personal taste. Serve them hot, drizzled with butter or oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper. Or serve them cold, dunking cooked beans in ice water to stop the cooking.

Here’s a simple, delicious sauce: Roast black sesame seeds in a small frying pan. Grind the seeds to a powder using a mortar and pestle. Add equal parts of soy sauce and mirin, and mix. Mix with cooked, chilled green beans (pictured at right). This sauce is also terrific over blanched spinach, watercress, asparagus and bok choy.

Hawaii food writer Joan Namkoong offers a weekly tidbit on fresh seasonal products, many of them locally grown. Look for "Fresh Tips" Wednesdays in the Star-Advertiser.

OAHU FARMERS MARKETS

Farmers markets are a good way to get the freshest products, direct from farmers, and find out what’s happening on the local food scene. Here’s a list of where to go throughout the week and month.

» 7 to 11 a.m. Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at Manoa Marketplace, 2752 Woodlawn Drive. Call 847-0494 or 554-4667.

» 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sundays at Kapalama Elementary School, 1601 N. School St. (in parking lot across Kam Shopping Center); operated by Mahiku Farms. Call 225-4002.

» 8 to 11 a.m. Sundays at Mililani High School, 95-1200 Meheula Parkway; operated by the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation. Call 848-2074.

» 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sundays, Haleiwa Farmers’ Market at traffic signal on the old Kamehameha Highway at the bypass road. Call 388-9696 or e-mail haleiwafarmersmarket@gmail.com.

» 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays at Hawaii Kai Towne Center (behind Panda Express, facing the marina). Call 396-0766. » 3 to 7 p.m. Mondays at old Varsity Theater parking lot, 1110 University Ave.; operated by Mahiku Farms. Call 225-4002.

» 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays and Fridays, Fort Street near Wilcox Park (in front of Macy’s). Call 777-9216.

» 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. second and fourth Tuesdays, Merchant Street Market, Davies Pacific Center, 841 Bishop St.

» 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays at Kaiser High School (near entrance).

» 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. first and third Wednesdays, First Insurance Center, 1100 Ward Ave. (across from Thomas Square).

» 3 to 8 p.m. Wednesdays at Windward Mall (fronting Macy’s).

» 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays at Blaisdell Center, 777 Ward Ave.; operated by the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation. Call 848-2074.

» 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursdays at St. Clement’s Parish (corner of Wilder Avenue and Makiki Street). Call 735-4550 or 595-3025.

» 5 to 7:30 p.m. Thursdays at Kailua Town Center, 609 Kailua Road; operated by the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation. Call 848-2074.

» 3 to 7 p.m. Fridays at Momilani Community Center (corner of Hoomoana Street and Komo Mai Drive); operated by Mahiku Farms. Call 225-4002.

» 4 to 9 p.m. Fridays at King’s Village Shopping Center, 131 Kaiulani Ave., Waikiki. Call 237-6340 or visit www.kings-village.com.

» 7:30 to 11 a.m. Saturdays at Kapiolani Community College; operated by the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation. Call 848-2074.

» 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays at Kalani High School parking lot, 4680 Kalanianaole Highway; operated by Mahiku Farms. Call 225-4002.

» 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays, North Shore Country Market at Sunset Beach Elementary School, 59-360 Kamehameha Highway. Call 237-7022.

» 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Saturdays at Waianae High School, 85-251 Farrington Highway; sponsored by Waianae Coast Comprehensive Center. Call 388-7386.

» 8:30 a.m. to noon Saturdays at Waialua Sugar Mill. E-mail info@sugarmillhawaii.com.

» 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays, Hawaii Kai Farmers’ Market at Kaiser High School, 511 Lunalilo Home Road. Call 388-9696 or e-mail MOMFarmersMarket@gmail.com.

» 3 to 7 p.m. Saturdays at Koko Head Elementary School, 189 Lunalilo Home Road; operated by Mahiku Farms. Call 225-4002.