Cook a turkey the ‘green’ way

Learn how to "green" your holiday feasting by cooking a turkey in just an hour while keeping it moist and saving on electricity, to boot.

There also will be recipes for side dishes of dressing, gravy and goginji cranberry sauce with lilikoi.

All this happens at the Green House, 224 Pakohana St., from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday. Cost is $30. Call 524-8427 or register online at www.thegreenhousehawaii.com.

Take a food tour or get some tips

Walter Rhee’s cooking classes and eating tours continue this month. For reservations call 391-1550 or e-mail walter@waltereatshawaii.com. All tours meet at the intersection of King and Smith streets:

» "Sushi Secrets" (3 to 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Palama Market Dillingham): Learn to make maki (rolls) and nigiri (finger-pressed) sushi with tips and techniques rarely found in cookbooks. Bring knife, small cutting board and cooler with ice to take leftovers. Cost: $80.

» "A Cook’s Tour of Chinatown" (8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday or Dec. 25): Learn the fruits, vegetables, seafood, meats and spices used in Asian cooking. $40.

» "Taste of Chinatown Eateries Tour" (11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday or Dec. 25): Guide to what to eat, where to go and how to eat in the area. $80.

Lecture explores raw-food diets

Dietician Vesanto Melina presents a free talk, "Raw Food Diets: What’s True, What’s Not?" at 7 p.m. Saturday at McCoy Pavilion at Ala Moana Beach Park.

Melina’s topics will include the need for enzymes from plants and the toxicity of cooked foods. The talk is sponsored by the Vegetarian Society of Hawaii. Call 944-8344 or visit www.vsh.org.

Spice it up

Kusuma Cooray, former executive chef of the Willows and professor at the Culinary Institute of the Pacific at Kapiolani Community College, is also a spice expert. She’s created a line of curry mixes that are now in markets islewide. On Friday from 5 to 7 p.m., Cooray will hold a tasting at Whole Foods in Kahala for customers to try her Chef’s Cooray Premium Blend Readymix packs. She’ll prepare saffron rice and shrimp and chicken curries. Call 738-0820.