I was recently tasked with making a dish using kalo ramen noodles from Sun Noodles for a local morning news show.
I let it churn in my head and some questions came to mind: Do I make a normal ramen broth? What about garnishes? What is the objective?
First of all, Sun Noodles made a product from a local plant — a revered Hawaiian ingredient. The dish would also be for a local ramen challenge put on by ChefZone featuring 10 restaurants. Some of the restaurants’ chefs would make somewhat traditional broths and some would not.
I decided to focus on Hawaii with a unique broth and ingredients.
Kalo is the Hawaiian word for taro, a root vegetable and staple food in Hawaiian culture. It’s revered for its nutritional value and cultural significance. Kalo is not only a food source, but also a symbol of sustenance, ancestry and connection to the land.
I took the word kalo literally. The first soupy thing that came to mind was my version of luau stew, a simmered savory mixture of water, taro leaves and beef shortribs.
The second thing that came to mind was my recent version of a Southern staple — simmered collard greens with ham hocks.
I decided to simmer collard greens and kale with taro leaves, ham hocks, kalua pig and local-style “smoke meat” to mimic my luau stew.
In the South, the liquid from boiled greens is called “potlikker.” It’s the kind of broth that makes you want to take some bread and sop up all that liquid goodness, sort of like “lick the pot clean.”
Adding kalua pig, taro leaves and smoke meat not only enriched the flavor, it also created a unique taste of Hawaii. My dear friend, hunter and executive chef Jayson Kanekoa, keeps me in good supply of his smoked boar. Otherwise, it’s available in the supermarkets.
Since the broth was intended for ramen noodles, I added some kombu and dried shrimp to the broth.
For a quicker and easier version, simply boil the greens in water until the taro leaves are thoroughly cooked and add hondashi or your favorite soup base, then add kalua pig to the pot.
Kalua pig can be versatile; I sometimes make boiled kalua pig water to flavor other dishes. If you remember a dish called Da Bag from my restaurant, it was a pairing of kalua pig and clams in a broth.
Currently, this kalo ramen is sold only at ChefZone. By the time this article is published, this Ramen Bowl challenge will have passed. I believe dishes sell when a server or cook can explain the back story of an ingredient. It makes you want to order it.
Ramen is one of the most popular dishes in Japan and usually you hear stories about the regional ingredients or the history of how the dish came to be. In fact, I learned a new Japanese term, “gotochi ramen,” which means original, regional ramen from that area.
If Hawaii had a regional ramen, this is what it might have looked like. In the beginning it started with kalo ramen noodles but by the end it was all about featuring kalo, the poi and its leaves, the whole plant.
You also cannot go wrong with adding kalua pig and smoke meat to the pot. It speaks of what we locals like to eat and you get to taste Hawaii!
