The Hawai‘i Culinary Education Foundation presented, in its chef mentoring program, chef Le Anne Wong of Koko Head Café on Oahu. ADVERTISING The Hawai‘i Culinary Education Foundation presented, in its chef mentoring program, chef Le Anne Wong of Koko Head
The Hawai‘i Culinary Education Foundation presented, in its chef mentoring program, chef Le Anne Wong of Koko Head Café on Oahu.
Wong is good at multitasking, as in December 2013 when she moved to a new apartment, finished her cookbook, “Dumplings All Day Wong” (which she wrote herself without an editor or ghost writer) and then opened Koko Head Café in March 2014.
Seventy percent of her sourced food is local, which concerns her since 95 percent of our food is imported. Her customers appreciate her dedication to this commitment and are willing to pay a little more for locally sourced ingredients.
She credits her love of cooking to her maternal grandmother, who she claims is the best Chinese cook in the Philippines. Her mother immigrated from the Philippines to the United States, is an ER nurse and also a good cook.
In so many cultures, there are some sort of dumplings: Mexico and Latin America have empanadas; India has samosas; Japan has gyoza; China has dim sum.
According to Wong, dumplings usually take a lot of work to make but they are something she loves to make so everyday, there is a special dumpling of the day at Koko Head Café. She prides herself with her ability to make about 400 dumplings in one hour, but said if put against one of the dim sum makers in Chinatown, she might come in second or third place.
Wong advised the first- and second-year culinary students at Hawaii Community College in Hilo to leave the island and spend one year in a small kitchen before they settle down into their jobs. “Not everything is about money, it’s about hospitality, to make someone happy.”
She told the students she would rather eat at a restaurant with mediocre food but great service than a restaurant with great food and bad service.
Wong talked about working for chef Andre Soltner for six years. He is the French chef who brought the first food processor to America. Working side-by-side with Soltner, who did his own prep work, she learned so much about thinking quickly during a typical restaurant crisis day. Even today, Wong always reminds herself, “The sky is falling, what would chef Andre do?”
Wong’s worked at Aquavit, where she learned about teamwork. When there were people in the kitchen who were difficult to work with, they had to figure out how to work with that person at the end of the day.
She lectured the students about not eating processed food. We live in a wonderful state with our own unique flora and fauna and there is no reason to eat any processed foods. We are blessed with farmers markets. We have wonderful produce sections in our supermarkets.
Wong always takes responsibility for any mistakes that happen at her restaurant and does not blame her staff. She thinks she did not teach them well. If she needs to repeat instructions several times, she does. There are clear instructions and things are written down, especially cooking times, and when something goes wrong, that is the first question she asks, “Did you write it down?” Everyday, she thinks about how she and the staff can improve themselves. Wong was certainly very inspirational to the students, and when she asked them how long they had to work with her, a majority answered, “All day Wong!!”
The students learned how to make fresh dough for dumplings, made of just flour and water.
She processed fresh spinach with some water in a blender and strained the green juices to make fresh green dough. She did the same with red cabbage and made beautiful purple dough.
She mixed fillings — a basic pork, a vegetarian and a sweet filling with a chocolate ganache.
Wong told the students to always taste their fillings before they fill the dumplings. A piece of pork filling was placed on a hot skillet so she could taste it to be sure it tasted right.
She taught the students the many folds of dumplings that could then be pan-fried, deep-fried or steamed. The important thing she taught them was they had to all have a good seal, or the filling will leak out.
Since Valentine’s Day was the next day, she made this vegetarian beet and tofu fillng to create a beautiful pink filling.
Beet and
tofu har gow
Makes: 40 dumplings
6 ounces red beet, peeled and trimmed
2 tablespoons chopped dried wakame seaweed
6 ounces extra firm tofu
1 tablespoon minced pickled ginger
2 tablespoons mince scallion white parts only
1 tablespoon mirin
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon togarashi pepper
Slice the beet into 1/8-inch slices. Add 1 inch of water to the bottom of a large pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Place the sliced beets in a steamer basket, then the steamer in the pot, lower the heat to medium and cover. Cook the beets for five minutes, until tender. Transfer the beets to a cutting board and allow them to cool. Mince the beets into 1/8-inch dice.
Add the dried wakame to a food processor and pulse into small pieces, slightly smaller than a grain of rice. Gently press the tofu dry with a paper towel. Add the tofu to the food processor along with the remaining ingredients for the filling. Pulse until well incorporated. Transfer to a bowl and fold in the minced beets. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour to allow the filling to firm up and the seaweed to hydrate.
(This recipe uses wheat starch dough, but you can use wonton wrappers.)
Place a heaping teaspoon onto wrapper, fold, sealing completely. Place in wok over high heat with 1/2 tablespoon oil. Place dumplings in a single layer in the hot pan, making sure they are not touching, and cook until the bottoms are golden brown, about one minute. Add 1/2 cup water and immediately cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid. Cook until all of the water has been absorbed and the dumpling skins have cooked through, about five minutes. Repeat with the remaining dumplings. Serve with sesame oil and sea salt.
Foodies bites:
• The Hawai‘i Culinary Education Foundation, which brought Wong to HCC’s culinary students, is a nonprofit organization that raises its funds through the help of chefs, fundraisers and an annual golf tournament.
• HCC’s Culinary Program is open for business today through Friday. The Bamboo Hale, open only during the spring semester by the second-year culinary students, will be featuring the standard Asian menu and the cuisine of Thailand. Call 934-2591 for reservations; open from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. After Wong’s lecture about eating at a restaurant with great service over one with poor service, let’s see how these students perform to give you excellent service.
• Volcano Art Center’s “Singing in the Rain,” Love the Arts/Hale Ho‘omana is slated for 5-9 p.m. Saturday at VAC’s Naiulani Campus in Volcano. For more details, call VAC at 967-8222.
Email Audrey Wilson at audreywilson808 @gmail.com.
