This is for you, bacpacjac. Last night I made naan pizzas. This is the portabella one I made for my wife (after it passed my quality control test). It was really good.

Preliminary research indicates that haupia is the perfect survival food. It is easy to make (though it does take a bit more fuel than I'm comfortable with), so I was surprised to discover. It can be had before, during, and after a meal. In fact, it can be the meal.

The next grant proposal is for studying chocolate haupia, made famous by Ted's Bakery on North Shore. Stay tuned.

Da Bing

Oh my. My mouth is watering!! You guys are way better than the food network.

Preliminary research indicates that haupia is the perfect survival food. It is easy to make (though it does take a bit more fuel than I'm comfortable with), so I was surprised to discover. It can be had before, during, and after a meal. In fact, it can be the meal.

Food discussions are best accompanied by images, so here it is:



Note that a strange problem arose. The haupia rapidly disappeared square by square. It's making me rethink its suitability for emergency food. Where does it vanish to? No one seems to know. Yet it continues disappearing into thin air. I managed to snap this picture above before the completion of this piecemeal Rapture.

I must make more to test this. Should I use arrowroot starch instead? Is there a big difference? I used corn starch for this one, but I hear arrowroot is traditional.



Da Bing

I think I missed the haupia recipe. I was curious before the picture but now I need to try it.

Ingredients:

4 cups coconut milk*
2-1/2 cups water
1-1/4 cups sugar
1 cup cornstarch

Instructions:

Combine the coconut milk and water. Stir until smooth. Add the sugar and cornstarch. Cook over low heat until thickened and shiny. If the haupia is grainy, you need to keep cooking the mixture because the fat in the coconut milk has not yet melted.

I used this one (from <http://www.ochef.com/112.htm>):



It's really simple. I prefer a little less sugar myself, and for the first try, what I made was close enough to the stuff I got in Hawaii. There are other variations. I suppose it's one of those things where every person has his own recipe. I read that Polynesian arrowroot starch is more traditional than corn starch, so that may be worth a try.

Yeah, I can totally see it: power outage, a raging storm outside, a mob gathering. But we calm sit by candle light/camping light/Surefire tactical light mounted on our Mossy 500, making haupia. The only thing is that it needs to chill, and without refrigeration it might take a while.

Come to think of it, that might not be a bad idea at all. The tea bag in survival kits focuses your energy on a task to calm you down and give you time to think. Haupia could serve the same purpose. The rest of the luau probably helps, too.

Next: how we can apply surfing to survival.

Da Bing