Chicken Hekka (Hawaiʻi Local Plantation-Style Chicken Sukiyaki)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide 12-inch skillet, wok, or heavy 5-quart pot
• •Kitchen shears for cutting soaked long rice
• •Rice cooker for serving the plate-lunch way

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the noodles

   Put the long rice in warm water until it bends easy, about 10 minutes, then cut it into shorter lengths so nobody at the table has to fight the strands. Soak the dried shiitake in hot water until soft, then stem and slice them. Save a splash of that mushroom soaking liquid if it smells clean and deep.

2. 2

   Mix the sauce

   Stir the shoyu, mirin, sugar, chicken broth, and 2 tablespoons of the shiitake soaking liquid if using. Taste it now. It should be salty first, sweet behind it, strong enough that plain rice will thank you.

3. 3

   Brown the chicken

   Heat the oil in a wide skillet, wok, or heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add the chicken in a loose layer and let it catch a little color before you stir. You are not trying to crust it hard, just wake it up so the gravy tastes like chicken, not boiled meat.

   Thigh meat stays kind when it simmers. Breast works if you have it, but slice it thin and don't cook it until it turns dry.
4. 4

   Build the pot

   Add the onion, ginger, and garlic and stir until the onion starts to soften and the whole pot smells sweet and sharp. Add the shiitake, bamboo shoots, carrots, and celery. Let them move through the chicken fat and aromatics for a few minutes, until their edges shine.

5. 5

   Simmer in shoyu

   Pour in the sauce and bring it to a lively simmer. Add the napa cabbage and fold it down as it wilts, then lower the heat and cook 8 to 10 minutes, until the carrots are tender but not falling apart and the chicken is cooked through.

6. 6

   Add long rice

   Add the softened long rice and tuck it into the broth. Let it drink up the shoyu gravy for 3 to 5 minutes, until the noodles turn glossy brown and slippery. If the pan tightens up too much, add a splash of broth or water. Hekka should be saucy enough for rice.

7. 7

   Finish and serve

   Fold in the watercress and green onion at the end so the greens stay bright and a little peppery. Taste for shoyu and sweetness, then serve hot over white rice, with mac salad if you're making the plate-lunch way. This is weeknight food, potluck food, food that waits for the late uncle and still feeds him.

Chef Tips

• •Eat what you have. No bamboo shoots today? Leave them out. No watercress? Use green cabbage or won bok. Local food was built from what the camp store, the garden, and the neighbor had.
• •Long rice keeps drinking after the heat is off. If leftovers get tight in the fridge, loosen them with a little broth or water and a small splash of shoyu when reheating.
• •For plate lunch, don't overthink the sides: two scoops white rice, one scoop macaroni salad, hekka spooned glossy over the rice. That's the form, and the form knows what it's doing.
• •This is not imu food and not sacred ceremony. It is Hawaiʻi Local comfort food from the plantation stove, and that everyday history deserves clean naming too.

Advance Preparation

• •Slice the chicken and vegetables up to 1 day ahead and keep them covered in the fridge.
• •Soak and slice the shiitake earlier in the day; strain and save a little of the soaking liquid for the sauce.
• •Cook the rice fresh if you can. Hekka reheats well, but rice is the thing that tells on you first.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 390g)