Fried ʻUlu Mochi (Hawaiian Breadfruit Mochi)

The canoe carried the ʻulu, the breadfruit, before it ever carried our hunger. In Hawaiʻi we call it ʻulu, Tahiti says ʻuru, the Marquesas know mei, and across the Triangle that tree fed people because the old navigators were thinking past themselves. One ocean, one canoe, one root, yeah, even when the root grows on a tree.

This fried ʻulu mochi belongs to Hawaiʻi, and more narrowly to the Honolulu table, the Kalihi kind of table where old canoe crops sit right next to plantation rice, saimin, manapua, Spam, and every sweet the neighborhood made its own. I like that. Deep food doesn't have to stand far away from everyday food like it's too proud. The ʻulu stays kin, and the mochiko, the sweet rice flour that Japanese families brought into Hawaiʻi, gives it that chew we all know from butter mochi and New Year mochi.

Use ʻulu that's fully cooked and ripe enough to mash smooth, yellow and sweet with no fight left in it. Green ʻulu will feed you like potato, but this one wants the fruitier side, soft under the spoon. Mix it gently, fry it small, and roll it while warm so the sugar grabs the crisp edges. No need make it precious. Put a pile on the table, and watch the aunties check if you made enough.