Hawaii Hekka "Hotpot"
Description: Hawaii Hekka is a Hot Pot dish that is eaten all over Hawaii with different variations being: Kauai Hekka, Oahu Hekka, Maui Hekka, Lanai Hekka, Molokai Hekka, and Big Island Hekka. Each islands Hekka group has its subregions of Hekka dishes as well, because the character of the dish is based on the families that made them as much as the food.
Kama'aina (Hawaii Residents) will be reminded of the saltiness in the dish with a strong flavor that lasts in a hekka. The must haves is the shoyu sauce mixture that flavors the broth with its meat flavoring. This is combined with a variety of ingredients, but the classic is: chicken breast, light shoyu, sugar cane sugar, sesame seed oil, ginger, carrots, sweet onions, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, watercress, and long rice noodles. Many people who cooked the dish in Hawaii never measured the ingredients and always tasted the dish till it was perfect for their family. If anyone looks for Hekka in Japan they will not find it, since it doesn't exist at all! It also has changed so much from Sukiyaki with its cooking being done with a chinese wok, Hawaii ingredients, and plantation tastes... it really has become a dish of the Hawaiian islands. It brings back many plantation memories and the hardships people faced back in the day.
Etymology: A hot large wok on a fire with the family gathered already asking when the tasty dish that quickly simmers will be done. Some may call this dish sukiyaki, however that wouldn’t be correct, since it is called hekka. The word hekka comes from the word sukiyaki in hiroshima dialect and has been a long time favorite hot pot of many families and in another dialect can mean a farmers blade. Often times the way families gather around a hot pot brings memories of family moments with their little plates that all dig in the pot of nice flavored ingredients. Its an old time favorite for sure from the plantation days.
Comfort Food: Cooked at home is usually where hekka is found, but it is slowly making its way back into restaurants from the old being new again. The competition is difficult with many Japanese Hot Pot Nabes to compete with as well as ethnic Sukiyaki that differs from local sukiyaki. Hekka is not heard of very often and is quickly disappearing amongst families who have not taken the time to learn their families secret recipes, so it is apart of the family recipe book or card collection to make sure that the hekka recipe of a surname family be preserved. Even the term of across the bone cuts of chicken to the butched is not common when a package says Chicken Hekka Chicken Cuts.
Rainy-Season Dish: In the rainy season the hot vegetables and meats would be delicious with a serving of hot rice. Especially near the mountainside on the ridges where the clouds would stick around for awhile. There was many vegetables that were available on a regular basis with even a produce man who would drive around the different camps. You could tell when a family was ready to make some hekka with the large amounts of vegetables that were purchased from the truck and taken in doors fast! The dish would create a large family sized meal that could feed plenty of people on a budget. It roots locals deeply as a Hawaii dish that has its own history attached to it from every family that settled on the islands during the plantation days. Back in those days it was seen as a survival dish that could stretch ingredients from their homeland, but local style… and overtime it turned into a multicultural dish that would change based on the area it was made and what ingredients were to be used from the ice boxes or luxurious refrigerators later on. It was also a nutritious dish that families would eat to make sure the family was eating right.
"Eating this food was more then to fill your stomach. A family that gathered in the mountain areas of Hilo side near the Hamakua Coast had told me a story about chicken hekka. They said that the importance of the dish is not just its origins, but its meaning as a local staple. A staple food of gathering that runs through the blood of families that passes any restrictions of adult or child (keiki) and helps connect the family with food without concentrating on what is different but what is shared. They said that it might have its variations of soupy hekka for the family who enjoyed their rice or stir fry hekka for eating with a variety of foods, but at the end of the day everyone around the table can say its a happy time spent with cherished friends and family." -Kaipo
Stir-fry vs Hotpot: Hekka has two main appearances, which is Stir-Fry Hekka and Hekka Hot Pot that is soupy. Not all agree to divide the name as it is broadly known as "Hekka" and sometimes seen as pre-hekka. It is a very versatile dish that can feed many people and it would be an easy way to use all sorts of ingredients, so when people bring ingredients its part of making the stir fry or hot pot even more fun. The reason for its versatility is the broth and people could try all sorts of foods and be exposed to those foods due to etiquette. It was important to show Aloha by trying the food and respecting it, so back then it was rude to not try the food made at family homes. Because of this dish, many families would let in visitors to see what they ate by letting them try their family hekka recipe. The taste of each family of those areas was really their secret approval of letting a person eating it on their their style of flavor.
Hawaii Sukiyaki Origins: The pot was a sukiyaki cast pot that was thick and would be shared amongst people who would have their own bowls to portion food out and pick what they liked with many options to choose from. It did not take a long time for things to cook and most of the food would be spread out, which made it look quite large with the vegetables that would shrink after cooking, but it felt like a reason to get together. The reason it was in a thick cast pot would be to keep the broth toasty hot and that would make the ingredients cook quick and then the family could eat quick and get back to the sumo match happening on the television to be in the moment. While some maybe looking for their Japanese roots in this dish they will slowly realize through the many variations that it was a dish for all races and places of the people who lived in Hawaii that are passing on local culture to the future generations with their food.
In the times of the plantation there was an order system for the big family where they had to take care of themselves in different homes. The Japanese families would often go to a low costing dish that would have to have an order system for the survival of the families struggling finances and energy needed to work the fields. Those who worked would be the first ones who ate and the women back then would be who makes the food with their daughter or those who didn’t work and the youngest members would try to flavor their rice by pouring it over the rice and eating the burnt rice (koge).
Development of Hawaii sukiyaki...in the big island there was an interesting way to stretch the sukiyaki and that would be to make gravy from the leftovers and it is theorized that beef sukiyaki with its variations with different beef cuts is due to its development near the ranches: Steak Sukiyaki, Brisket Sukiyaki, Beef Shank Sukiyaki, Short Rib Sukiyaki, and Tripe Sukiyaki. The beef cuts are key to finding the origins of sukiyaki in how it was different as it went more with four legged animal red meat recipes of Beef and Pork that is different to two legged animal recipes of poultry and mushrooms that is connected to Hekka. Hawaii Sukiyaki and Hawaii Hekka would be really hard to figure out what distinguished them until people started to talk about recipes that were distinct from the time of the pre-war Sukiyaki recipes and after the war Hekka recipes, since many still use the categories of Sukiyaki and Hekka interchangeably.
Hawaii Sukiyaki would eventually be the seeds planted for Hawaii Hekka (world war II. 1939-1945 ) and later Hawaii Hekka Hotpot (sumo. 1960s-1980s). It has been believed that it became popular at first with many Japanese who came from Hiroshima Prefecture (Japan. Hiroshima Kenjinkai) from the Big Island (Hawaii) and it was a dish that people were interested in as it could be shared with the whole family and the recipe spread to other families that lived on the island making it for Hawaii people's taste. The more people who got interested in it the more people were eating hot pots and that started to change what was in the hot pots and things started as the traditional Japanese Sukiyaki had become more local from the ingredients to be Hawaii Sukiyaki. When people had come from Japan the taste was so strange to them, but it's what the locals ate and called it simply “Sukiyaki”.
The dish Sukiyaki had become a hit recipe that would be shared with other ethnic families until the dish was not recognizable as a Hawaii Sukiyaki anymore and would be known as Hawaii Hekka. The difference between a Hawaii Sukiyaki Hotpot is based on what it uses, so what's inside a Hawaii Sukiyaki: butter and chicken broth, shiitake mushrooms, raw sugar, Hawaii soy sauce, and Hawaii sake to flavor a light soupy dish. What is inside a Hawaii Hekka: ginger chicken broth, ginger, cloves, soy sauce, mirin, sesame seed oil, sweet onion, carrot, shiitake, carrot, bamboo shoots, green onions, watercress, and cellophane noodles. Japanese Sukiyaki would come from Japan and Hawaii would make their own sort of Hawaii Sukiyaki that was different, Hawaii Hekka would come next, and later on Hawaii Hekka Hotpot. The real old timer old school fans for Sumo would stick with making Chankonabe while other families would be making Hawaii Sukiyaki and as years went on into the 1960’s would be eating their families style of Hawaii Hekka when watching the television.
The difference between the flavors of Hawaii and Japan is a sort of culture shock with having different tastes from those who visit from Japan and those who live in Hawaii, regardless of coming from similar cultures they are not the same. Japanese Sukiyaki has developed in Japan as a way to eat a dish that had: tofu, green onions, konnyaku, shiitake, and separated dipped beef with egg, but in Hawaii it has changed over time with certain distinct sukiyaki being called Hekka. The Japanese who were first immigrants had little to no Japanese food and as second immigrants created ingredients it would merge with the local culture and even the Hawaiian culture for those who married into families to make Hawaii Sukiyaki. Such changes would enter more varied dishes to celebrate sumo matches which could be seen in the changes to even Chankonabe with Hawaii-style Chankonabe that is deeply rooted not only in simple Japanese heritage, multicultural heritage, but Hawaiian heritage as well that has family history attached to it.
Sumo Sized Hekka: Hawaii sumo wrestlers that went to Japan for their careers would get used to chanko-nabe from Japan that had a signature version at each different sumo stable that would share the same sort of meal. Those training in the way of sumo would need to seek around a 5000-10,000 calorie count goal in building weight and muscle at gyms. Sumo wrestlers slam into each other with tremendous force and it takes strong spirituality, great technique, and a powerful physic, that is supported by the food a sumo eats that is cooked by sumos at the stable. Everything the sumo makes is called Chanko with Chan can mean father in referring to a Okaya Stable Master and Ko to refer to the child (sumo) of disciples. It is said Hawaii sumos have their very own specialty of Chankonabe and even a Hawaii Chankonabe. When made in very large portions it would be called Sumo-sized Hekka or Sumo Hekka Hotpot as it would be known on the big island back in the 1960s. Hawaii Sumo Hekka Hotpot (Sumo-sized hotpot), and is a dish that uses a larger than usual pot for a group sized meal to eat together as many other Hekka recipes. The word sumo is for the size of the dish as it either uses a large metal pot or earthenware to keep the brother warm as it simmers all sorts of meats, vegetables, noodles, and other things.
Hawaiian Sumo Hekka: The older folks would call it a sukiyaki for older styles, chankonabe to celebrate sumo, or hekka if it were a local style created culturally through the ways of the plantation. It would be difficult to know which sort of hot pot a person was eating as it would mostly be called by the name of the occasion and when watching sumo it would be “Hawaiian Sumo Hekka” rather than chankonabe. When it was made by training sumos and created in the culture of practicing Hawaii sumo those recipes would slowly change based on traditional Chankonabe, but both would have sides accompanying them like: takuan, pickled limu onion, tsukemono cabbage, kimchi cucumber, boiled peanuts, local kinpira gobo, shoyu garlic edamame, shiitake mushroom, sushi casserole, wonton chips, and sashimi.
Chicken Hekka: Sauce. Many hot pots take a stock and throw in the magic sauce that adds much needed seasonings to the liquid. The base for the chicken hekka usually has light shoyu, dark shoyu, fish sauce shoyu, oyster sauce shoyu, sweet shoyu, ponzu or citrus shoyu. And then the limited cuts of chicken were what you would expect with: chicken wings, chicken drumsticks, chicken breast, chicken thighs, chicken carcass, and just about anything else on the chicken would be used.
Mountain Hekka: Foraging. A type of Hekka that was eaten by those who had left over meats or sauces that depended on foraging and home gardens. It featured plenty of greens, roots, and pickles all into a family friendly meal. Noodles were not always available, so it would be common to have thin sliced vegetables at times to replace them. With a variety of ingredients now the dish features mushrooms as well. Some of these msuhrooms and vegetables were watercress, green onion stalks, won bok, shiitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, alii mushrooms, daikon, daikon sprouts, bean sprouts, carrots, pickled ginger, pickled onions.
Fishhead Hekka: Fish leftovers. In order to have no waste their is a specialty Hekka from the Big Island in the Southern areas near the ocean. It’s made with a fish bones and fish heads with seaweed for a hekka that was eaten fresh. The big island has a variety of deep sea fish that were used for fish soups and many of those soups made their way to Hekka as a seasonal delicacy of fishermen with lots of vegetables. Not anyone could make it, since some fish had specific cleaning with cut gills, gut cleaning, and ways to prepare the fish before boiling. There are some Hawaii pond fish that were used as well on Molokai. Some seafoods used are: ahi tuna head, red snapper head, salmon head, bone fish head (Oio), crab shells, shrimp shells, clams.
Specialty:
Waianae, Oahu:
Smoke He'e Hekka (Fish Bones & Grilled He'e)
Chili Pepper Lawai'a Hekka (Fish bones & Shellfish)
Coconut-Milk Chicken Hekka (Coconut Ginger)
Waimanalo, Oahu:
Chanko Chicken Hekka
Chanko Kalekale Bone Hekka
Nanakuli, Oahu:
Butterfish Hekka (Tomato & Whole Butterfish)
Pearl City, Oahu:
Grilled-Shoyu Chicken Hekka "Whole Chicken"
Kalbi Chicken Hekka "Chicken Wings & Beef Bones"
Shoyu-Shiitake Watercress Hekka ""
Aiea, Oahu:
Ginger-Beef Watercress Hekka
Sukiyaki Beef Watercress Hekka
Beef Head Hekka "Udutang broth"
Kaneohe, Oahu:
Butterfish bone Hekka
Kalihi, Oahu:
Oahu-style Chicken Hekka
Sukiyaki-Tofu Hekka "Chicken Sukiyaki"
Ewa, Oahu:
Lipoa-Oio Hekka "Seaweed Bone Fish"
Wailuku, Maui:
Maui-style Chicken Hekka "Mushroom Lao Chou"
Keokea, Maui:
Dark Shoyu-Mushroom Hekka "Mushroom Lao Chou"
Lahaina, Maui:
Salt-Bacalhau Hekka "Cod Bone & Salted Cod"
Hilo, Big Island:
Hilo-style Chicken Hekka
Waimea, Big Island:
Chicken-Offal Hekka "Chicken Innards"
Kohala, Big Island:
Hagi Hekka "Black Trigger Fish"
Kurtistown, Big Island:
Sukiyaki-Mushroom Hekka "Black Trigger Fish"
Kimchee Sukiyaki Hekka
Puako, Big Island:
Uliuli Uhu Bone Hekka "Spectacled Parrot Fish"
Captain Cook "Kaʻawaloa", Big Island:
Seven Eleven Crab Hekka
Kani Miso Hekka "Dungeness Crab Carcass & Guts"
Hanalei, Kauai:
Ulupapa Hekka "Hā'ena Slipper Lobster"
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