Kahe Lawalu Steamed Fish

It may be hard to tell from the picture alone, but this is a Steamed Fish made from people online. The method featured on Saveur Magazine with the dish made by Chef Sheldon Simeon has a recipe very similar to the dish that is found from many of the old Kauai recipes. The dish as many other regional dishes have made its way to all the islands and can also be found on Maui, however most of the recipes that could be found remain from past residents of Kauai.

Description: Kahe Lawalu, also known as Char-Steamed Fish, is a Hawaii dish that consists of vegetables, flavorful oil, seafood broth, and mayonnaise. It might look like the typical steamed fish until the method is explained, which makes it a local gourmet food. Kauai has a recipe that combines the lawalu-method with the kahe-method and depends on the freshness of the ingredients. The fish are caught at the ports and the dish depends on everything being home grown and dependent more on the sourced seafood for its flavor and naturally has less coral-taste neutralization. The approach focuses more about the flavors of what happens in nature and the waters than it does in its dependency on the sauces flavoring. 

Variation: After the fish is descaled the fish sits in a oil marinade that extracts the fat in a process called "rendering" that makes it so there is a lot of oil. It is common to add rendered chicken fat as well to the mix as well as sesame seed oil and shoyu for maximum fat. It rests in the fridge in a plastic bag for a eight hours before it is cooked. The fat ingredients are diced and placed underneath the vegetables as it is an important thing to note that the sausage is not a part of the star line up and sometimes is removed completely. The mayonnaise is hidden in deep cuts into the fish as a part of the cooking process as it isn't the main sauce as many other variations.

Green Garden: So back on the garden island many people use to grow their own vegetables in their own garden, so the dish would also become known for its greens. There are many vegetables underneath the fish, so that the vegetables can be as flavorful as the rest of the dish. So a lot of "bok choy" on the bottom makes it even more delicious and presented as the greener more garden looking version of the dish. If there is no bok choy there is "Choy Sum", "Ong Choy", or "Gai Lan" that can be used as a substitute or a mixture of several of these green tasty treats imbued with fish taste.

Pairs Rice and Poi: There is the familiar "Steamed Fish" with hot oil on top, and the lawalu steamed fish, but "Kahe Lawalu" is charred, steamed, and has the oil pour sizzle, which is a great match for seafood. There are also variations on this, such as "Lawalu Laikiku Rice" and the "Kahe Lawalu Poi". There are even more variations in the local gourmet cuisine of the regions that is hard to collect as many of the residents have moved to other islands or to other parts of the country, or other countries entirely and taken their Kauai made recipes with them. 

Lawalu Traditions: Traditional lawalu is typically a fish, tightly wrapped in ti leaves and cooked on an open fire, but due to this style being "Kahe Steamed" its steamed instead. The cooking technique imparts a unique flavor due to the charring and direct contact of the ti leaves combined with the fish cooking in its own juices, however this charring is only on the inside. The inside needs the dish to be cooked low and slow to make sure that the fish doesn't dry out, so after a bit there is the necessary step of wrapping the charred ti leaves dish in the pan with aluminum foil for the steaming.