Moana
The recent heat wave had me craving beachy/oceany movies and something cool and fresh to consume. Enter Moana, my favorite of the more recent Disney films.
Sure, in some ways Moana follows the Disney Princess Formula–sheltered yet adventurous young girl journeys out into the world accompanied by goofy animal sidekick and arrogant male companion. But to her credit, Moana doesn’t need a love interest to help propel her forward, and she is the sole hero to save her people and the world. She doesn’t accomplish this through combat or even, in the end, cunning. Instead, her superhero “princess” power is pure empathy, and an achieved sense of self she’s able to (SPOILER) share with another female presence.
This empowering storyline is complemented by an insanely good soundtrack and perfectly timed moments of silliness (Sharkhead Maui) that had me actually lol’ing in the theater. Then too, you have the themes of environmentalism and stunning aquatic visuals that made me hearken back to the first time I saw Ferngully– I mean, who doesn’t love bioluminescence?? SHINY.
I tried to keep this Moana menu as kid-friendly as possible while staying pescatarian/vegan– how could you watch the movie while eating BBQ Hei Hei or Pua? Ia manuia le tausamiga!
The Movie
The Menu
Poke is a traditional Polynesian dish that has become globally popular because it's friggin' delicious. These little boats reminded me a little of Moana's canoe, and the Taro chip "sail" pays homage to one of the most widely used ingredients in Polynesian cuisine. Using a large, sharp knife, slice your avocado lengthwise, starting at the top and working around the inner pit. Twist the two halves in opposite directions to separate and pull apart-- the pit will stay in one of the halves. To remove it, tap the pit with your knife edge with enough force that it wedges into the pit. Twist and pull and the pit should slide out. Here's a quick video that helps demonstrate. In order to make enough room for your poke, scoop out some of the avocado innards with a small spoon. Next, assemble your poke marinade. Slice your scallion whites thinly at an angle, and whisk together with your seaweed crumbles, sesame oil, soy sauce, sesame seeds, honey, and red pepper flakes. Cut tuna into 1/2 inch chunks, and toss with the marinade. Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes. Now it's time to assemble your poke boats! Spoon the tuna into the avocado halves, mounding as much as possible. Stab with a large taro chip-- I cut mine with kitchen shears to make them a bit more triangular and "sail-like". Top with a few more sesame seeds and serve immediately. If you or your kiddos have an aversion to raw fish, I get it. You could always use the marinade with chicken and grill it up. Just try not to think of Hei Hei while you do. Savage. Poke is often served with steamed rice. However, I added some color and a scallion design to evoke the Heart of Te Fiti-- the stone which triggers Moana's quest to "defeat" Te Ka. While the Wasabi is, admittedly, a Japanese ingredient, it adds a spicy fiery-ness that I think is quite appropriate. First, assemble your main ingredients (plus a lime. I forgot it in the below pic. Whoops). Add 1 tsp of oil to a saucepan and heat over medium. Add grated ginger and cook for one minute, stirring gently to prevent burning. Add rice and cook for a minute till coated and very slightly toasted. Next, add 3/4 cup water and the salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer until the liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, puree the spinach with the remaining 1/4 cup of water until fully processed. Add spinach to the rice and recover, continuing to simmer until all liquid is absorbed and rice is fully cooked, about another ten minutes. Your rice should retain a lovely green color. Remove your rice from the heat and allow to come to room temperature in a separate bowl, fluffing periodically with a fork. Toss your wasabi dressing into the rice until fully incorporated. Finally, arrange your green scallion slices on top of the rice in a Heart of Te Fiti pattern. The little ones won't even be able to tell they're getting a hefty dose of veggies! Soooo, I had no idea there was a huge Dole Whip debate going on. Dole has a recipe online with bananas and Disney has their recipe online with full dairy ice cream-- but in the parks Dole Whip is supposed to be vegan? In any event, I went down a long and hilarious rabbit hole of online reviews and concluded that I'd just create my own Dole Whip recipe, Kakamora style with coconut. (And for the adults, feel free to add a little rum in there. You're Welcome!) First, heat your coconut milk and sugar in a sauce pan or in the microwave briefly until sugar is dissolved. Place in freezer while you work on your pineapple. Cut both ends off of your pineapple and slice away the spiny exterior. Next slice and chop the pineapple into 1 inch cubes (feel free to have a bite before you finish). Throw your pineapple cubes into the freezer with the coconut milk-- depending on your freezer's temperature, it should take roughly an hour for the pineapple to fully freeze and the coconut milk to partially freeze into a soft-serve like consistency. When you're nice and chilly, add all ingredients to a blender or food processor. Note, I have used both almond and cashew milk vanilla ice cream in this recipe, and both were delicious. If you can find coconut vanilla ice cream, bonus points. Puree the ingredients until all of the pineapple bits are fully processed-- you'll end up with a soft-serve consistency. Place your Kakamora Coconut "Dole Whip" in the freezer for a bit to firm up. In the meantime, add your coconut flakes to a small saucepan and toast over medium heat, stirring to avoid burning. The coconut will toast quickly, so be careful to remove immediately from the heat when you get to a nice golden brown. Now, if you want to eat your dole whip right out of the tupperware you froze it in, or slurp it out of a glass (filled with rum), go for it. But if you wanna be fancy, see below for my piping bag cheat-- simply cut one of the bottom corners of a ziploc bag off and either pipe your Dole Whip through the hole or use a piping tip. Serve topped with Kakamora Coconut flakes! Yummy.
Poke Boats
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
Te Fiti Rice
Ingredients
Instructions
Whisk together lime juice, remaining ½ tsp of canola oil, scallion whites, and wasabi. Feel free to increase the wasabi to whatever level of heat you feel comfortable with-- just be careful, it can get a little bitter if too much is added and omg this ingredient is so in line with Moana's plot (Anna pats herself on back...).
Kakamora Dole Whip
Ingredients
Instructions
Recommended Products
Epilogue
A ton has been said about the representation of Polynesian culture in this film– but by and large, Disney did a pretty bang up job with the cast and crew. Big time stars Dwayne Johnson and native Kiwi Jemaine Clement received rave reviews. But Hawaiian teen Auli’I Cravalho as Moana blew me away– even moreso when she sang How Far I’ll Go at the 2017 Academy Awards. The girl got whacked in the head and didn’t miss a beat!
Also, Lin Manuel– I see you <3.
For more menus, check out my movie directory here!