The holiday season is here, and UH News is asking members of the University of Hawaiʻi ʻohana to share their favorite recipes. The hope is these recipes and the short stories that accompany them will give everyone some recipe ideas for the holidays.
Associate Professor Piʻikea Hardy-Kahaleoumi, a Native Hawaiian counselor at Leeward Community College shared her recipe for hot crab sweet potato salad. According to Hardy-Kahaleoumi, the foundation and main ingredient is aloha.
“I remember the first time I ever tried this dish,” she said. “It was made by my hoa (friend) Jill Teraizumi (counselor at Honolulu CC) and I loved it. Sometimes folks are not so open to sharing recipes but she gave it to me as soon as she saw how much I enjoyed it.”
Over the years, she ended up tweaking the original recipe—switching out regular potatoes for the healthier Okinawan sweet potato. Now, Hardy-Kahaleoumi loves to make this dish during the holidays to share with her friends and family.
See more UH-mazing holiday recipes
“While we all may have heard of the ‘Five Love Languages,’ I would suggest one more—food,” she said. “In Hawaiʻi, this is the way we let people know we care. I regularly bring food to work, share recipes and am always on the lookout for new culinary creations. Through the sharing of food we nurture connection, friendship and aloha.”
Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 lbs. sweet potatoes*
- 1–2 lbs. imitation crab
- 1 large round onion (minced)
- 1 cup celery
- 2 Tbsp. minced garlic
- 2 cups crushed garlic croutons
- ½ cup mayonnaise (enough to bind everything together)
- 1 cup melted butter
- 3 Tbsp. thyme
- salt (to taste)
- pepper (to taste)
*You can use any kind of potato you would like. If you use sweet potatoes, make sure to add a little more salt into the water when you boil it to bring down the sweetness a bit.
Directions
- Wash and cut potatoes into bite size pieces. Boil potatoes in salted water until soft. Drain potatoes and place in a mixing bowl.
- While potatoes are boiling, slice the onions, celery and garlic. In a separate pan, sauté these veggies along with ½ cup butter and thyme. Season with salt and pepper.
- Once veggies are slightly soft, remove from heat and place in a mixing bowl with potatoes (don’t overcook veggies because they will be going in the oven).
- Cut imitation crab into bite size pieces and place in a mixing bowl along with mayonnaise.
- Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Taste to ensure it has the flavor you want and add more seasoning to your taste if necessary.
- Grease a 13×9-inch baking pan and place potato mixture into the baking pan.
- Top with crushed garlic croutons (I usually put the croutons all in a Ziploc bag and crush it with a coffee cup or you can put it through a food processor). I like keeping some bigger pieces and not making it too fine.
- Spread the remaining melted butter over the top of the croutons.
- Bake in the oven on 350 degrees for 45 minutes (until the croutons look browned).
