Recipe courtesy of Maui Fresh Streatery
Pohole Fern Laphet Thock Salad with Braised Hawaiian Tako (Octopus)
- Level: Advanced
- Total: 2 hr 10 min (includes chilling time)
- Active: 40 min
- Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
Braised Hawaiian Tako:
One 1- to 2-pound octopus
1 tablespoon Hawaiian sea salt
2 cans light lager beer
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1/4 cup chopped seaweed
Laphet Thock Dressing:
1/2 cup roasted garlic oil
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup Thai fish sauce
Pohole Fern Salad:
2 pounds Hawaiian pohole fern shoots or local fiddlehead ferns
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup sweet white onions, sliced
1 tablespoon roasted chopped candlenuts or peanuts
1 tablespoon roasted coconut flakes
1 tablespoon fried garlic chips
1 tablespoon roasted chopped macadamia nuts
1 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds
1 tablespoon minced dried shrimp
1 jalapeno, sliced
Directions
- For the braised Hawaiian tako: Combine the octopus and sea salt in a mixing bowl and massage the salt into octopus for 2 to 3 minutes to remove slime. Rinse under cool fresh water. Place the cleaned octopus in a pot with the beer and bring to simmer. Cover and cook for 1 hour, until the octopus is tender. Remove the octopus and chill. Once chilled, slice the legs into bite-size pieces and mix with the sesame oil and seaweed. Hold for service.
- For the laphet thock dressing: Whisk together the garlic oil, lime juice and fish sauce in a bowl. Chill and reserve for service.
- For the pohole fern salad: Bring 1 gallon of lightly salted water to a boil. Slice the fern shoots into 1-inch sections, separating stalks from tips. Blanch the stalks for 1 minute, then add the tips and continue to blanch for an additional 3 minutes. Shock in an ice water bath, then drain and dry for service.
- Divide the fern shoots evenly on 4 chilled dinner plates. Garnish around the perimeter of the ferns with the tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, candlenuts, coconut flakes, garlic chips, macadamia nuts, sesame seeds and dried shrimp. Drizzle dressing over the garnishes and fern shoots. Top with marinated octopus and jalapeno slices.
