Dining with Disney: Lilo & Stitch: Chocolate Cupcakes with Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting.

Lilo & Stitch is such a wonderful story of family and friendships. Beings from 2 completely different worlds, literally, find common ground and form a long lasting friendship. It's celebrates differences and confidence in oneself. It also shows the importance of family, the bond that's shared with siblings and that no matter what,  you love and take care of one another. Ohana means family, nobody gets left behind!


Dining with Disney Menu is as follows:

Appetizer- Deep Fried Spam Musubi

Entree- Chicken Katsu Dinner Plate

Dessert - Chocolate Cupcakes with Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting.

Now let me example my thought process. Now some of it is quite obvious. The film is based in Hawaii so Spam Musubi & Chicken Katsu make sense. You can make your own Musubi (regular or fried) & Katsu or use my recipes. I serve the Katsu with steamed rice & macaroni salad. Please feel free to go to your local Hawaiian joint and get these goodies.You may not be able to find deep fried musubi but you'll find regular spam musubi which is just as yummy!

Now let's look at the dessert. Chocolate Cupcakes with Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting. You're probably thinking what does chocolate cupcakes have to do with Hawaii or the movie. Well, in the movie, Lilo orders a slice of chocolate cake which Stitch proceeds to devour then spits out because he realized that he just eaten her cake. At the end of the movie to make up for his mistake Stitch bakes Lilo a Chocolate cake. So in honor of those moments I'm sharing this cupcake recipe. Oh, the pineapple is there because it's Hawaii the land of pineapples! I hope you enjoy your time Dining with Disney with your Ohana!

Aloha!

Preheat oven 350 F. Place 3 oz of bittersweet chocolate

1 stick of butter cut up

1/2 cup cocoa powder ( I prefer dark cocoa) in a microwave safe bowl

Microwave in 30 second increments, stirring after each time until chocolate, butter & cocoa are completely combined. Allow to cool.

To a small bowl combine 3/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

In a medium bowl add 2 eggs, 3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

Combine well.

Add cooled chocolate mixture into the wet mixture.

Add flour little by little until all is combined.

Add 1/2 cup sour cream and combine. The batter will be thick.

Line Trays

Using a small scoop or melon baller (That's what I used) pour batter into liners. Bake 18-20 for regular cupcakes or 15-18 minutes for mini cupcakes. Test doneness with a toothpick.

8 oz of cream cheese & 1 stick of butter at room temperature.

Cream together and add 1 tsp of vanilla

Add powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time to your desired sweetness.

Add 1/4 cup crushed pineapple and combine.

Remove from oven and let them cool for a 5 minutes in the pan.Then remove from pan and cool on a wired rack.

When cool frost the cupcakes.

Top them with a chunk of pineapple

Don't they look pretty!

If you want to take one more step add a piece of Millionaire bacon. The sweet & salty totally work!

Live adventurously, add the Millionaire bacon!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting - yields 12-14 reg cupcakes or 35-40 mini cupcakes


Ingredients:

3/4 cup Flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 stick of butter
3 oz bittersweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup cocoa powder (dark)
1/2 cup sour cream


Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting:

Basic Cream Cheese Frosting
1/4 cup crushed pineapple
2-3 slices of pineapple rings, cut into small chunks 
1-2 slice of Millionaire Bacon, cut into pieces (optional)

Note: If using Millionaire Bacon, make that first. It will keep while you make the cupcakes.

Roadmap:

1. Preheat oven 350F.

2. Add chocolate, cocoa powder & butter in to a microwave safe bowl. Microwave in 30 second increments until chocolate melts. Stirring after each 30 seconds until incorporated and completely smooth. Be careful not to over cook chocolate. Allow chocolate mixture to cool.

3. In a small bowl mix together flour, baking soda and baking powder. In a medium bowl mix together eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt. Incorporate cooled chocolate mixture into wet mixture.

4. Add flour mixture little by little into the wet mixture. Add sour cream and stir until well combined.

5. Place liners in pan. Divide batter into cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes for regular cupcakes. (for mini cupcakes 15-18 minutes) Insert toothpick, if clean allow cupcakes to cool in pan for 5-7 minutes. Take cupcakes out of pans and completely cool.

6. While cupcakes are cooking make frosting. Basic Cream Cheese Frosting- Add 8oz cream cheese (room temperature) and 1 stick of butter (room temperature) into a medium bowl. With a hand mixer, cream together until blended. Add vanilla and blend. Add and blend powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time until desired sweetness. Add 1/4 cup of crushed pineapple and mix in with a spatula. 

7. Frost cupcakes and topped with pineapple chunk (mini cupcakes) or chunks (regular cupcake). If you want to go extra crazy add a piece of millionaire bacon with pineapple chunks. It sounds crazy but it works!! Try it!  Enjoy!

Chicken Katsu

My husband and I love eating from our local L&L Hawaiian Barbecue. If you're not familiar with it, it's a chain restaurant that serves up local Hawaiian dishes. One of my husband's favorite lunch plates is Chicken Katsu. What's not to love?! It's juicy, crispy and served with a delicious sweet & tart sauce. I love their Katsu sauce, you'll learn that I'm a BIG sauce fame. I would be happy with a bowl of practically any sauce and some bread. Returning from that white rabbit hole, Chicken Katsu is simply a Japanese style fried chicken. There is no brine, soaking or deep frying involved, like Southern fried chicken, but the end result is still crispy chicken that's delicious.

Hawaii is known for their lunch plates. The plate consists of a protein, rice and macaroni salad. It's probably not the healthiest in the world, but it's oh so delicious! So to stick with tradition, I'm serving it up Hawaiian style. No need to fix what's not broken.  Aloha!

Cut off excess fat. Salt & Pepper chicken on both sides.

Prepare breading station

Flour, tap off excess.

Dip in egg, tap off excess.

Cover well in panko. We want it crispy!

Add to oil. When putting in oil place away from yourself to avoid oil splattering on you.

It's getting there!

Almost...

Golden brown and delicious!

Come and eat!

Buen Provecho!

Chicken Katsu - yields 4 servings

Ingredients:

4 Thigh, skinless boneless
1/2 cup flour
1 Egg
1 cup Panko
Salt n Pepper
Oil for pan frying

Katsu Sauce:
1/2 cup Ketchup
1/4 cup SoySauce
1/4 cup Sugar
2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

Road Map:

1. Make sauce. Combine Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, sugar & soy sauce.

2. Heat oil in a pan.

3. Set up breading station. Add flour, whisked egg and panko in separate plates/bowls.

5. Salt & pepper chicken on both sides. Bread chicken in flour, egg then panko.

6. Pan fry chicken, cooking 4-5 minutes on each side or until golden brown, making sure chicken is cook through.

7. Serve with rice, macaroni salad and katsu sauce.

8. Enjoy! 

Deep Fried Spam Musubi

Yes, that's right, your eyes aren't deceiving you!  It not just spam musubi but deep fried spam musubi! Spam Musubi on it's own is completely delicious. The salty spam, vinegary seasoned rice, the sweet teriyaki sauce with that touch of nori is so unbelievably awesome. It makes me drool! So you can imagine how giddy I got when I read on a menu Deep Fried Spam Musubi.

I first have this delicious treat at  Da Kitchen Cafe in Maui. They're known for this special dish. It was such a wonderfully executed dish, that I dream about this musubi!  It had all the attributes of a traditional spam musubi, but now it's crunchy & crispy. It elevates this humble Hawaii favorite into a more special treat.

It's been 2 years since I've had this salty treat. I been quite deprived. Since I can't justify a plane ticket just for deep fried spam musubi, I must make my own. I've never made musubi, so I asked a dear friend to talk me through the basics, she even let me borrow her musubi press. You don't need this press, you can totally used the Spam can as a substitute. She's never deep fried a musubi, so that part I had to play by ear. It turned out to be super simple, don't let the amount of steps fool or scare you.

Now if you don't want to deep fried every piece of musubi,  you can wrap the musubi with nori in different ways. You can wrapped in a whole sheet of nori. You can cut the nori in strips and use 1 strip per musubi or if you're my husband you opt for no nori. He's just not a seaweed eater so I also omit the furikake seasoning, so I adjust tradition for him. Even without the seaweed it still was yummy, but for me the nori gives a delicious sea flavor that is part of the magic of spam musubi. Now if you are deep frying you need to wrap the musubi in the whole sheet and let it set in the fridge. These steps are important to help keep it's shape and to prevent the rice from coming apart. 

I hope you take this trip down memory lane with me and enjoy a taste of Hawaii. Aloha!

Buen Provecho!

Combine equal parts soy sauce & sugar. Reserve a 1/4 cup of sauce.

Cut into 8-10 pieces

Marinade spam with sauce for at least 5-10 minutes.

If you don't have a musubi press you can make one out of the can. It's a little tricky and takes a bit of time. I used a can opener and scissors. I add the foil on the bottom to protect from some sharp edges. BE VERY CAREFUL!

Cut nori strip and place can on top of nori.

Season rice with seasoned rice wine vinegar.

Pan fry spam.

Press rice until compact.

Sprinkle a little furikake & drizzle a bit of the reserved sauce.

Add a slice of spam.

Add rice, press, wrap with nori. Seal with a bit of water.

If using press, place press on top of nori.

Add rice, press, sprinkle furikake, drizzle sauce, spam, rice, press. I put a piece of plastic wrap between the rice and press, it makes it keeps from the rice to sticking to the press.

Nicely press! Look at that beauty!

Seal and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in fridge for 30 minutes to 1 hour.  Allow it to set.

Prepare breading station.

Dip in egg then cover in panko.

Fry until golden brown.

Perfection! Look at the golden brown goodness!

Salty, sweet and amazingly crunchy!! Enjoy! Aloha!

Deep Fried Masubi - yields 8-10 musubi

Ingredients:

1 can Spam, sliced into 8 to 10 pieces
3 cups Cooked Rice, warm - 1 cup uncooked rice & 2 cups water
1-2 Tbsp Seasoned Rice Wine Vinegar, to taste
1/2 cup Soy Sauce
1/2 cup Sugar
Furikake, japanese rice seasoning
4-5 Nori sheets (roasted seaweed), if wrapping in whole sheet, 3 sheets are enough if cutting 2 inch strips
1 Tbsp oil

For deep frying:
1 egg
1 cup panko crumbs
Oil for frying

Side Note: Furikake & Nori sheets can be found readily in Asian markets or in the Asian aisle in big supermarkets.

Road Map:

1. Cook the rice.

Take 1 cup of uncooked rice and rinse several time until water is clear and no longer cloudy. In a medium, heavy-bottomed pot add the cup of rice and 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Once it comes to a boil and add salt to taste. Stir to combine the rice, lower the heat to low and cover. Let the rice cook for about 15- 20 minutes, until all the water has been absorbed. Remove form heat and let it rest for a few minutes. Take a fork and fluff the rice.  Mix in rice wine vinegar to rice, to taste. You want more sweet than sour.

2. Slice Spam into 8 to 10 pieces. 

3. Combine soy sauce & sugar into a bowl. Reserve 1/4 cup of sauce.  Place spam in remaining marinade for about 5 minutes.

4. Put a sauce pan on medium heat, add 1 tbsp of oil and pan fry the spam. Add some of the marinade to coat spam and thicken sauce. Cook until spam is caramelized.

5. Place a whole sheet of nori down. Place musubi press on top, or your Spam can. If using spam can or a small musubi press you can cut the nori in half to make it easier to make the musubi.

6. Add rice and press down until you have 1/4 inch of rice, or however tall you like.

7.Sprinkle furikake on rice.

8. Add a drizzle of the reserved sauce, this step is optional. I like the extra sweetness.

9. Place a slice of Spam on top and add another mound of rice. Press down to compact the rice. Remove press/can. Wrap the spam, using a bit of water to seal the edges. Ready to eat and enjoy!

If deep frying keep going:

10. Wrap ready made musubi in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour, enough time for the rice to set up.

11. Prepare oil. Heat oil in a heavy bottom pot.

12. Prepare breading station. Place whisked egg and panko in separate dishes/bowls.

13. Place musubi in egg and then in panko. Make sure it is completely covered in panko for a crispy exterior.

14. Fry until golden brown. Drain on a paper towel. When cool to touch, using a serrated knife cut diagonally. Enjoy!