Ryan and his partner Jason and six of his culinary school classmates competed in the 4th Annual Kahala Nui Healthy Cooking Contest held at Kapiolani Community College on October 25. Didn't know what to expect but this was a well-organized event attended by Kahala Nui senior living residents (and one guest each for each of the competition participants).
There was valet parking at KCC just for the event, and a professional MC, DJ Maleko who I had just listened to on 101.9 the day before. There was a bottle of water, four ballots (one for each team), and judging criteria at each seat.
They explained that Kahala Nui had partnered with KCC's culinary department to come up with healthier choices for meals. The top prize was a $700 scholarship for each of the two-person team.
Judging was based on taste, simplicity (whether you were likely to prepare it at home), nutrition (how much nutritional info was provided), organization and delivery (oral presentation), and visual presentation (how appetizing the dish was).
In addition to demonstrating how to prepare the dish, each team talked about the nutritional value of their dish. They pre-prepared samples for each person in the audience, which were good-sized portions as well as a full-sized portion. They had 20 minutes to complete their presentation.
The first team prepared a brochure with info about their dish. They made a Filipino fish soup with kampachi, green papaya and kalamungay prepared in a parchment bag. Very creative presentation.
Ryan and Jason made hemp-seed encrusted kampachi with kabocha stuffed with "forbidden rice" and roasted tomato and fish nage. This is the small portion.
Here's the full-size portion. Thanks to Melissa Chang, one of the judges, for the photo. In her article about the contest, she wrote: "The second team was an entertaining duo, Jason Park and Ryan Aquino. They must have rehearsed their schtick! (Possible Food Network stars?)"
Because they finished well under the time limit, they had time to answer questions from the audience, such as what "forbidden rice" is (mix of black and white rice that when cooked together gets a purple color), where to get it (Walmart, second shelf from the bottom in the rice section!), and how to make the hole at the top of the kabocha to scoop out the seeds (roast it to soften it and then used a paring knife to cut). The last question was kind of a trick question from the lady who asked...she knew the answer but wanted to see if they knew! Ryan sounded a little stressed and nervous but overall they were professional and Jason was very personable and funny.
They dedicated their dish to both of their dads who have Type 2 diabetes. The kabocha squash is good for diabetes.
I don't eat fish but I tried the kampachi and it was good, not fishy at all.
Team 3 made a tofu burrito with avocado sauce and pico de gallo. It was very tasty but a lot of work to prepare with so many ingredients. I surprised that the tofu was tasty as a substitute for meat.
Team 4 made a pumpkin soup with rice and oatmeal and a fish taco.
And the winners were from Team 3.All the participants received gift certificates from Williams-Sonoma.
Ryan was disappointed at not winning, but they worked hard and did a great job.Their dish was the most creative, and by thinking about their dads, showed a lot of heart went into the dish. So proud of both of them.
Melissa Chang posted this on her Instagram. She only showcased two of the teams, including Ryan and Jason.
Oh, I won a door prize! A KCC healthy recipe cookbook. I never win anything and was hoping NOT to win because I was just there as a participants' supporter, and I was a little "shame" to win, but it'll come in handy.
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