Aloha Veggies: Modern Hawaiian Cooking with Alana Kysar

NOTE: iphone and ipad users, CLICK HERE to register for class.

What’s on the Menu:
Shoyu Kabocha with Green Onion Oil and Whipped Tofu
Everyday Quickle
Edamame Rice

Despite its rich history and unique ecosystems, Hawaiʻi’s cuisine is often flattened into a handful of familiar exports: Spam musubi, poke bowls, kalua pork. In this livestream class, Alana Kysar, Hawai'i-born recipe developer and author of the new book "Aloha Veggies," sets out to show you what Hawaiian cooking looks like when vegetables take center stage. Drawing on produce from a new generation of local farmers and the islands’ expanding agricultural infrastructure, she’ll prove that techniques honed over generations—like braising, curing and slow-cooking—turn out to work beautifully on plants, too.

The class is organized around the logic of the plate lunch, Hawaiʻi’s foundational meal structure. First, you’ll make a dish that applies decidedly Hawaiian flavors and techniques to unexpected ingredients. Kabocha squash gets cut into wedges—don’t worry: Alana will show you how to break down this notoriously challenging squash with confidence—and braised in a bath of soy, ginger, and garlic until deeply savory and tender. Served over a base of creamy whipped tofu and finished with homemade green onion oil, it’s a lesson in balance and in creative transformations of ingredients you thought you knew well.

Next comes the starch: edamame rice, a four-ingredient crowd-pleaser that relies on Hawaiian mainstays like ochazuke furikake and nametake (seasoned enoki mushrooms). As she cooks, Alana will tell you her tips and tricks for achieving perfectly cooked rice every time. To round out the plate, you’ll prepare Alana’s everyday quick pickle: Japanese cucumbers lightly dressed with three essential ingredients until crisp, savory, and bright. Together, these dishes show how the structure and flavors of the Hawaiian plate lunch can expand in entirely new directions when vegetables become the main event.

Get 15% off your copy of “Aloha Veggies” with code RIAEMilk15 here: https://www.readitandeatshop.com/book/9780593836194

About Alana Kysar:
Alana Kysar is a Hawai‘i-born cookbook author, recipe developer, and photographer whose work celebrates the islands’ multicultural culinary heritage. Her debut cookbook Aloha Kitchen was an IACP Award finalist and named one of the best cookbooks of 2019 by NPR, The New York Times, and Library Journal. After launching her acclaimed blog Fix Feast Flair in 2015 and winning Saveur’s Best New Voice award, Alana spent over a decade in California before returning home to Hawai‘i. She lives in Kula, Maui, with her husband and miniature dachshunds, working from her home studio to share Hawai‘i’s cultural stories through food.

If you have any questions about this class, please don't hesitate to get in touch via cookingschool@177milkstreet.com.

This event has limited spots and you must register in advance via Eventbrite in order to attend. One sign-up covers one device. Payments for Milk Street livestream events are non-refundable. If you find yourself unable to attend, you may transfer the ticket to someone else, but we are unable to refund fees and all payments are final.

Closed Captioning is available for all Milk Street virtual events.

Immediately after registering, you will get a confirmation email that contains the Zoom meeting log-in information. One week prior to the class (or within 48 hours, if you register less than one week in advance), you will receive instructions on how to prepare ingredients and equipment in order to cook along, if you choose.

After class, you will receive a recording of the event, as links to any additional recipes and resources that may come up. NOTE:The recording link is only available online for one month following each event. If you’d like to have access to the recording for longer than that, you'll need to save the recording locally by clicking on “download” on the top right corner of the recording page.

Bonus: All attendees of this class will receive a one-time 20% off coupon to the Milk Street Store after class.