Loco Moco is Hawaii's original home made fast food and can be found at just about any fast food joint, road side diner or lunch ago sin the islands. The dish originated in 1949 by Lincoln Grill restaurants. The teenagers named the dish Loco Moco after one of their members whose nick name was crazy. Loco for Spanish is crazy. They tacked on Moco which rhymed with Loco and sounded great.
The dish might have many versions but has four basic ingredients rice, patty, brown sauce and egg.The rice is generally steamed rice, Patty is normally a beef patty,since I was doing a vegetarian version I used haricot beans,( the white beans which are used for making baked beans. ). For the brown gravy I used a wee bit of soy sauce .
The Patty was a treat by itself and can be served by itself, the sauce and rice tasted like one of those Chinese combos but with a fusion. The Sunny side up highlighted the breakfast plate.
Loco Moco is a part of the Hawaiian Breakfast that I served for Buffet on Table.
Loco Moco
Patty
Ingredients
1 cup boiled beans
1 tsp butter
2 tsp onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste
2 tsp roasted oats , ground to a powder
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp sea salt
Salt to taste
( you might not require salt as the beans have salt and we are using sea salt also )
Place a pan on slow heat and add butter.
Immediately add onions and ginger garlic paste.
Toss till the onion is translucent.
Add the boiled beans.
Mash with a potato masher.
Add all the spices and powdered oats.
Remove from fire .
Let cool.
Mix well and form a patty.
Shallow fry the Patty.
Brown Sauce
Ingredients
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
1/2 cup broth ( I reserved the water of the beans after boiling )
1 tbsp garlic
1 tbsp green chilly
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp vinegar
Pinch white pepper
Salt to taste
Place a pan on medium heat and add butter.
Add a tbsp of garlic and Saute till pink.
Add green chilly .
Add the flour and roast in butter till the raw smell is gone.
Add the broth.
Add soy sauce, vinegar and salt.
Let boil for a couple of minutes till the sauce is slightly thick.
Assembling Loco Moco
Place steamed rice in a bowl.
Pour the prepared sauce.
Place the Patty.
Top with an egg, sunny side up.
Well since I could not fry an egg, I made a mock egg with cottage cheese.the egg did not look as good and later I felt I could have definitely done a better job with it. I used a little salt in the cottage cheese, used a wee bit yellow food color for the yolk. Like the real egg the mock egg provided the protein too.
