Inspired by Guam
THE MEAL
(Click on the links above to jump to that part of the post!)
Well, friends, this one’s gonna be short. This meal was SUPER easy to make. It didn’t require any kind of special techniques or difficult-to-master-skills, I didn’t have to buy a ton of unusual ingredients, and it was relatively quick to put together. But since Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands have similar cuisine, I used leftover red rice from last time as part of this meal, and then my dessert sadly didn’t set right and was a total waste. I actually made this meal a couple of weeks ago but was so bummed by the dessert fail that I wanted to try again, then time got away with me, and I decided to just move on. Maybe I’ll give it another go sometime, but not now.
Spicy Chicken Wings
Anyway, the main dish for my Guam-inspired meal was spicy chicken wings, or “kadun pika.” “Kadun” means “stew,” and “pika” means “spicy”! The recipe is similar to chicken adobo, with meat stewed in soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, onion, and lots of spice. Sometimes coconut milk is added, but I decided to leave it out.
These wings were really easy to make, and they turned out delicious. Very spicy, as advertised. I’m usually not a fan of the burning-mouth feeling, but they were addicting! I really loved them.
Red Rice
As mentioned, I used red rice from the Northern Mariana Islands meal to supplement this one, so please go read that post to learn more!
Cucumber Salad
Cucumbers were brought to the islands by the Spanish in the 17th century and have been cultivated by the Chamorro people every since. Cucumber salad has been common for holidays and fiestas since the 1990s. All kinds of vinegary vegetables are popular to the Japanese and Korean population of the islands, and this fits the bill!
The ingredients were actually really similar to the spicy chicken wings, minus the spice—soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, and onion! I saved a ton of money on this meal. 🙂 It was an interesting flavor! The soy sauce made it taste more like an entree than a vegetable side dish, but the other flavors all come together for a nice crunchy, sour, salty, sweet experience.
Latiya
For posterity’s sake, the dessert I tried to make was a custard cake called “latiya.” It has a yellow cake base, which I made just fine, but when it came time to make the custard, I failed. This cake is unique in that the “custard” isn’t a true custard at all, because it doesn’t include any eggs. Instead, it’s mostly just cornstarch holding it together. I’m not sure if I didn’t add enough cornstarch or just added it in at the wrong time or what, but mine did not set at all. If you want to see how it should be, please check out the recipe I tried to follow, by Annie’s Chamorro Kitchen.
Thank you for reading and following along my state meal challenge journey! Next stop: American Samoa!