Hawaii's Share Your Table

Chicken long rice bears all the marks of having Chinese roots, in both ingredients and technique, so how did it become a standard at Hawaiian lu’au? Who can say? My theory is that it was concocted by Chinese married to Hawaiians, or brought by Chinese to Hawaiian gatherings. Many Chinese plantation workers and merchants married Hawaiian women in the early days of the contract workers.

Chinese came first in the long line of those imported to work in the plantations, and came without their women. As was allowed in their traditional culture, many left wives in China and married second wives here, while others were bachelors. Hawaiian women brought not only themselves but their taro lands to these unions, and many of these water-irrigated lo’i (taro fields) were converted by the Chinese into rice paddies and duck ponds.

Where the misnomer “long rice” came from is equally shrouded in mystery, but it’s a measure of how important the translucent threads were to people that they were named for rice, the center-of-the-plate staple. It has, however, led to the mistaken thinking that the noodles are made from rice, when they are actually made from mung beans. While rice flour is used to make noodles, these are white, not transparent, essential for making the once-popular popular street-food, chow fun.

However it came to us, chicken long rice is now a standard at luau, in plate lunches and for large parties because it’s inexpensive and easy to stretch. My grandmother always said the key to good chicken long rice is plenty of ginger in the broth. The old-fashioned route was to hack a whole chicken to pieces and use it, bones and all, to make the broth, later adding the stew ingredients. In my recipe, I’ve begun with store-bought broth and used skinless, boneless meats, simmered just long enough to cook through.

Gingery, nutritious and filling, long rice is usually served over a scoop of steamed rice. The bean thread noodles, also known as sai fun, cellophane threads or glass noodles, lend a pleasing chewiness.