Possible Allergy warning – please read all recipes carefully
and be aware of any allergies or sensitivities that may affect your health and well-being

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Please Fave the original Here

Lets get back to shall we?

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3rd dish of Vrghr culinary tour of Hawaii

Wuff has always been a fan of the macaroni salad served by L&L Hawaiian BBQ. This creation is extra creamy, with a thick dressing full of lots of mayo. It seemed like the perfect side dish for Vrghr's planned menu, so wuffy went about searching for "True" Hawaiian macaroni salad recipes.

A couple things seemed to be pretty commonly agreed upon.

1) Over-cook the pasta just a bit, to get it even more tender and ready to accept the creamy coating
2) Add Cider Vinegar to the hot, drained (but not rinsed) pasta to make it even more receptive to the sauce
3) Real Mayo!! No salad dressing, Miracle Whip, etc. (Best Foods Real Mayonnaise was the hands-down favorite of islanders)
4) Adding Pineapple to Hawaiian mac salad was a "mainland thing", and if you tried that on the Island some big Samoan was liable to show up and sit on you. *grin*
5) Shrimp, and similar "add ins" wasn't nearly as frowned upon as the pineapple, but most folks thought it strayed from the "pure", iconic version

So here is wuff's attempt at a "real" Hawaiian macaroni salad. This didn't quite match Vrghr's favorite L&L flavor, but came darn close. Just a matter of minor adjustments to the sugar and onion percentages, Vrghr suspects, to get the flavor "spot on."

Give this a shot! It's really a great change from the typical stateside Macaroni Salad found at so many Pot Lucks and BBQs! And it's quite easy to create, too!

Ingredients:

~6-8 Oz dried Elbow Macaroni or Ditalini (shorter, straight tubes) Noodles
2 TBS Apple Cider Vinegar
½ Sweet Onion, grated or pureed
2 TBS Carrots, shredded
1 C real Mayo (Best Foods brand preferred)
~1/4 C Milk
1/4 C Green Onions, sliced thin
2 tsp Sugar (or Mirin )
~½ tsp White Pepper

Chopped Parsley, fine diced Red Bell Pepper, & more green onion for Garnish

Directions:

Boil the noodles in salted water until slightly over-done (~1 or so more than box directions suggest). You want to intentionally over-cook it a little. Drain but DO NOT RINSE

While still hot, sprinkle on Cider Vinegar and toss to coat. Make sure the pasta is still hot when the vinegar is added!

Add Carrot, Scallions (green onions), and Onions, and toss again

Whisk the remaining ingredients together in a medium bowl and stir into macaroni while the pasta is still warm to help the noodles soak the dressing in. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Refrigerate ~4 hours until thoroughly cooled, or overnight

If needed, add a few more teaspoons of milk after refrigerating and stir in to make it creamy again

Garnish with a bit of chopped fresh parsley, thin sliced scallions (green onions), or fine diced red bell peppers

!DEVOUR!