In my craving for cooking asian cuisines, I came across a few recipes that included pandan leaves or pandan extract from the pandanus tree. Growing up in Hawaii you take this tree for granted. Locally in Hawaii, the proud samoan people eat the ulu or breadfruit from the tree. They steam it in underground ovens called "imus". It comes out like a cooked steamed potato. I've seen it fried crispy into chips by my cousins on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Driving daily I've notice very few pandanus trees in Honolulu. It's somewhat scarce. On the windward side of Oahu near Kahana and Kaawa beaches the pandanus grows abundant according to some sources. The next time we go sight-seeing around the island I'll go check it out.
My wife said that pandan is used a lot in filipino cuisine especially in Pampanga for the rice and cakes. She said it has a distinct fragrance when added to a dish. Other ethnic groups use it well in their cooking too.
In grade school I remember all the boys breaking the branches and leaves for fun and games. It's also used by the Hawaiians and Samoans to make purses, hats, and baskets that they sell to the tourists. These souvenirs also are dried and sold on the internet and sent to the mainland US for keepsakes of Hawaii.
Recently I came across a few pandan trees at the airport and one in my neighborhood growing wildly. As you can see above the leaves are so versatile!!
I have yet to try cooking some pandan related recipes.
Get Santo's recipe for Pandan Chicken here!
http://scentofgreenbananas.blogspot.com/2005/01/weekend-lunch.html
Get recipe for Buko Pandan here at Pinoy Cook's site!
http://pinoycook.net/index.php/recipes/recipe/buko-pandan/
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