Haole Koa Recipe Development

We’ve been busy in the Savage Kitchen creating all kinds of recipes – both innovative and traditional – for the upcoming App update on July 6th!! Here’s a sneak peek…

Traditional Tempeh

Haole koa tempeh, known as tempe lamtoro or tempe mlandingan, is the third most popular tempeh in Central Java, Indonesia. This photo shows pans of haole koa tempeh pan fried, awaiting garlic powder, nutritional yeast, and salt to finish. Recipe to make haole koa tempeh coming in the Savage Kitchen app update and stay tuned for a special blog post detailing the process and variations!

New Innovations

These rice balls with blue butterfly pea flowers are wonderful at parties. Not flavorful on their own, they can be dipped in sauces, stuffed with yummy things in their centers, or served with stronger flavored foods.

Remember those young, flexible green haole koa seed pods that don’t have fully mature green seeds inside? This is what they can make, a delicious salad!!! This is one of my absolute favorites…fresh, inspired by a Thai youtuber..pods are transformed when cut into thin strips.

Mexican Roots

Traditional knowledge for the win! My roommate is from Mexico, and his Huichol friends say haole koa (Leucaena leucocephala) green seeds are eaten before going hunting to increase vision/sight of the animals. Science shows the seeds contain beta-carotene!

Haole koa originates from Mexico, so it’s an honor to have a Mexican woman, Sofia Flores @abuelitatechnology share her recipes of a plant with thousands of years of unbroken cultural connection. She created these recipes using green seeds, which will be available in the Savage Kitchen App starting July 6th. Guaje is the name of haole koa in Spanish.

Lebanese Inspired Guaje Falafel by Sofia Flores

Haole Koa Habanero Salsa by Sofia Flores

Pickled Haole Koa Flower Buds

Each time you eat one Haole Koa unopened flower bud it prevents 10-20 seed pods forming from a flower. There are an additional 10-20 seeds in each seed pod. These numbers are variable, but roughly 100-400 seeds you are preventing for each ONE bud you eat!! We find them delicious pickled and have many recipe variations coming in the Savage Kitchen app update.

I adapted Leda Meredith’s recipe for this lacto-fermented green tomatoes from her book Pickling Everything, adding unopened haole koa flower buds and some tropical twists like allspice. So delicious!

Dill Pickled Buds. The process of soaking haole koa unopened flowers for 36 hours in water, then boiling to make pickling-ready, is outlined step-by-step in the Savage Kitchen App update on July 6th. Recipe for these Dill Pickled Buds coming then!

I actually never realized how many people LOVE capers, until I started making them myself using haole koa unopened flower buds and people treating them like they’re gold!

Recipe Development is always welcome at the Savage Kitchen App! We would love to hear about your Haole Koa creations!

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