Pau Hana Time with Hawaiian Charcuterie Boards

Version 1

When I first thought of the idea for the holiday pau hana board, my instinct was to reach out to friends and see if they had an expert who could collaborate on this project. Then, I thought some more about our mission here at She Lives Aloha. We are all about making it easy for you to enjoy Hawaii at Home.

So, I watched a couple of YouTube videos and off I went. You could easily use prosciutto or salami as your meat, but I wanted authenticity—and made Spam a central part of the board. My dad always ate Spam, but he often did it when my mom and I were out for the night. This was the first time I’d cooked Spam. I wanted to flavor it and opted to use my remaining Huli Huli sauce. I like salty flavors, but it was a little too much salt for me.

I planned to build the board around the three snacks included in the Holiday 2021 Lives Aloha Kit: Wai Lana Cassava Chips Herb & Garlic flavor, Maui Fruit Jewels Guava paste, and Hawaii Fudge Company Fudgelettes. A trip to Trader Joe’s added coconut strips, dried pineapple, small brie rounds, and dried hibiscus flowers to the mix. I also used three items from prior kits: Aunty Lillikoi’s Passionfruit Jelly, Royal Hawaiian Macadamia Nuts, and the small pineapple bowl.

I struggled to add height to the board. I used a shot glass for the coconut strips and disguised the glass with the pineapple rings. If I could have found one of our Hawaii shot glasses, I would have made it part of the décor. I stacked the fried Spam cubes (recipe below) on dried pineapple rings. The dried hibiscus flowers added much needed color to the board. To use the guava paste, I experimented with the brie rounds. My first attempt was to cut it in half horizontally, but I decided that was too much brie. I then opted to cut the rounds into fourths and cut the guava paste into triangles.

My favorite discovery when making this board was using the gluten-free cassava chips to make goat cheese “boats”. I filled them with goat cheese and then topped them with passionfruit jelly. “Onolicious” is the word that comes to mind for that combination. When all was said and done, the first version wasn’t bad but it lacked green.

Version 2

In an effort to green up the board the second time around, I relied on three new items: bamboo skewers (found at Cost Plus Market), fake monstera leaves (full disclosure is that I don’t know if they are food safe), and a fresh pineapple. We also had been gifted plantain chips and chili dried mango in a Diwali basket and I decided they’d be great for the board. For my second time cooking Spam, I opted for the less sodium version and used a homemade mixture of soy sauce and sugar. I cut off the top of the pineapple and placed it on the board to build around it. I then cut off the bottom of the pineapple and used it as a boat, attaching the fried Spam cube and pineapple skewers to it. The skewers were quite heavy and needed to be placed so they counterbalanced each other.

 Last time I didn’t want to cover the design on the serving board, but this time I creatively used my Fudglettes to sprinkle color amongst the design. I decorated the pineapple top with hibiscus flowers. I used the macadamia nuts to fill more gaps. Because I was taking this to an actual gathering, I placed it in a tray for transport and then used the plantain chips to expand the board.

I hope you have as much fun as I did creating a CharTREATerie board. I never went into any of these boards with a plan. Use your board like a canvas to create your own piece of Hawaii at home.

Fried Spam Cubes

There is a reason this canned food remains popular. Its crispiness and saltiness fill your mouth with flavor.

 Ingredients:

1 can Less Sodium Spam

2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

For Spam cubes, slice the loaf into five pieces roughly ½’ thick (this is thicker than musubi slices). Heat a small bit of oil in a pan on medium. Place the Spam in the pan and cook for four minutes.

 While the Spam is cooking, whisk together the soy sauce and brown sugar. Flip over the Spam and cook another three minutes. Once the Spam is cooked, pour the sauce over each piece of Spam. Flip several times in the next two minutes while the sauce caramelizes.

 Remove from the heat and cut each slice into roughly eight cubes. Stack them in a pile or use a bamboo skewer to add pineapple to each Spam bite.