Sam Choy's Sampler: Hawaii's Favorite Recipes

Sam Choy’s Sampler—Welcome to the Wonderful World of Hawai‘i’s Cuisine is the perfect introduction to the exotic and sunny flavors of Hawai‘i’s multicultural cooking.

Sam’s recipes reflect a melding of East and West, with distinctive Polynesian flourishes and some highly innovative twists that could have been conceived only in the creative and original mind of Chef Choy.

Here are over 80 recipes including both Sam’s innovations as well as his renditions of Island favorites. They range from simple preparations like poke, an addictively delicious raw seafood appetizer, to elaborate and beautiful dishes like Sautéed Island Fish Trio, sure to dazzle the table and palate at your next dinner party.

All the recipes use readily available ingredients. Where hard to find ingredients are involved, a guide to mail and Internet sources will give mainland readers access to poi, tropical fruits and even fresh fish.

Sam has been cooking since he was a young boy helping his father cater huge luau on the North Shore of O‘ahu in the 1950s and ’60s. His father, being of Chinese ancestry, taught him the secrets and techniques of Oriental cookery, while he learned the Island ways and European traditions from his Hawaiian-German mother.

He earned a degree at Kapi‘olani Community College and worked as a chef at some of Hawai‘i’s most renowned hotels and resorts before opening his own restaurants. Since opening Sam Choy’s Restaurant in Kona in 1991, Sam has become a legend, not only for his cooking, but also for his outgoing personality. He is Hawai‘i’s unofficial goodwill ambassador. People who dine at his restaurants end up friends as well as customers. Sam’s restaurants on Guam, Maui, the Island of Hawai‘i, O’ahu and Tokyo are always packed, and the people eating there are always smiling.