Chef Makoa
Mac Salad (Hawaiʻi Local Plate-Lunch Macaroni Salad)
The Hawaiʻi Local plate-lunch scoop, soft elbow macaroni folded creamy with mayo, carrot, and grated onion, sitting beside two scoops rice like it belongs there, because it does.
Culinary Explorer
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Lomi Lomi Salmon (Hawaiian Salted Salmon Salad)
Created by
Salted salmon massaged by hand with tomato, sweet onion, green onion, and crushed ice, the cool Hawaiian lūʻau bowl that brightens the table beside poi, laulau, poke, and kālua puaʻa.
Salads
Polynesian, Hawaiian
Celebration
Special Occasion
Make Ahead
20 min
Active Time
0 min cook•20 min total
Yield6 servings
At the lūʻau table back home, the deep foods sit heavy with memory: poi from Hāloa, our elder brother; laulau wrapped in lūʻau leaf; kālua puaʻa from the imu, the Hawaiian earth oven. Then there is this cold little bowl, lomi lomi salmon, and it wakes the whole plate up. Not ancient like the kalo. Not canoe food. Still Hawaiian, because Hawaiʻi took what came by ship and made it answer to our table.
Lomi means to rub, knead, massage. You don't stir this like a stranger. You get your clean hands in there and work the salted salmon into the tomato and onion until the fish softens, the tomato gives a little juice, and everything turns cold, salty, and bright. That hand work matters. The bowl should taste like somebody's auntie made it early, tucked it on ice, and brought it out when the poi was ready.
This is Hawaiʻi's hand, clear as day. The cousins across the Triangle have their own fish bowls: Sāmoa's oka iʻa with coconut cream and lemon, Tonga's ʻota ʻika, Tahiti's ʻia ota, Cook Islands ika mata, and our Hawaiian poke with limu and ʻinamona. Same fish, different bowl. Lomi lomi salmon belongs to the mission and trade side of the Hawaiian table, but no look down on it. The islands eat the old foods and the newer foods together, plate lunch and poi, Spam and ʻulu, salted salmon beside kālua. Keeper, not gatekeeper.
So make it cold, make it generous, and don't make it precious. Use good salted salmon, ripe tomatoes, sweet onion if you can get it, and crushed ice right before serving. Eat what you have, but honor whose table you're at.
Lomi lomi salmon is Hawaiian, but it is not a pre-contact canoe-crop dish: salmon, tomatoes, and onions all arrived after Western contact through trade, mission, and provisioning routes in the 1800s. Salted salmon from the North Pacific became part of the Hawaiian lūʻau spread because it kept well, traveled by ship, and gave a sharp, cold counterpoint to poi, laulau, and kālua puaʻa. That mix of deep food and adopted food is one honest story of Hawaiʻi, not a failure of the old table.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
salted salmon
Quantity
8 ounces
skin and pin bones removed, diced small
ripe tomatoes
Quantity
3
seeded and diced small
sweet onion, preferably Maui onion
Quantity
1/2
diced small
green onions
Quantity
3
thinly sliced
crushed ice
Quantity
1/2 cup
plus more for serving if needed
cold water
Quantity
as needed
for soaking the salmon if very salty
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| salted salmonskin and pin bones removed, diced small | 8 ounces |
| ripe tomatoesseeded and diced small | 3 |
| sweet onion, preferably Maui oniondiced small | 1/2 |
| green onionsthinly sliced | 3 |
| crushed iceplus more for serving if needed | 1/2 cup |
| cold waterfor soaking the salmon if very salty | as needed |
Equipment Needed
- •Chilled medium mixing bowl
- •Fine-mesh strainer for draining soaked salmon
- •Carved wooden ʻumeke or chilled serving bowl
Instructions
- 1
Check the salmon
Taste a tiny piece of the salted salmon. It should be salty enough to season the whole bowl, not so salty it makes your eyes pinch. If it is fierce, soak it in cold water for 15 to 30 minutes, then drain and pat it dry.
Use commercially salted salmon, or salmon sold for raw use and previously frozen. Home salting seasons the fish, but it does not make unsafe fish safe. - 2
Dice it small
Cut the salmon into small even dice, about a quarter inch. Lomi lomi is not big chunks like poke. You want little pieces that can spread through the tomato and onion, so every spoonful carries salt, fish, and cold juice together.
- 3
Prepare the vegetables
Seed the tomatoes so the bowl stays bright instead of watery, then dice them small. Dice the sweet onion the same size and slice the green onions thin. The tomato should be ripe and soft enough to give juice when you press it, but not collapsing.
- 4
Lomi by hand
Put the salmon, tomato, sweet onion, and green onion in a chilled bowl. With clean hands, gently lomi, massage and fold, until the tomato gives a little juice and the salmon softens into the mix. No smash it to mush. You are waking it up, not punishing it.
- 5
Chill with ice
Fold in the crushed ice right before serving, letting it loosen the juices and make the bowl properly cold. Taste once more. If it needs salt, let the salmon speak first before you add anything.
- 6
Serve the spread
Serve cold in a wooden ʻumeke, a Hawaiian carved wooden bowl, or a plain chilled bowl set on lauhala. Spoon it beside poi, laulau, poke, kālua puaʻa, or whatever your table has today. The cold salt and tomato cut through the rich foods and bring everybody back for another bite.
Chef Tips
- •The salmon is the seasoning. If you soak all the salt out, the dish goes quiet. Taste first, soak only if it needs it, and keep the dice small.
- •Maui onion is sweet and gentle, but any sweet onion works. If your onion is sharp, rinse the diced onion under cold water and drain it well before mixing.
- •Make the base ahead if you need to, but add the crushed ice close to the table. Too early and the bowl turns watery.
- •This is Hawaiian lūʻau food from the contact-era table, sitting beside older deep foods. No shame in that. Hawaiʻi eats history all on one plate.
Advance Preparation
- •Dice the salted salmon, tomato, and onions up to 4 hours ahead and keep them covered and cold.
- •Lomi the salmon with the tomato and onions up to 2 hours before serving, then hold chilled.
- •Fold in crushed ice only at the end, right before the bowl goes to the table.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 120g)
Calories
85 calories
Total Fat
4 g
Saturated Fat
1 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
3 g
Cholesterol
20 mg
Sodium
800 mg
Total Carbohydrates
3 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
9 g
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