One of my all-time favorite Top Chef contestants is Sheldon Simeon. He is such a wonderful ambassador for local Hawaii cooking, bringing together his Filipino heritage and the multiple ethnic influences represented in our islands. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on his cookbook, Cook Real Hawaii. His recipes are both familiar and surprising – taking traditional dishes and adding his own special twist. But what I love most is how well it represents the local Hawaii dishes that I know and love.

This dip is a riff off two recipes. The first is the Furikake Ranch that Chef Sheldon serves with blistered shishitos. The second is Eric Kim’s Korean-influenced Nori Sour Cream Dip. Oddly enough I came across both of these recipes around the same time and they got ideas flowing in my head. I hope I have properly honored both recipes with my version.

Furikake – I put that $#!t on everything

My apologies for stealing the slogan for Frank’s RedHot, but it seemed so appropriate. Furikake is a favorite ingredient of mine. Whether it’s using it simply as a sprinkling on hot rice or as a seasoning in cereal mix or even on fish tacos – furikake is a versatile ingredient. This recipe gave me an opportunity to use it in yet another way.

In Hawaii, we can easily find different varieties of furikake in the grocery store or even in large quantities at Costco. If you can’t find it in a store near you, Chef Sheldon has a recipe for making your own in his cookbook. For this recipe I used a simple nori kame furikake (nori, sesame seeds, seasoning) but feel free to try different varieties of furikake to make it your own.

An Asian twist on the party dip

In addition to the furikake, this dip is flavored with togarashi, sesame oil, and rice vinegar. Togarashi is a Japanese hot pepper blend. If you can’t find it, you could substitute cayenne pepper and sesame seeds.

Dip this

Like any party dip, serve this creamy furikake dip with chips (we like taro or shrimp chips) or crunchy, raw veggies. And, as Chef Sheldon suggests, with blistered shishito peppers.

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