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Cat Chat: Making andagi

By Catherine Toth Fox • August 31, 2011 • Food, Videos

There’s nothing better than fried dough.

Especially when that fried dough — in this case, the Okinawan donut andagi — is freshly made at the annual Okinawan Festival, held this weekend at Kapiolani Park.

While the annual festival serves such Okinawan staples as pig’s feet soup, yakisoba, Okinawan-style soba and shoyu pork, the andagi — and the many variations of it — are the big draw. The festival sells more than 100,000 balls of fried dough over the two days. People can’t seem to get enough!

So much so, the festival has introduced other andagi creations, including the Andadog — a hot dog covered in andagi batter and deep-fried — and Fundagi, a new dish this year that’s a combination of andagi and funnel cakes.

Another new menu item — and no, this doesn’t involve andagi batter — is taco rice, a popular dish invented in Okinawa. It’s a bed of rice topped with ground beef flavored with taco seasonings, shredded lettuce, cheese and salsa. Trust me, it’s good.

But there’s more to the Okinawan Festival than food. There will be entertainers from Okinawa, taiko performances, karate demonstrations, a country store, a texting contest and the last bon dance of the summer season.

We got a sneak preview of the festival from Ellen Higa, a veteran angadi maker who taught me how to correctly drop andagi, among other things:

Special thanks to the Hawaii United Okinawa Association for arranging this festival preview and Melissa Chang (@melissa808) for shooting this video

andagiEllen HigafundagiGeorge BartelsHawaiiHawaii United Okinawa AssociationKapiolani ParkOkinawan Festivaltaco rice
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About the Author

Catherine Toth Fox

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14 Comments

  • Reply oldshoes August 31, 2011 at 2:28 am

    awesome. nice aprons.Those always say alot about the cooks. Interesting pitcher/funnel contraption you have there. Something from the Tim Man in the Wizard of Oz?

    • Reply Catherine Toth August 31, 2011 at 11:42 am

      They called it “customized.” 🙂

  • Reply David Jackson August 31, 2011 at 3:46 am

    Here in the land of rednecks, mobile homes, and assorted weird shoe shining machines we have a lot of minor league baseball. And at these beloved minor league parks there are the funnel cake makers. While everyone else is pounding down hot dogs, hamburgers, and assorted other food stuffs my son and I are munching on cinnamon, powdered sugar, or some other kind funnel cakes. Someone asked me about funnels one day and I told them it was a Hawaii connection thing. And of course the WTF looks appeared.

    You know that house next door looks like my friend Keenan’s mothers house. Not too far past where H1 changes just past Kahala Mall on the way to Hawaii Kai.

    Anyways, andagi angadi… “We got a sneak preview of the festival from Ellen Higa, a veteran angadi maker who taught me how to correctly drop andagi, among other things” It happens.

    If there I would have to go this festival, went once about 2002 and loved it.

    • Reply Catherine Toth August 31, 2011 at 11:43 am

      FUNNEL CAKES are the greatest, right?

      I love the Okinawan Festival — mostly because Okinawans are all about food. And the food there is always good.

      Too bad we can’t FedEx you some fundagi.

      • Reply David Jackson August 31, 2011 at 2:48 pm

        Yes, funnel cakes are awesome!

        If you do FedEx some Fundagi please don’t forget to put some of Agnes’s malassadas in the box… and if there is room a spam musubi from any 7-11 in Kaimuki will also be greatly appreciated.

        Ah yes, Okinawans and Southern Rednecks are all about food. How we are related in the gene pool is anyone’s guess. Maybe we just have both ends of the food groups covered with a healthy overlap in the middle LOL 🙂

  • Reply M August 31, 2011 at 7:00 am

    Hello Cat!
    When I was in Okinawa a few years ago that was the first time I heard of taco rice thinking tako rice, squid with rice, hahaha That was guud stuff and we started making it at home.
    I’ll be at the festival to get the pig feet soup!

    • Reply Catherine Toth August 31, 2011 at 11:43 am

      Taco, not tako! LOL!

      Izakaya Naru on King Street by Puck’s Alley serves taco rice. Only place that I know of. Good stuff.

  • Reply The Chicago Cuz August 31, 2011 at 8:28 am

    Cat

    Thanks for posting the video, always good to see you in action,(even if you are making Andagi the wrong way). Sounds like a festival I would love to go to if only I was in the islands and not stuck in Hicksville.. Er I mean the Midwest….

    At least it’s a beautiful day today here, and the sun is shining bright. Seeing as how it is the end of August , we better start soaking up all the sun we can, as the cold weather is around the corner.

    Well the Cuz has a ton of work to get finished today…. so better get back to it…

    Good Morning , Good Afternoon, and Good Evening Cat!

    • Reply Catherine Toth August 31, 2011 at 11:44 am

      Hicksville, lol.

      Which reminds me, I gotta post another Postcard from Derek. 🙂

  • Reply rayboyjr August 31, 2011 at 8:51 am

    Hey Cat: Would’ve been a nice transition from the doughnut debate … the andagi … a kind of cakey doughnut hole … dontcha think? … sorry if I’m offending the andagi purist out there … I love ’em my self … even better than the cakey doughnut haha …

    … kinda curious though … do they make ’em with any kind of flavor, coating or glaze? … powdered sugar or cinnamon? … maybe chocolate andagi? … or is that andagi blasphemy??? … sorry, I got a sweet tooth …

    … well, you said Ellen Higa taught you how to drop it correctly … soooo … did ya??? … ever get nice perfectly round andagi shaped balls??? … or just more headless chickens??? …

    • Reply Catherine Toth August 31, 2011 at 11:44 am

      Oh, or I could do a Great Debate on andagi vs. malassada. Hmm.

  • Reply J August 31, 2011 at 9:56 am

    Off the Wall makes chocolate filled andagi. Anyone try ’em?

    • Reply Catherine Toth August 31, 2011 at 11:44 am

      No, but Melissa Chang did and she said they’re awesome. She had the chocolate-filled one. I’m going there next week.

  • Reply Dote August 31, 2011 at 10:26 pm

    More to the okinawan festival than food? Heresy!!! Lol, great post, can’t wait for the festival, one of my favorites of the year!

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About Me

About Me
Born and raised on O‘ahu, Hawaiʻi, Catherine Toth Fox has been chronicling her adventures in her blog, The Cat Dish, for more than a decade. She worked as a newspaper reporter in Hawai‘i for 10 years and continues to freelance—in between teaching journalism, hitting the surf and eating everything in sight—for national and local print and online publications. She’s currently the editor of HAWAIʻI Magazine.

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