Whether you’ve heard of the local Hawaiian dish loco moco or not, you don’t need to go out and find some Hawaiian restaurant to eat one.
Funnily enough, loco mocos were invented in my hometown of Hilo, Hawaii. If you read up on it, there are some beefs about who actually invented it, Cafe 100 or Lincoln Grill. Since I’m a huge Cafe 100 fan, I side with them, especially since they have the gravy cheeseburger.
And now I’m dying for a gravy cheeseburger.
Anyway, loco moco is simple food. Rice, hamburger, egg, gravy. That’s it. You can go to restaurants and find some snazzy versions with fancy patties with onions and stuff on the side and what not. Even Cafe 100 has mountainous heartstopping versions, but when you make it at home, who cares about all that?
I don’t make this that often because it looks horrible for you and tastes like pure sin because of the gravy. About 2-3 times a year I’ll get this awful craving for loco moco for dinner and make it. Mmmmm!
To start, you’ll need fresh white rice. I don’t mean instant rice, I mean the fluffy short grain stuff. Take your hamburger and mix in some salt. That’s it. One pound of hamburger can serve four.
Shape your patties really flat. Then when you put it in the pan (no need oil), press your fingers in and flatten it some more, otherwise the patty shrinks and fattens up. No burn your fingers, ah? Fry until browned on both sides.
In the meantime, make some brown gravy. Don’t use chicken gravy packets cause those are better for chicken loco mocos, but that’s another post for another time. One packet of McCormick is enough for two loco mocos, so if you’re making four, you’ll need two.
Wash the pan, then add butter and fry your eggs over easy or over hard, whatever you like. I like to go with over medium, with the yolk kind of sticky but not fully cooked. Make about one egg for every patty.
To serve, add lots of rice to a bowl. I leave it to you to get your rice to hamburger ratio right. Put the hamburger patty on top, then the egg, then pour on the gravy. All done! Some people eat it with hot sauce or ketchup, but I go with soy sauce.
Happy eating!