Cross soft Japanese mochi with a fluffy Portuguese malasada and the result is an out-of-the-ordinary but delightful mochisada. “It’s the love child between malasadas and mochi,” says Kevin Yim, the vice president of marketing and communications at Zippy’s. At the local chain restaurant—which has 24 locations across Oʻahu, Maui and Hawaiʻi Island—customers can indulge […]
I grew up eating malasadas—after surfing, at the office, on Fat Tuesday (like today)—but it wasn’t until I was working as a food writer that I realized their Portuguese origins aren’t so clear cut. These deep-fried, sugar-dusted doughnuts were brought to Hawaii with the 1878 arrival of Portuguese plantation laborers from the Madeira and Azores islands.
You don’t have to be Catholic—or Portuguese—to indulge in malasadas today, Fat Tuesday. It’s practically a Hawaii tradition. Fat Tuesday, commonly known as Mardi Gras, is the day before Ash Wednesday, or the first day of Lent, when the (dreaded) fasting begins. That makes today, Shrove Tuesday, the last day of gorging on the fattiest,
