GREAT HOME COOKS : Short-Order Mom

Jo-Ann Chun has done everything from dancing the hula to making Dodger Dogs at Dodger Stadium. You may like her dogs (Stand 217, field level), but wait until you try her sweet-and-sour spareribs, her beef stew, her chili or her velvety, coconut-flavored chicken curry. They’re terrific.

Chun, who is Chinese-Hawaiian, cooks in a style that she learned in the Islands. Her recipes are easy and fast. They have to be--she cooks daily for at least six people, each operating on a different schedule.

“It’s kind of like a restaurant around here,” she says, surveying her Echo Park home. Her husband Benjamin works at night. A son comes home late from UCLA. Two daughters and a granddaughter live nearby and usually drop in for dinner. (Two other children live in San Diego and Hawaii.)

Chun herself works as a cafeteria clerk at John Marshall High School in addition to Dodger chores. Yet there’s always a full meal on the table: a main dish, rice, a vegetable and salad.

The “guests” don’t take this for granted. Her daughter Kellyjean nominated Chun for The Times Great Home Cooks series. Kellyjean’s praise was high, but tasting is believing, so Jo-Ann Chun set out bowlfuls of stew, ribs and chicken along with fried rice.

You know at once the ribs will be good. The glistening sauce alone makes your mouth water. And the taste is glorious--a perfect blend of sweet and sour, only somehow better. Why? Because Chun insists on certain ingredients that you don’t find in run-of-the-mill sweet-and-sour recipes.

One ingredient is malt vinegar. Another is Hawaiian soy sauce, which you’d expect, considering Chun’s Hawaiian origin (she and her husband moved to the mainland in 1955). The most unusual is Chinese brown sugar slabs. Chun says that ordinary brown sugar won’t work in the dish--she’s tried it, and the sweetness was not the same. She’ll allow cider vinegar instead of malt vinegar, but if your soy sauce is saltier than Chun’s preferred brand (Hilo), you may have to dilute it with water.

It’s this attention to fine points that makes Chun’s food so good. You’ll also notice a subtle difference from other dishes of the same type. The tingling spiciness that lingers after you’ve tasted her beef stew is one example. Fresh ginger, sauteed at the start, is responsible.

A dash of whiskey, hard to detect but important to the flavor, also goes into the stew. That idea came from Chun’s grandfather, who owned two restaurants in Honolulu. Chun worked in one of them, the Hoffman Bar & Grill, but not as a cook. She and her sisters performed the hula.

Chun’s chicken curry is an original--an unusual combination of canned cream of mushroom soup and dehydrated coconut milk base. The base (Noh brand) is not plain dried coconut but a Hawaiian product that also contains nonfat dry milk, sugar and salt. Don’t make any substitutions in the recipe, Chun warns. Cream of chicken soup won’t work, and canned coconut milk makes a flat-tasting, watery sauce.

Chun’s all-meat beef chili is simple but pleasing, and mild enough for anyone. The only exotic ingredient is Hawaiian coarse salt, which Chun says is saltier than common table salt.

Chun whips out these dishes quickly except for the stew, which has to simmer long enough to tenderize the meat, a chuck roast. “With the economy the way it is, you have to use cheaper cuts of meat and do the best you can with them,” she says.

Considering her need for speed, you would expect Chun to be turning out rapid stir-fries. That is not the case, however. Chun confesses that she does not use a wok, although her family originated in China. “I just never adapted to it,” she says.

Once a year, Chun and her husband stage a traditional Hawaiian barbecue. They roast a whole pig in a pit, a complicated undertaking that requires lava rock transported from Ensenada, chicken wire, burlap, banana stumps, banana leaves and ti leaves. Then she makes Hawaiian classics such as lomi salmon (a cold dish of diced salmon, tomatoes, onions and green onions), chicken long rice (chicken with bean threads) and haupia (coconut pudding).

Here is a shopping guide for Chun’s recipes. The most difficult to find is the Noh brand coconut milk flavor base. Although many Oriental stores carry the Noh line of seasonings, few stock the coconut milk base.

* Hilo brand soy sauce: most Japanese markets.

* Chinese brown sugar slabs: most Chinese markets.

* Noh brand coconut milk flavor base: Enbun Market, 124 Japanese Village Plaza Mall, Little Tokyo.

* Hawaiian salt: There are two styles. Large-grained red salt is used as a table condiment. A finer-grained white salt is for cooking. Fujiya market, 601 N. Virgil Ave., Los Angeles, stocks both. Enbun carries two grades of the white salt, one moderately coarse, the other more fine. Another source is Marukai Market, 15725 S. Vermont Ave., Gardena.

SWEET-AND-SOUR SPARERIBS

3 1/2 pounds pork spareribs, cut into bite-size pieces

4 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 cup soy sauce

2 tablespoons oil

5 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole

3 (1/4-inch) thick slices ginger root

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons water

5 Chinese brown sugar slabs

1 (17-ounce) can sliced pineapple

1 cup cider or malt vinegar

1 green pepper, cut into 1ong strips

Place spareribs in dish. Coat with 2 tablespoons cornstarch, then soy sauce and let stand about 1 hour.

Heat oil in deep skillet. Add garlic and ginger and brown lightly. Add sparerib mixture, 1/2 cup water and brown sugar slabs. Simmer, covered, 45 to 60 minutes or until meat is tender.

Add juice from canned pineapple and vinegar as ribs cook. Quarter pineapple slices. Add pineapple and green pepper strips during last 10 minutes. Blend remaining 2 tablespoons cornstarch with remaining 2 tablespoons water to make thin paste. Gradually stir into rib mixture and simmer, uncovered, until thickened. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

BEEF STEW

1/4 cup oil

5 or 6 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole

3 (1/4-inch thick) slices ginger root

3 1/2 pounds chuck roast, cut into bite-size pieces

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour

2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans stewed tomatoes

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 stalk celery, including top, finely chopped

1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce

Water

1 tablespoon white Hawaiian coarse salt

1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper

2 tablespoons whiskey

4 carrots, cut into bite-size chunks

4 potatoes, peeled and cut into bite size chunks

3 stalks celery, cut into bite-size chunks

1 onion, cut into wedges

Heat oil in Dutch oven. Add garlic and ginger and brown slightly. Add meat. Sprinkle 3/4 cup flour over meat. Cover pot, lift from burner and shake so that meat is coated evenly with flour. Place on low heat and cook until browned, about 25 minutes.

Add stewed tomatoes, chopped onion, finely chopped celery, tomato sauce, 3 (8-ounce) cans water, Hawaiian salt, pepper and whiskey. Stir to combine, then simmer, covered, 45 minutes or until meat is almost tender. Add carrots, potatoes, celery chunks and onion wedges. Simmer until vegetables are tender. Blend remaining 2 tablespoons flour with 1/4 cup water, gradually stir into stew and cook until thickened. Adjust seasonings to taste. Makes 12 servings.

Each serving contains about:

488 calories; 980 mg sodium; 90 mg cholesterol; 29 grams fat; 27 grams carbohydrates; 28 grams protein; 1.09 grams fiber; 54% calories from fat.

JO-ANN’S CHICKEN CURRY

4 pounds chicken parts

3 (10 3/4-ounce) cans cream of mushroom soup

1 onion, diced

2 (2 1/2-ounce) packets coconut milk flavor base

2 3/4 cups water

4 potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces, optional

1/4 cup curry powder, or to taste

2 tablespoons flour

Chopped hard-cooked egg

Bacon bits

Chopped green onion tops

Place chicken in stock pot and simmer about 30 minutes without adding water or oil. Stir to keep from sticking. Add mushroom soup and diced onion. Simmer, covered, 15 minutes. Blend coconut milk flavor base with 2 cups water until smooth and stir into soup mixture. Add potatoes and simmer, covered, until potatoes are done, 15 minutes.

Stir curry powder and flour together in bowl. Blend in remaining 3/4 cup water to make thin paste. Stir gradually into soup and simmer, covered, 10 minutes longer. Serve garnished with hard-cooked egg, bacon bits and green onion tops. Makes 8 servings.

BEEF CHILI

3 pounds lean ground beef

1 large onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans stewed tomatoes

Water

1 tablespoon white Hawaiian coarse salt

2 bay leaves

1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce

2 tablespoons chili powder, or more to taste

3 tablespoons flour

Brown ground beef in large pot. Add onion, green pepper, stewed tomatoes, 1 3/4 cups water, Hawaiian salt and bay leaves. Simmer, covered, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Add tomato sauce and 1/2 cup water to pot and simmer, covered, 15 minutes. Combine chili powder and flour. Stir in 1/3 cup water. Stir mixture into chili and cook until thickened. Makes 12 servings.

Each serving contains about:

341 calories; 970 mg sodium; 85 mg cholesterol; 24 grams fat; 10 grams carbohydrates; 22 grams protein; 0.9 grams fiber; 63% calories from fat.