Banana Butter Cake

Had a craving for baking last night. So Banana Butter Cake it is!  I have a comb of  banana at home and since the Hubby loves butter cake, I decided to make this delicious , moist and buttery cake, packed with sweet fragrant banana (Pisang Berangan ) We somehow prefer this banana for cake making as it is not overly strong in fragrance.  I decided to use a recipe that does not uses too much butter but yet give the cake its buttery taste. I made the right choice. The hubby loves the perfect ratio of butter,eggs and banana in the cake recipe. Easy to whip up and a healthier version of butter cake with the right amount of banana in it. Banana-ey yet has the texture of a butter cake.

 love the texture, the aroma and the top crusts of the cake

 you can even get the bits of banana in the cake.....beautifully baked

lazy me..just line the cake tin without cutting the parchment paper

 Banana Butter Cake -  recipe taken from Apron

Preheat oven to 160C for 15 minutes.  Line a cake tin with parchment paper. Baking tin is 14cmx6cm square mould.

Ingredients:

120 gm unsalted butter

60 gm sugar ( 50gm for me )

2 eggs ( of 55gm each egg)

180 gm mashed banana

120 gm cake flour

1/2 tsp salt 

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

Method:

Sieve cake flour,salt ,baking powder and baking soda together. Leave aside

Mash banana coarsely

Cream butter and sugar till fluffy, Slowly add in eggs and whisk till well incorporated into the butter mixture. Add in the mashed banana and fold into the butter egg mixture till well blended in. Fold in the flour mixture gently into the butter egg mixture in  two batches. Pour  cake mixture into lined baking tin and bake at 160C320F for 40 to 50 mins. Cool the cake before slicing.

 

 

Homemade Thick Rice Noodles aka Laksa Noodles

 

I have been wanting to learn how to make Thick Rice Noodles from scratch but have been procrastinating for a while. This is one of my favourite noodles especially eaten with curry soup or laksa soup. Finally , I managed to get it done when the Potato Riser I ordered arrived a few weeks ago. I do not have a Muruku maker at home to press out the dough but the recipe stated that I could use a potato riser instead. I thought it would be a great idea to get a potato riser instead of a Muruku maker. A Potato Ricer  is a tool used to rice boiled potato making them more light and fluffier in texture, great for making Gnocchi. That  helps me decide to get a potato ricer. Killing two birds with one stone :)

This morning I decided to try my hands at making Thick Rice Noodles and I was glad that noodles turned out great, where texture is concerned. Light and springy and not starchy at all. I used Angie's recipe from her You tube channel. Her easy step by step tutuorial video is a great help and thus I was able to get it done well. I greased the inside of the Potato Ricer with vegetable oil so that the dough will slide out easier when extruded out from the tool into the boiling water. I had so much fun making them and this recipe is a keeper.

 

 

note: once cooked and taken out from the boiling water, the noodles has to be

placed in cold water

it is best to get a food grade stainless steel potato ricer 

for making this Thck Rice Noodle

 

the dough should be soft yet not too sticky

 Thick Rice Noodles aka Laksa Noodles Dough

 

Ingredients

1 cup Rice Flour  - pan fried for a few minutes

2 tbsp Potato Starch

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 cup boiling water

Step by Step Tutorial on how to make the noodle, click video link

Aromatic And Easy Three Cup (San Bei ) Tofu

This is one awesome  tofu dish that I had eaten this year.  It is a Taiwanese dish that is packed with Thai Basil and coated aromatic sauce. It is called Three Cups Tofu because it is made of three main ingredients namely  : Soy Sauce , Toasted Sesame Oil and Chinese Cooking Wine.  According to Woon Heng whose recipe I used , wrote saying that it is not necessarily to use 1 cup each of the main ingredients. It would be too much. Thus I used equal parts or as close as possible to the portion of tofu used. It turned out so aromatic and delicious. The sauteed garlic, ginger and Thai basil gives this dish its aromatic flavour. Of course together with the sauce ingredients of Soy Sauce, Toasted Sesame Oil and Chinese Cooking Oil , this dish is a WOW and a keeper too. A vegetarian dish that is not bland at all.  You can use the same sauce recipe with Chicken meat too .  Check out the recipe link I have provided at the bottom of the page. A word of thanks to Woon Heng for sharing a great delicious and flavours packed tofu dish with us. It brings this Tofu dish up a level.

 

Click  link for Three Cup (San Bei ) Tofu

 

Taro Puff

This is my first time making Taro Puff aka Woo Kok in Cantonese. I fried the first piece and it turned out great. It has the crispy flakiness appearance,  but the second and third pieces doesn't have the flaky  appearance as the first one. Then it dawned on me that maybe the oil was not hot enough. I should have waited for the oil to heat up again before adding the second batch. I am happy with this stayhome project . It looks legit though :)  I replaced shortening with lard since I have lard in the fridge and I know there are many recipes out that uses shortening.  I prefer lard to shortening though it has artery clogging factor. It is okay since we don't eat this often.

I kept some of the taro pastry overnight in the fridge to see if it gives the same result the next day. Wrapping done an hour before deep frying. Yes, the taro puffs has the same crispy flakiness to it. So it is confirmed that the oil must be very hot before putting in the puffs  and that the pastry can be kept overnight in the fridge .  This enable me to have crispy taro puffs at any one time instead of frying all and have to endure eating soft and soggy ones later.

 they remained crispy for the next two hours or so

 

the yam pastry is pliable and make wrapping easy

Taro Puff / Woo Kok

Ingredients for Taro Pastry - this recipe can make 11 pieces

300 gm taro ( weight of taro without peel )-  steamed and mashed

(A)

35gm wheat starch

45 ml boiling water

 (B)

1/2 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

 1/8 tsp  pepper

1/8 tsp five spice pepper

1/2 tsp sesame oil 

30g lard

Oil for deep frying

Preparation of taro pastry:

1.  Mix (A) together in a bowl till they form a crusty starchy texture.

2. In a mixing bowl, put in mashed taro,  (A)  and (B) and using the hand , mix all the ingredients together and gently knead till a soft and pliable pastry is form. Cover and keep aside until required.

Filling:

200 gm chicken / minced pork

half carrot - diced

1/4 cup sweet corns

4 dried shiitake mushrooms - soaked and diced

1 med. red onions - diced

1 stalk spring onions

1 clove garlic -chopped fine

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp sugar

1/8 cup water

 2 tbsp thickening  

2 tbsp of cooking oil

Preparation for the filling :

Heat up oil in a wok and saute garlic till fragrant, add in diced onions, shiitake mushrooms , the chicken /pork and continue to stir fry till cooked,  add in oyster sauce and sugar and water .Add in the carrots, sweet corns and spring onions last. Continue to stir fry until the carrots and sweet corns has softened. Add in the thickening and continue to stir fry for a minute. The fillings is ready to be dish up once the gravy has thicken. Cool down completely before use.

Wrapping

Divide the taro pastry into 10 or 11 pieces , roll into round ball.  Flatten the ball into a disc of about 2.5 to 3 inches . Put a heaped tablespoon of filling in the center and fold over in half and seal the edges like making a curry puff except you don't need to pleat the edges. Repeat the process until all the balls are used up.

Heat up enough oil in a pot and once the oil is hot ( to test if the oil is ready, use a wooden chopstick to dip into the oil. if you see bubbles at the bottom of the chopstick , the oil is ready ) Put in the puff , one to two at a time so as not to overcrowd and too many pieces at one time will lower the oil temperature. Once the puffs have turned golden brown and  have the flaky appearance, they can be taken out and drain off excess oil on paper towel.

Homemade Skinless Pork Sausages

 

Finally, I succeeded in making skinless pork sausages to the texture and flavours I wanted.  My stay home project turned out good and we had skinless sausages for breakfast this morning.  I have been making my own sausages but it didnt taste as good as this batch I made yesterday. Previously I didnt add breadcrumbs and cheese to it but this round I added as my cousin gifted me a bag of mozzarella cheese and a bag of panko breadcrumbs. They were sitting in my chiller for some months already and I think since I had a batch of fresh meat delivered to my doorstep , I might as well make some nice sausages for my hubby. He loves the homemade ones as they are more flavourful and has texture to it. They are more juicy as cheese and breadcrumbs are added. Flavours are versatile as you can choose the flavour you like. We prefer the Italian seasoning that consists of mixed herbs, roasted garlic and paprika . I didn't make my own seasoning but used store bought one instead. 

I will normally pan seared them in butter oil for 5 mins and then put them into the oven to roast for a further 15 mins at @250C (small ovenette) , turning them around to get even browning and the aroma wafting out from the oven makes us hungry

cling wrapped them and tie at both ends to compress the meat and for shaping. freeze them in the freezer so maintain the shape and the meat will not disintergrate during cooking time, at least 2 hours

roll tightly and compress the meat

for even sizes I weight 80gm of seasoned minced meat for each sausage

ingredients are Italian seasoning - mixed dried herbs , paprika, mozzarella cheese, egg yolk panko breadbrumbs, garlic , olive oil and chicken powder

Homemade Skinless Pork Sausages  ( can make 8 pieces of  skinless sausages )

Ingredients

 550 gm minced pork

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp of olive oil

1 tbsp of mixed herbs

1 tbsp of dried oregano

1 tbsp of chopped garlic

1 tbsp of paprika

1 tbsp of chicken powder

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

1 cup Panko Breadcrumbs

Method:

Mix all the ingredients together till well combined. Keep stirring with a spatula till the meat mixture is sticky.  Divide  meat mixture into equal portion of 80gms and shape into a roll. Place on cling wrap and roll and compress at the same time until you can feel the tightness. Tie both ends tightly. Repeat  until all meat has been used up. Freeze them for at least 3 hours or until they have solidied. 

How to cook them

Heat up a non stick pan with 1 tbsp of butter, once butter has melted, unwrap the sausages and pan seared them for 5 mins. Keep turning them to get even brownness. Place them on baking tray together with the butter oil and roast them in  preheated oven 250C for another 15 mins or until the sausages are cooked and evenly browned. Poke in a skewer to test whether the meat is cooked. Every 5 mins turn the sausages to get even golden color.

Or

You can pan fried them in butter oil over medium fire for 20 mins. Keep turning them to get them evenly browned. optional:  You can add a sprig of fresh rosemary herb to the butter oil as you are cooking the sausages. It will taste even better.

Roasted Red Peppers Preserved In Olive Oil

 

 

I have wanting to preserve veggies in olive oil for a long time, just that the pandemic lockdown has made it difficult for me to go out and enjoy my marketing like I used to do before the lockdown. Recently I learned to do my grocery shopping online and therefore I was able to purchase some gorgeous looking red peppers, of course I wouldn't know whether they will come fresh and big , just trusting the Mall supermarket to provide the best for me ) and to my delight I was not disappointed. The veggies all delivered in good condition and fresh too. Making roasted red peppers and preserving them in oil is super easy . You can add them to pasta as instant meal, serve as an appetiser , to pizza toppings or have them on toast with melted cheese. Preserving veggies in olive oil esp these peppers are the most tastiest and most useful goodies you will make. Use good quality olive oil will do, not  necessary to use extra virgin olive oil. You can add garlic, thyme and chilli flakes to the oil to deepen the flavours of the roasted red pepper.

Preserving is about saving; making something you have today last till tomorrow, or another day, another week, or even a few more months, like these peppers preserved in oil.  I love preserving and opening my fridge to find something I might have forgotten about and realise that I have the makings for a delicious and super easy meal right at my fingertips. With a kg of red peppers, I managed to make 3/4 jar (IKEA 1 litre glass jar ) Remember glass jar need to be sterilized first before preserving the roasted peppers.

roasted red peppers basking in a bath of olive oil

it is easy to remove the peel if you cover them with a plate once out of oven

removing the burnt or blistered peel

roast them in oven for 45 to 60 mins till peel is burnt or blistered

 tip  : it is easier to remove peel after roasting if you cut them into half and remove seeds first before putting them into the oven to roast and roast them over parchment paper on a tray

For tips on how to roast red peppers and store roasted red peppers

click https://simple-veganista.com/how-to-roast-peppers/

 

Soft And Fluffy Walnut Raisin Bread

 

Its been a while since I last bake bread for the hubby. I was looking for new techniques, new recipes to a better texture bread. Found one that doesn't use water roux starter yet produces soft and fluffy texture. I got up very early and started to make the dough so that we can have the bread for tea snack. Surprisingly it was easy to prepare, the method is combining all the ingredients together and using a spatula to stir and combine all the ingredients till it becomes a soft dough. I used my Danish Whisk and had all the ingredients combined into a soft dough in just a few minutes. Turn the soft dough onto a floured board and knead for a further 10 mins until the dough is smooth and passed the window pane test. So easy peasy, even a beginner can do it well. The result is a loaf of soft and pillowy texture bread. I added toasted walnuts and raisins for a more flavourful taste. A keeper for sure . Note to self. The recipe calls for 3 1/4 cups of AP flour but I used 2 cups of Bread Flour and 1 1/4 cups AP flour. And the texture turned out even better than I expected.

look how soft and fluffy is the texture of the bread

the egg wash gives it the shine and golden color it deserves

I baked 2 loaves, one for our afternoon tea snack and one for my cousin

it was fun plaiting the dough

this is the windown pane test..stretch it and if it doesn't tear it is ready for proofing

Soft And Fluffy Walnut Raisin Bread

Dough ingredients

1 cup milk (250ml) (room temp)

1 egg

2 1/4 tsp instant yeast

1/4 cup sugar(50gm)

3 cups AP flour  ( I use 2 cups Bread Flour, 1 1/4 cups AP flour)

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup (50gm) softened butter 

1 cup raisins

1/2 cup toasted walnuts

For full instructions check out this link

https://youtu.be/9d8nmU-l0Ug

Steam Baked Chicken Legs With Chinese Herb & Goji Berries

 

 

This is one method of cooking chicken in an oven. I called this steam-baked. It is quite similar to french way of cooking Chicken En papillote.  This is also my favourite way of cooking chicken or fish for that matter.. Steam and baked at the same time.  I used chinese herb called  'Dong Guai ' (Angelica Senensis) , Goji Berries and salt to flavor the chicken meat. Wrapped in parchment paper and another layer of aluminum before putting in tray and baked in preheated oven for 45 mins  @250C. A very easy and no fuss way of cooking. It has its nutritional benefits, the papillote brings out all the flavour of the chicken steamed , without coming into direct contact with the grill . And this technique also helps to cook healthier because it does not involve adding addition oil. Parchment paper is waterproof and resistant to high temperature.

rub salt on chicken leg , you can insert a slice of Dong Guai under chicken skin

place chicken on parchement paper and wrap it up

 wrap with another layer of aluminium foil and baked at 250C for 45 mins

Enjoy!

Fresh Garganelli Pasta In Tomato Sauce

Garganelli pasta with its hollow tubular shape is the perfect vehicle to hold vibrant flavours of thick tomato sauce with mozzarella cheese and bits of chopped oven roasted eggplant in it.  I love every bite of the fresh garganelli pasta , soft chewy and bursting with the rich flavourful tomato sauce. It is so good that hubby asked to make this again . It is indeed a great compliment for me if he requested that I make this pasta dish again.  I made the fresh garganelli pasta from scratch and it is made from egg pasta dough . The recipe is shared on my previous post here incase you are new to my blog. Click link here for the recipe on how to make fresh Garganelli Pasta.

 

every mouthful is bursting with flavours

 Recipe for the tomato sauce

1 medium size eggplant -oven roasted and cut into bite sized

1 small carrot -  cut into bite sized

4 cloves of garlic - finely chopped 

1 red onion - diced  

1 can whole tomato plus 1/2 cup water

1/2 cup grated  mozzarella cheese

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

salt to taste

Method:

In a large pan, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil and 1 tbsp of butter on medium heat until hot, add in garlic and onion, season with salt. Cook stirring until softened and fragrant. Simmer, stirring occasionally and breaking the tomatoes apart for 12 mins. Add in the oven roasted bite sized eggplant and carrots. Simmer till liquid has reduced slightly in volume. Add in mozzarella last. Once the cheese has melted and sauce has thicken.  It is ready to be poured on to the pasta and served while the sauce is still hot. Alternatively, you can add in the cooked Garganelli onto the sauce directly and give it a quick stir so that the pasta is coated with the sauce. Serve hot. Sprinkle top with Parmesan cheese but it is optional.

 

Handmade Fresh Garganelli Pasta

I had so much fun making these Garganelli Pasta from scratch. My passion in wanting to learn more about homemade fresh pasta has paid off. I managed to make soft chewy bite that comes in many different shapes. Each shapes goes with different sauces. These Garganelli pasta is similar to Penne but just that they have ribbed texture. Rolled over a Gnocchi Wooden Board using a dowel rod. Very interesting.. the more I make the more perfect they become.  The ribbed texture and hollow tubular shape helps to hold sauces. Fresh pasta taste better and can be stored in freezer till required for at least a month . Straight from the freezer to boiling water. Still retains its shape and chewy bite. 

What I did was to air dry them before storing in ziploc bag. If eaten on same day it is best to air dry the rolled pasta for at least an hour in room temp before cooking. This is to help retain the shape of the pasta while it is cooking . Practice makes perfect is so true.  For making Garganelli Pasta we need egg pasta dough. I used Gennaro's egg pasta recipe . The recipe is as follows

 Recipe for making Egg Pasta Dough

Ingredients

150 gm '00" flour

50gm  semolina flour

2 eggs

 Fresh pasta dough

• Sift both flours on work surface (preferably wooden).
• Scoop a well in the center and pour in slightly beaten eggs.
• Add a pinch of salt and start mix all ingredients using a fork or a dough scraper until a crumbly dough forms. You can do this using your hands only if you’re OK getting s a little messy.
• Continue to knead the dough with your hands until the dough is smooth, elstic and no longer sticky. Wrap the dough in a plastic wrap and let rest for 15-30 minutes or even overnight (in a cool place or in the fridge).

Rolling the dough

• Cut off a piece of the dough and slightly flatten it with your fingers.
• Sprinkle lightly with flour.
• Option 1 (rolling pin)
• Using a rolling pin roll the dough into approx 1 millimeter thick sheet.
• Option 2 (Atlas Marcato Pasta Machine)
• Set machine on the widest setting (0) and pass the dough for the first time.
• Fold the dough in half and pass again on the same setting.
• Adjust to the next-narrower setting, until you rich thickness of approx 1 mm or position 6 on Marcato Atlas Pasta Machine.
• Return machine to original setting for each piece.
• Arrange ready sheet on a lightly floured work surface.
• Cut each sheet into 1.5×1.5 or 2×2 inch squares and let dry for 10-20 minutes. This will prevent garganelli from flattening when they’re ready.

the pasta square should be 1.5inches x 1.5 inches square

Shape garganelli

• Place a pasta square on a well floured gnocchi board (gnocchi paddle).
• Fold a corner of the square over the garganelli pin.
• If you don’t have a dowel rod, try using a simple chopstick or even a round wooden pencil.
• Holding both ends of the pin roll it towards you. Apply pressure to imprint the ridges on the garganello and seal it at the same time.
• Be careful not to press too hard to avoid the dough sticking to the board but apply enough pressure to seal and imprint the ridges.
• Repeat the process with remaining squares and ultimately with the remaining dough.
• Let shaped garganelli dry for about 15 minutes before cooking or let them dry completely overnight and store in a sealed plastic bag.

French Crepe With Durian Fillings

It's the King of Fruits season , the durians are selling like hot cakes despite the pandemic. We have our regular supplier who will inform us and thats when we will place our order. We wanted the original local durians ( the Kampung Durian) not the hybrid type . this batch the local durians pulps were thick and creamy . We normally will freeze them in ice cream tupper and thaw them for half an hour whenever we want to eat them. Being the adventurous me, I wanted to try them with french crepes instead of eating with rice. It turned out lip-smacking good. I just need to practice making french crepes. This was a bit thick. I need to make them thinner. Practice makes perfect as the saying goes. Nevermind I still have 2 more tuppers of durian in the freezer.

These local durians are the best, espcially those from Kuala Kangsar, thick and creamy and bitterish sweet. Goes well with glutinous rice, plain rice and crepes.

Recipe for French Crepes

Ingredients for Crepe

2 eggs

1/4 cup butter- melted

2 tbsp sugar

1/2 cup AP flour

1/2 cup milk

1/8 cup water

1/2 tsp vanilla

tiny dash of salt

Fillings 

Durian pulps

 Method For making the Crepes

1. Whisk all the ingredients, except the flour, together. Add in the flour, a little bit at a time, whisking just until the flour has been mixed in.
2. Let the crepe batter rest for 10 minutes. Then, give the batter a quick whisk again before using.
3. Grease a non-stick, 6" skillet with unsalted butter and heat over medium heat. Pour about 2-3 tablespoons worth of batter into the pan and tip the pan from side to side to get the batter to spread out throughout the pan.
4. Cook each side of the crepe for 30 seconds before gently loosening up the edges with a large spatula. If it lifts, then the crepe is ready to be flipped. If it doesn't lift up very well, give it 10 to 15 more seconds and try again. Gently lift the crepe out of the pan, then flip over into the pan and cook the other side for another 10 to 15 seconds; remove to cool.

Crispy Honey Sesame Eggplant

 

Today I learned a new dish from Marion's Kitchen. Crispy Honey Sesame Eggplant can be served as  an appetiser  or as a main dish. Crispy on the outside yet soft on inside.  The honey sauce compliment the crispy eggplant well. Stay crispy till the last piece. Great with beer too. I made a small portion  and I regretted  I didnt make more. Reason being, we both fought for the last piece. I gave in and let him have the last piece. I am smarter, the last has to do the washing. LOL!

love the crispness from the breadcrumbs

use paper towel to take off excess oil after taking them off the hot oil

coat the eggplant with flour first, 

then into egg then last coating the breadcrumbs

 before adding to the hot oil

just a few ingredients to make this delicious crispy Honey Sesame Eggplant

Recipe from Marion's Kitchen

1 large egplant

2 cups panko breadcrumbs

12 cup plain flour

2 eggs. lightly whisked

vegetable oil for drrp frying

sea salt

1 tsp sesame seeds

Honey sauce

1/3 cup honey

3 tbsp vinegar

2 tsp soy sauce

1tsp corn starch mixed with 2 tbsp water

Method

1. Trim and discard the eggplant stem. Trim the eggplant so that it is almost a neat rectangle. Cut into 3cm cubes. Place the eggplants pieces into a colander set over a bowl and season with salt. Allow to sit for 10 mins.

2. To make the honey sauce, heat the honey, vinegar and soy sauce in a small saucepan over medium high heat. Simmer gently for about a minute. Stir through the corn flour mixture and simmer for another minute until thickened.Set aside until ready to serve.

3. Even out the panko crumbs by using a mortar and pestle to gentle grind and punt them. Alternatively use a ziplock bag and rolling pin.

4. Place the breadcrumbs, flour eggs into separate shallow plates.

5. Dip each piece of eggplant into the flour, then egg and the coat with the breadcrumbs.

6. Fill a saucepan or wok to about 1/3 capacity with the vegetable oil. Heat over high heat. The oil is hot enough at 165C325F or when a wooden spoon dipped into the oil forms small little bubbles.

7. Cook the eggplant in batches in the ot oil until golden. Drain on paper towel.

8. To serve, pile the eggplant nuggets onto a plate. Drizzle with the honey sauce (warm gently on the stovetop if it is too thick) And sprinkle with sesame seeds.