Rosemary Ginger Banana Cake

I thought I’d posted my favourite banana cake recipe awhile ago. Can’t seem to find it anywhere. 

But, no biggie. 

Here’s a twist to the basic.

That worked really well …. lightly fragrant with rosemary and ginger. I used crystallised ginger instead of fresh, so as not to have it too pungent and spicy. And a sprig of rosemary on the top and not chopped nor mixed into the batter. It is after all, a banana cake and we don’t want to confuse the main hero of this recipe.

And if you’re a stickler for tradition, just omit the herb and ginger and stick with the same proportions, it’ll still yield a lovely loaf…well, three little loaves if you use the same tins I did. 

Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

1+ 3/4 cups flour, sifted

1+1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp fine salt

3 large eggs

1+1/2 cups soft brown sugar

1 cup mashed bananas (I used pisang emas, also known as monkey bananas)

1/4 cup melted butter

1/2 cup vegetable oil (or any unflavored cooking oil)

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

coarsely chopped crystallized ginger

rosemary sprigs

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180C.

Oil and line loaf pans. I used 3 mini loaf pans (6”x3”x2”)

Whisk sifted flour, baking soda and salt together.

In another larger bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, mashed bananas, vanilla extract, melted butter and oil until well mixed.

Add flour and fold evenly into mixture.

Stir in chopped crystallized ginger.

Fill tins.

Place a sprig of rosemary on the top of each loaf.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 mins.

Remove from tins and leave to cool on rack.

*(Remove rosemary sprig before consuming.) 

Gyozas/Dumplings (To mold or not to mold)

This is more of a post on the mold than a recipe. 

It looks more like a bear trap …for teddy bears … it doesn’t look too menacing.

There’s a Japanese store called Daiso, where most everything is RM5 … which translates to about USD$1.50. This contraption caught my attention and was too weird to ignore. 

Normally I like messing about with my fingers, making shapes and out-of-shapes. 

After messing about with this for awhile, I’ve decided that making and shaping dumplings by hand is way faster altho the mold makes it really neat and uniformed.

These Chinese Jicama Dumplings are made by fiddly fingers … not talking about the recipe, just about the shaping and sealing methods. 

The ones in the main pic, I’d used wanton skins and filled it with a stuffing of minced meat, minced shrimp, chopped spring onions, salt and pepper, cornflour to bind it all together and for a silkier texture and the optional beaten egg, also to bind.

You can also fill it instead with sliced bananas and chocolate for a sweet dessert, fried til crisp and served with ice cream or drizzled with maple syrup. 

Wanton skins aren’t just for savouries.

Egg Muffin

Well, waddaya know! 

This wasn’t that hard to make. So why are they charging so much for it? Hmm ….

Nope. No recipe post this time … but, well, I snuck something in anyway …. look closely …..

This is a no brainer. Something simple with ready ingredients any normal fridge would/should have.

It’s my go-to whenever I don’t crave for anything specific and not particularly hungry for anything fancy. Eggs are my best friend. 

It’s convenient to have a batch of English muffins stashed in the freezer. I like homemade ones … I make them to the size of my appetite. Make some, you won’t regret it.

Split the English muffin. 

Toast the muffin halves. 

Fry an egg (runny yolk of course). 

Plonk onto toasted muffin half. 

Top with crunchy pickles, a dollop of ketchup and whatever else that makes you happy. 

Top with other toasted muffin half.

Munch away!

Burp.

Boring, isn’t it?

Shutting up now ….

Jaffa Cake Muffins

Orange and chocolate.

One of the best partnership ever created. 

Marsha hates fake orange flavours. So do I. Well, any fake flavour is horrible anyway. 

Marsha made these. Marsha tempted me. Marsha, this is all your fault for ending my no desserts and no sugar diet.

I shall start that stupid diet again after I’ve finished this lot. Maybe I’ll give them away …. but I’ve already eaten two. One more won’t hurt …. maybe I’ll keep 3 and give away the rest. Maybe I’ll keep them all …. just maybe.

My whole place smells so refreshing, so citrusy, so who needs a room freshener anyway.

The recipe is so simple. 

Blitz everything together, stir and bake. 

I’m at a phase where I’m totally not in the mood for creaming butter and sugar. I wanna blitz things together. Stir. And bake. 

You may call me lazy. Go ahead. Lay-zee….

We deserve to be that every now and then. Pamper yourself. Put your feet up. Enjoy some ME time.  Find an easy recipe, quick and simple, not a ton of utensils and bowls to wash after. Have a muffin (or two, or three, oh come on, you know you wanna) with a nice cuppa. (Not necessarily in that order).

I’ve made an orange pudding quite similar to this in that you blitz the whole orange and everything else and just dump it in the oven. That was awesome too!

This muffin turned out light and moist, unlike the usual denser muffin texture. I guess if you’d just put it in cake molds, you can call it a cake. (Marsha said that too).

Meet Marsha Thompson @ The Harried Cook. 

Nah … she’s not that harried. She likes being harried. She’s happily harried. 

INGREDIENTS

1 whole orange (unpeeled, quartered and seeded)

1/2 cup fresh orange juice

1/2 cup butter, softened 

1 egg

1 3/4 cup plain flour

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

3 oz mini dark chocolate chips

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180ºC. 

Grease a 12 cup muffin tray or use liners or muffin cups. (I just pressed a square of baking paper into each hole...maybe that's why it looks so weird. See partial pic at bottom of page)

In a blender or a food processor, purée the quartered orange and juice until smooth. (Mine wasn’t very smooth but it worked out well. Next time I’ll try it a little chunkier for some citrusy bite).

Add the butter and egg and buzz until combined. Transfer mixture into a mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Fold this into the purée until completely combined.

Stir in chocolate chips.

Spoon batter into muffin cups.

Bake for about 18-20 mins (I baked a little longer, about 25 - 30 mins).

Remove from the oven. Cool in tin for awhile before removing and serving.

* I discarded the liners once out of the oven (they get soggy while cooling) and left the muffins on a rack to cool.

Balsamic Onions Quinoa Patties & Quinoa Salad

(Guest post at Just As Delish)

Whoo! My first time doing a guest post!
Thank you Shannon, for asking. I'm excited! I'm nervous! I'm panicking!

Shannon asked. I'd said ok. I'd be honored. I asked Shannon if there is anything specific she'd like. She'd said no, no specific recipe. I asked if there are any special requests. And she'd said yes! It needs to be simple and healthy (ie. no deep frying, no loads of sugar/butter/cream). All of the above is what I am ... unhealthy. Now you see why I'm panicking? I'm doomed!
Ok, ok, I'm calm, I'm calm. I just need to see this as a challenge to my high-fat-cream-infused brain. 

Wait. What's this packet of healthy looking thing doing in my pantry? It stuck out like a sore thumb. The mother of all grains, Quinoa! (Well, according to the Incas, anyway).
How healthy is that? 
And when I told Shannon it's going to be quinoa, she said, "Quinoa? Isn't that too healthy for you?". Does she know me or what?

Like what you see? Want to find out more? Head over to Just As Delish and say hi to Shannon.

Thanks again, Shannon, for making me come up with something healthy. It's not as difficult as I thought it would be.

Baked Eggs in Pomodoro Sauce

This whole week had been all about feasting ..... not the regular meals we have everyday, but feasting ... big, huge celebratory type meals. 
We had a bloggers meet-up. Feast. 
Then the inlaws had some happy moments and wanted to take us out for a treat. No coffee shop stuff, they said, so it's another fancy restaurant. Feast. 
Then we overdid it at the buka puasa stalls (that's the food stalls operated by muslim folks selling their specialities for the breaking of fast (Iftar) one month before Eid. And never go shopping for food on an empty stomach. I never learn). Feast.
Whoo! That's enough to have me hibernating for the next month. 
So a simple lunch it'll have to be today. Can't imagine putting in anymore rich, spicy, oily, creamy, sweet ..... gosh, that practically covers everything!
I'd bookmarked this from Quay Po Cooks sometime ago. It's perfect for a day like this. Light and easy. Served with some crusty bread .... I'm a happy person!
Thanks, Veronica, for sharing this. I did not have the exact same ingredients at hand, so I tweaked it to what was available in my fridge and pantry.


This was enough for 2 servings.




INGREDIENTS


1 can (411g, dunno why such an odd figure) peeled whole tomatoes
1 tbs oil for sauteing (I used grapeseed)
a few sprigs of thyme, stalks removed
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, finely diced
3/4 cup grated strong cheddar (or more if you prefer)
2 eggs
salt and black pepper to taste



METHOD


Heat oil and saute garlic and onions. 
When onions are soft, add in tomatoes. Squish them up a little. (Or a lot. I like mine chunky).
Add the thyme, salt and pepper. 
Simmer until reduced into a thick gravy. About 10 mins.
Scoop into 2 ovenproof bowls. (I used 4.5" ramekins)
Sprinkle grated cheese over the top.
Crack an egg onto that and bake at 180˚C for about 10 mins until cheese is melted, golden and egg is cooked but still has a runny yolk.
(Mmmmmm .... I love runny yolk!)


Serve with crusty bread.

Freakin'-Easy-Tata

It's hopeless!!

I'm hopeless!!

I can't stand it anymore!!

It's not possible!!

I can't do this!!

Drama ..... in the 1st degree.

I'm sure some of you might agree with me when it comes to dieting. I've read several blogs about people going on diets and losing 2 - 3 kgs in a week. I hate you.

Dieting makes one (me) crabby, negative, depressed (not really), dramatic for sure.

I've been given several suggestions from eating for my blood type to having just fruits for breakfast. I've tried the Atkins diet .... that worked, really it did, but coming from a society and upbringing of having rice or noodles at least 5 times a week, it finally turned into a raging crave of carbs that had me bingeing on an equivalent to 4 cups of rice in one sitting ... not good.

I do the exercises, mainly tennis about 3 times a week, less now having been afflicted with rotator cuff tendonitis.

Cut the sugar. Yup, doing that as well. (I am so craving for a cheesecake right now.)

I can't last. My will power is weak .... especially when it comes to food. Being a food blogger doesn't help, unless I start blogging about healthy stuff. Yeah, right.

Forgive me if I don't visit as regularly as before. This is a compliment to you. You know your food posts make me drool and this really is not helping.

So, while I still have some semblance of will power left in me, I'm trying to cut the carbs, come up with some energy food, enough to get a good tennis game going and not get thrashed by my fellow players.

This one is freakin' easy and it has enough stuff in it to satisfy my cravings for a while ..... until the next meal? Sigh ....

*Note: Not recommended for dieters.

INGREDIENTS

3 eggs beaten

1/2 cup milk

pinch of salt

ground black pepper

coarsely chopped bacon (lean bacon if you must)

2 small waxy potatoes, sliced thinly (I know, I know, potatoes are hi-carb. Cheez, lighten up, will ya? I did say "small")

a handful of coarsely chopped rocket leaves

METHOD

Preheat oven to 200˚C.

Line a 7" X 7" non-stick baking tin with parchment. You don't have to do this. I just thought it would be easier to lift out when it's done.

Line the bottom with the sliced poatoes, overlapping them.

Place the chopped bacon and rocket over that.

In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, milk and salt.

Pour that into baking tin over the bacon and rocket.

Bake for about 25 mins.

Serve hot.

DIY: Salted Eggs

I'm a simple girl at heart ... GIRL?! *Ahem* ... Let me rephrase that ....

I'm a simple person at heart.

I like simple things.

I'm comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt.

I wear very minimal make up and that's if I have to.

I like the simple things in life (but I need the air conditioner. If you live in this part of the world, you would too)

And, I like simple food ... most times.

Mum used to make me eat rice congee/porridge when I was sick .... I hardly get sick, but I'd still developed a dislike for congee. I call it "Sick Food". But mum knows me too well and she'd include two halves of a hard-boiled salted duck egg, some braised soy beans/peanuts in soy sauce and some pickled mustard greens. And I'd be happily swallowing 2 bowls of congee ... ok, maybe I wasn't thaaaat sick.

So, when I saw this Homemade Salted Eggs post at Sonia's, I knew I had to make these, or at least try to, at least once ... just to know how.

Not that it's expensive to buy from the shops or there's any difficulty getting them, it's just a condiment that's also getting pretty popular these days. The restaurants have come up with the latest craze .... salted egg yolk everything. There's salted egg yolk pumpkin, crab, fish, shrimp, chicken, vegetables .... all of which I love!

Oh, wait .... this is turning into something not so simple after all , whoops.

Secret's out ... I need to make those dishes for myself at home! That's my weakness ... food. Makes you wonder why I have to keep getting new jeans every so often.

Well, I tried the recipe and it turned out really well, except that I thought it was a lot saltier than what I'm used to. Maybe I'll try to reduce it by a few days.

I'm very happy with it and this won't be a one time experiment. In fact, I've already started on the 2nd batch and I'm also trying it out with chicken eggs.

[Here's the update: I have been asked about making this with chicken eggs and fortunately I had a batch ready yesterday. Honestly, don't even bother with chicken eggs. It's nothing as good as duck eggs. Salted chicken eggs tastes just like regular hard-boiled eggs dipped in a little salt. Duck eggs (esp the yolks) have a very rich milky flavor. My suggestion for those who can't get or have difficulty getting duck eggs is to use goose eggs ... assuming that's an easier find. *shrug*.

Unless maybe, you're adventurous enough to try it with ostrich eggs ... tell me about it if you do.]

For Sonia's step by step guide and more beautiful pictures, click here.

I've reduced the recipe by half for this round since it was suppose to be a test batch. Besides, I didn't have a container large enough to fit too many eggs.

INGREDIENTS

8 duck eggs

200g coarse salt

500 ml water

METHOD

Wash eggs well and dry with a soft cloth or paper towels. (Do not soak eggs).

Place salt and water in a pot and boil until salt is completely dissolved.

(*Note: I've found that not all the salt could dissolve but that's ok. Read on ...)

Leave to cool. (You'll notice the salt starting to crystallize around the pot. That's when you know the salt to water ratio is correct). Strain.

Place eggs in a large, clean glass jar, add the salt water solution.

(Make sure the eggs are completely submerged. To help the eggs stay submerged, I'd filled a small plastic bag with air, sealed it and placed it on top before replacing the jar lid).

Store in room temperature for 14 days.

Boil eggs for 10 mins before serving.

FYI: The traditional way to get rid of the shell after it's boiled is NOT to peel the egg as you would with a normal hard boiled egg but to cut the egg in half, lengthwise, then scoop out as you would an avocado.

Brussels Sprouts with Salted Eggs

Whoo ... what a week it's been! Chinese new year has always been busy, busy, busy ... we celebrate it in a very small way compared to a lot of the Chinese folks out there. Things are slowly getting back to normal, people are trickling back from their hometowns after a week long break. Schools are back in session and I'm hoping I can get back to more regular blogging now. Right, let's get started.

Brussels sprouts ..... one of my favorite veges. They contain good amounts of vitamin A, vitamin C, folic acid and dietary fiber.

I used to hate them as a kid. I'd rather have my tooth pulled than eat brussels sprouts. But as I grew older wiser, I developed a liking to the slight bitterness of that cute round, cabbage-family, vitamin loaded vegetable. I'd like to think my tastes have matured and become more sophisticated in my wiser years .... double *ahem*.

All this time, I've had them cooked in a white sauce or butter sauce, usually as an accompaniment to roast poultry or some kinda meat. I really needed to have a different way to cook this, first, for variety's sake and second, so that my husband will eat them without grimacing.

I'd thought of frying them up like the fried spiced pumpkin dish. Then another thought hit me as I was contemplating this.... another vegetable with a similar bitterness ... the bitter melon / bitter gourd. This, stir fried with salted egg yolks is one of our very favorite dishes. Why not marry this two ideas together? Hmmm .... (Don't ask me why he'll eat bitter gourd and not brussels sprouts .... men are from mars, remember?)

It turned out better than I expected, altho not as creamy as when it's cooked without the whites of the salted eggs ... I thought it's such a waste to chuck the whites. But the flavors went really well together and to give a little ooomph, i added some chilly flakes.

INGREDIENTS

brussels sprouts, quartered ( I had about 1 full cup after quartering them, you can just halve them if they're small)

2 salted eggs, hard boiled and shelled

1 tbs butter

1 tbs grapeseed oil (this is just to prevent the butter from browning too quickly)

1 tbs chopped garlic

pinch of sugar

pinch chilly flakes

a little water / milk

METHOD

Mash 2 salted egg yolks + one egg white together. (Using all 2 egg whites would make it too salty)

Heat butter and grapeseed oil in a pan and stir in chopped garlic. Give it a quick stir without over-browning.

Add mashed salted eggs. Stir fry for a little bit then add in brussels sprouts.

Stir to combine. If it looks a little dry, add in some water or milk and cook until sprouts turn a slight translucent color.... or if you like them crunchy, cook a shorter time.

Add a little sugar to taste and stir in chilly flakes.

Serve hot with fluffy white rice.

PS Just a small reminder about the Potluck Party. All are invited!