Banana Cake

This is an impromptu baking just to consume the leftover ripe bananas. I was hesitating whether or not to decorate the cake a  little bit so that it could look prettier. So, I sacrifice one banana for the toppings. Well,  the whole banana cake doesn’t really look outstanding... however, the individual slices of banana cake looks lovely. The cake tastes good too with my own measurement of ingredients. Everything is just nice, the taste, the texture and the look. It was my first attempt of baking a banana cake. Overall, I’m quite satisfied with this fruitful baking session.

Hmm...yummy! This is my breakfast for the next day. I gave some to my parents and hubby gobbled up the rest.

Banana Cake

Yields for a 8" diameter cake

Ingredients:

3 eggs
200gm self raising flour
1tsp of baking powder
120gm fine sugar
120gm salted butter
200gm of bananas, mashed
1tsp vanilla essence

Steps:

1. Preheat oven at 180C.

2. Line the 8" diameter cake tin base with baking paper.

3. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

4. Add egg one at a time, and continue to beat until well combine. Add vanilla essence to mix well.

3. Sieve in flour and baking powder to the wet ingredients. Fold it in the wet ingredients.

4. Fold the mashed banana into the batter.

5. Transfer the batter into the baking tray. Decorate the top with sliced banana (optional).

6. Bake the cake under 180C for 40 minutes or until cooked.

7. When it's done, leave it cool before cutting.

Assam Curry Fish

Assam curry is the type of spicy tamarind soured curry. This Nyonya- style curry is suitable for seafood like fish, prawn and squid. It does not contain coconut milk or condense milk. But with the taste of assam (tamarind), this curry is very appetizing. This is the type of curry that my mum used to make for the family. I learned from mum on the steps, and I made my own version of assam curry. 

See my bowl of mouth-watering assam curry fish?

Assam Curry Fish

Serves 3 to 4

Ingredients:

2 thick slices of fish fillet, sprinkled with salt and set aside
6-8 lady's finger
1 onion, peeled and diced
1 tomato, diced
2 stalk of lemon grass, get the white portion bruised
6 Kaffir lime leaves
1/2 of ginger flower, halved
fresh curry paste (bought from market)
belacan (optional)
450ml water
cooking oil

Seasonings:

Light soy sauce or salt
sugar
2 tbsp of tamarind pulp with half cup of water (mix and strain the juice)

Garnishing:

Mint leaves

Steps:

1. Heat up the wok with enough oil. Stir fry the onion, Kaffir lime leave, lemon grass and curry paste for few minutes until fragrant.

2. Add water and bring to a boil. Add ginger flower, lady's finger, tomato and fish to simmering for about 5 minutes. Add tamarind juice, salt and sugar to taste.

3. When everything is cooked, turn off the flame. Dish out and serve hot with rice.

Steamed Eggplant With Dried Shrimp Sauce

I didn't really plan on how to cook the eggplant which was stored in the fridge for the last few days. Then suddenly an idea came across my mind to cook it in this way....by steaming it. Yup, that's right. Steaming it retains it's original texture and color, and with a touch of homemade sauce, you'll have a healthy veg dish to go along with rice. Can you see the nice original purple color of the eggplant? I just love it!

Steamed Eggplant With Dried Shrimp Sauce

Ingredients:

1 eggplant, cut into 1.5cm x 8cm strips and soaked in salt water
2 tbsp of dried shrimps, soaked and drained
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 1/2 tbsp of oyster sauce
1 1/2 tbsp of light soy sauce
1 tsp of dark soy sauce
dash of pepper
75ml of water
1 1/2 tbsp of corn flour mixed with 4 tbsp of water
1 tbsp of vegetable oil

Steps:

1. Drain the eggplant strips and arrange it on a heat proved plate. Steam it over high flame for 5-6 minutes.

2. Heat up oil in another wok. Saute garlic till fragrant. Add dried shrimps and fry it for few minutes. Stir in the sauce and bring to a boil. Add corn starch mixture until the sauce is thickening.

3. Pour the sauce over the steamed eggplant. Serve hot with rice.

Meat Patties

Meat patties is definitely easier to make compared to veggie patties. Unlike the veggie patties, meat patties can be shaped nicely and shallow-fried to perfection. To clear up some of my minced meat stock, I made these patties to go with some bread and green corals and it turned out great! Hubby is loving it :)

Meat Patties

Makes 3 patties

Ingredients:
200g minced pork/chicken/beef
vegetable oil

Marinate the minced meat with:

1 tbsp of light soy sauce
half tsp of white pepper powder
1 tsp of sesame oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peel and finely chopped
1 small egg, lightly beaten
1 tbsp of corn flour
3 tsbp of bread crumbs

Steps:

1. Marinate the minced meat for 30 minutes.

2. Divide the minced meat with marinade into 3 portions. Shape each portion into patty. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

3. Take out the meat patties from fridge and re-shape it.

4. Heat enough oil in a pan or wok. Shallow-fry the meat patties until golden brown at both side. Serve the meat patties with bun and veggies as burgers.

Braised Pork Belly In Soy Sauce (Tau Eu Bak)

Although my mum has been cooking this dish for us since my childhood days, I still have no idea how my mum did it. That was until last week, when I finally asked my mum on the cooking steps and seasonings.  Today I cook the dish for the first time and tada......it tastes as good as my mum's version. Yummy :)

I love all the ingredients added to the dish, like pork belly, hard-boiled egg, pork skin, fried beancurd, mushroom and dried cuttle fish (I omit this). Serve it with rice or porridge, and I'm more than happy.

Braised Pork In Soy Sauce

Serves 4

Ingredients:

300g pork belly, cut into bite-size
10" x 2" pork skin, cut into bite-size, excess fat removed
2 hard beancurd, cut into 4 each and shallow-fried till golden brown
4 hard-boiled egg, shelled
3 dried shiitake mushrooms, hydrated, stalk removed and quartered
5 cloves of garlic, peeled
800ml water
2 tbsp of dark soy sauce
4 tbsp of light soy sauce

Steps:

1. Marinate pork belly with dark soy sauce and light soy sauce. Let it stand for 30 minutes.

2. Bring water to boil in a pot. Add the pork skin and garlic and leave it simmers for 20 minutes. Pour in the pork belly and marinade. Bring to a boil. Add fried beancurd and leave it simmering for 35 minutes. Stir from time to time.

3. Add hard-boiled eggs and mushrooms. Simmers for another 10-15 minutes. Best serve with rice or porridge.

Note:

This dish should have some soy sauce gravy. You can top up water from time to time and adjust the saltiness based on your preference.