Banana Cake

When I went to a supermarket nearby my house, I saw some good-looking bananas were sold at very cheap price. 1 bundle of plastic, contained around 5-10 sticks was only 50 cents. It is a norm here that when the bananas turn so ripe and the skin darkening, the price would be reduced but actually the rate of the darkening wasn't so bad, it is not so soft. You can still eat it raw.

So I took 1 big bundle and used them to make banana cake. I found one recipe from my.resepi and it turned out quite ok. It's very easy to make and the kids love it so much.

The recipe:

Ingredients:

4 medium-sized bananas (mashed)
3 medium-sized eggs
1 3/4 cup self-rising flour (I couldn't find this so I mixed the all-purpose flour with 1 teaspoon of baking powder)
1/4 cup corn flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup vegetable oil (any cooking oil would do)
1 teaspoon soda bicarbonate
1 pinch of salt

Method:

Preheat the oven to 170C. Butter the baking pan.

1. Beat the egg and sugar with electric mixer until thick.
2. Add mashed banana and mix well.
3. Add flour (together with baking powder and soda bicarbonate) and mix well.
4. Add oil and mix well.
5. Put the batter into baking pan.
6. Bake for 50-60 minutes. Check by inserting toothpick, if it comes out clean, then the cake is completely baked.

Cool down the cake before remove it out of baking pan.

Tom Kha Gai (Chicken in coconut soup)

This is a Thai recipe. I didn't know how it taste before but when I browsed through other cooking blogs, many have recommended this recipe. And since I always cook chicken as the main side dish, it's good to know variety.

It's very simple to cook this and it tastes great! Even my fussy husband likes it. Here is the recipe:

From: Shiokfood

Good quality Chinese chicken stock - 1 cup ( I substituted with 1 chicken cube)
Coconut milk - 1 cup
Fresh or frozen lemongrass - 1/2 a stalk
Galangal - fresh - 6 slices
Kaffir Lime Leaves - 2 (hand-torn)
Thai bird's eye chillies
Fish sauce - 1 tbsp (The saltiness can vary a lot across brands, so start with less always.)
Lime juice - 2 tbsp ( I used lemon instead)
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp
Boneless chicken breast - 50 gm (chopped)
Straw mushrooms (or regular button mushrooms) - 4 (sliced) ( I didn't put this)

Method:

For the lemongrass, use only the bottom white part (about 6 inches) and discard the woody grass part of it. With the flat side of a cleaver or a heavy object, pound and bruise the lemongrass so it releases the flavour. Cut into 2 inch segments.
Put the stock into a pot and bring to a boil. Toss the galangal, lemongrass, sugar, and lime leaves in. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the coconut milk, chillies, fish sauce and simmer for another 5 minutes.
Finally, add the chicken and mushrooms and cook till the chicken is just cooked. The moment you see it turning all white on the outside, it's 90% done.

Chocolate Strawberries

It's spring now and a lot of fruits that hardly available during winter now are widely sold at groceries stores and supermarkets. One of them, strawberry!

Not only they are cheap (500gram range between EU0.99 to EU1.99), they are sweet and fresh. Most of the time we just eat them raw and plain or I add into my morning cereal. Then suddenly I remember the Chocolate Strawberries which became so famous back in Malaysia when Malaysia's famour singer, Datuk Siti Nurhaliza shared her love story how this chocolate strawberries made her fall in love with her husband. I heard after that, people started selling and buying chocolate strawberries like hot cake! Well, I never bought....

So now since strawberries are easily available, why not making the strawberries coated chocolate myself?

It's very easy to make. All you need; strawberries as much as you want- don't remove the leaves, a bar of cooking chocolate and some vegetable shortening or butter. Melt the chocolate and vegetable shortening in double-boiling method. Once the chocolate melt, remove it from the heat and dip each strawberry into the chocolate. It would be easier if you use tooth pick to hold the strawberry (I didn't have tooth pick). Then hold the strawberry by making the tooth inserted onto strayfoam (or anything equivalent) to let the chocolate harden.

Taraa!!! It's ready!