Banana and Chocolate...hmmmm...

Mix banana and chocolate together...and what will you get?  A potent combination indeed!  I love bananas, but I know too well that having a wee bit too much will cause the potassium level in your body to go haywire!  Last week, at home, we had banana fritters.  Yesterday, I  made banana yogurt shake.  Since I still had some very ripe bananas in the fridge, I decided to try out this muffin recipe from Nigella Lawson's website.  It looked simple and yummy enough for me to try.  I am not really a muffin person, but hey! who am I to say no to banana chocolate muffin!!!  This is especially good with hot black coffee.  The aroma of banana (hmmm...), chocolate(hmmm..) and coffee(hMMMMM.....) might just lead you into a state of frenzy!!

3 very ripe bananas (i used medium sized ones)

125 ml vegetable oil

2 eggs 

100 gm soft light brown sugar

225 gm plain flour

3 x 15 ml tablespoons best quality cocoa powder - sifted

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 x 12-bun muffin tin

Preheat oven to 200C and line a muffin tin with papers.  Mash the bananas by hand or with a freestanding mixer.  Still beating and mashing, add oil followed by eggs and sugar.  Mix the flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda together and add this mixture, beating gently, to the banana mixture, then spoon it into the prepared papers.  Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, by which the muffins should be dark, rounded and peeking proudly out of their cases.  Allow to cool slightly in their tin before removing to a wire rack.

After going through the recipe, I decided to have it a little more chocolatey..and so I added some dark chocolate shavings in it.....and a little piece of that dark chocolate placed on top of the muffin!  Just like the icing on the cake!  This recipe is worth a try.

Just look at Nadyn, si Comot! hahaha!

Kuih Mor



Wow!  The last time I had this kuih was about 3-4 years ago..  That's quite a while already!  The last one I had was so tasty that nothing else I found could beat it taste wise.  I did not want to try to bake it as back then it was easy for me to get hold of these goodies.  Once in a while, I will stumble upon a recipe that's similar to the one I like but it'll end up in one of my many scrapbooks and folders.  There are also some "Sugi Brunei" on sale, tapi tak sama lah dengan the ones I pernah makan...

A few days ago, while searching the Net, I found a few recipes for Kuih Mor Brunei.  The recipes I found differ a little from each other.  So what I did was to "mix-and-match" them...macam jadi rojak pulak!!  The final result was nice and it turned out to be the "melt in the mouth" kind! 

I guess this kuih is similar to kuih makmur or the biskut arab, just slight difference here and there.  Some people bake using butter, but I still prefer the original taste and smell using melted ghee.  One fine day, I am still going to get to eat and taste the original from Brunei!  Since I am on that topic, I also miss the buah tarab, ambuyat and the many lauk-lauk yang nyaman and not forgetting Pasar Tamu.  I am soo going to Brunei..hahaha..

Back to Kuih Mor, here's the recipe I used,

400 gm plain flour

a pinch of salt

2 egg yolks - lightly beaten

140-150 gm ghee - melted

2-3 tblsp icing sugar 

Coating : Icing sugar + milk powder (this is optional)

Preheat oven to 150C and bake for about 20-25 mins.  Mix flour, salt, sugar and beaten egg.  Gradually pour in the melted ghee and mix well.  Knead dough till a little smooth.  Roll out into small balls.  Once baked, leave aside to cool a little.  When still a little warm, roll out the balls into the icing sugar (+ milk powder) mixture.  And then, dah boleh dimakan!  Enjoy!





Left: Waiting to be plonked into the sea of icing sugar!
Right: All white, powdery and yummy!

"Peek a boo!"  Come and get me!

Bryani update!

Mutton Bryani

This is what we had for dinner last night.  It is the first time my nasi bryani turned out well..(..maybe because my Mum was at my place and she helped me..or maybe because she was the main cook..hahaha...!!) 

We got the mutton ribs but not exactly the right part for the bryani.  The part we bought is more suitable for dhalca ribs.  But anyhow,  it was simply sedaaap!  The delicious chutney was also made by Mum.  Hmmmm, the smell of the bryani still lingering in the kitchen...

Lapis Mutiara

Lapis Mutiara

I simply love the taste and the look of this cake.  Am very satisfied with the result.  Actually, I have been searching for the recipe for a while.  I was not sure of the name of the cake and therefore could not find the correct recipe.  One recipe I found for Lapis Dot-dot, called for it to be steamed and not baked. I prefer the baked type of lapis.  Searched high and low...and finally..where do I get the recipe....from my Mum!  She got the hand-written recipe kept nicely in one of her note books.  She made the cake for Hari Raya and it tasted good.  She cannot remember where she copied the recipe from since it has been quite a while.  Another obstacle I faced was the biscuit fingers used in this recipe.  I went to a few shops searching for it, but could not find the biscuits.  I wanted the plain ones and not those coated with chocolate.  Aarrghhh....very frustrating and I nearly gave up.  During one of the Hari Raya visiting sessions, I found a small shop at the void deck of a block of flats in Bedok had THE biscuit!!  I was soooo happy, just like a kid who had just been given a new toy!

Once all the ingredients were available, I did not wait a minute longer and started on this exciting baking journey...!  And there was no turning back!  As usual, I tweaked the recipe a little to suit my taste and liking. 

When I was taking pictures of the cake, Nadyn insisted that she wanted "to be in the picture together with the cake!"  She said "the cake is so pretty Mummy!"  At the end of the day, she was happy and I was satisfied and happy too!

Fish & Chips

This is my Mum's favourite.  She likes her fish coated with this kind of batter and not the ones with bread crumbs.  This is a very simple recipe that I got from watching one of the British cooking programmes on tv.  The fish fillet need to be marinated with a bit of salt and pepper.  Just mix plain flour, salt, pepper, baking powder, an egg and a can of soda water.  The result is this fluffy and crispy batter for fish and chips!  When eaten hot, it feels like heaven...I think..haha..

I used to think that fish and chips were just "so so" as I've only eaten the ones with bread crumbs.  I think they are fine but can get a little tough and dry at times.  This happens when the fillet is fried a wee bit too long.  There are times when the fish is a little burnt also!

My Mum kept on telling me about the fish and chips that can be bought at Fitzpatrick's or Cold Storage a long time ago.  She liked them a lot.  Could not find any more delicious fish and chips after that.  Now that she travels quite often, she gets her fish and chips "fix" from Australia...and the next best that she's had was the one from a little shop in Birmingham, England.

Now each time I make fish and chips at home, it'll always be the ones that look like these.... 

September - a month full of happy days!

September is a month filled with birthdays for my family.  I have cousins, nephews, a niece, an aunty, my mum, brother-in-law and some friends.  And the best of all, my wedding anniversary is also in September!

We visited 2 families yesterday for Hari Raya.  One in Singapore and the other in JB.  There was no traffic jam when going into JB, all went on smoothly.  Eventhough there was a slight traffic jam on the way back, it was still tolerable.  The weekend visiting went on well.

There was even time to have a mini celebration for some of the September "babies".  We bought a cheesecake which was yummy.  Everyone had a slice.  Today is my Mum's birthday, so we had the cake cutting yesterday, together with my aunt, my nephew and niece.

I also made Kacang Phool for my aunty and her family who came to our house earlier in the day.  It was a reall fun-filled weekend for me!  All of us also had our cars washed at the usual place.  While the cars had "their bath", we had teh-tarik at the stall next door. 

This is little bouncy Maya Lashira...she just can't keep still...a little cheeky too!  We love her very much! 

Last, but not least,  we celebrated our wedding anniversary a few days ago.  It's our 12th year!  Had a simple celebration together with the girls.  We watched a movie then had dinner.  Simple and sweet.  The dinner was good too!

Hari Raya...the many happy faces.

Well, I have sort of finished with the hari raya visiting....at least the close relatives..I hope.  There may be 1 or 2 more "Open House" to attend and I guess, that's about it.  My family's celebration is usually very simple, short and sweet. 

Baked some kek lapis for people who wanted to serve them at their homes  during the open house.  Other than that, I have not baked anything else or anything new.  There are some new recipes to try and I hope I am able to do it soon.

Here are some pictures taken over the past few days.  Did not really take much as I was busy mingling with everyone. 

Some of Widya's friends came over too.  They were all soooo happy!

Have a good week and enjoy the rest of your eid celebrations!