Banana Cake

Dickens bought some unripened bananas a few days ago, hoping that when we are all no longer coughing, it will be time to eat them. Unfortunately, the bananas ripened faster than we hoped.

So, instead of banana bread, I opted for banana cake. This cake is moist with the help from the fruit and the smell is just like banana bread. I also frosted the cake to make it look more like a dessert than breakfast bread.

It tasted so good that everyone had seconds. I think you and family will enjoy it as much as mine!

Banana Cake

Preheat oven at 350 F. Lightly grease a 9 inch spring form cake pan and set aside.

1/2 cup of soften butter
1 1/2 cup of sugar
2 eggs
2 cups of flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 tsp baking soda (add to mashed bananas)
4 ripe bananas mashed

Cream butter, sugar and eggs. Add vanilla. Mix well.
In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, salt
Add 1/3 of flour mixture to butter/eggs mixture. Add 1/2 of the milk. Mix well.
Repeat until all the flour and milk has been added.
Stir in banana mixture and mix well.

Pour into spring form pan and bake for 45 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Let the cake cool completely before spreading on your choice of icing or frosting.

Apple Pie Cake

How can we not celebrate the autumn season without making some sort of dessert with apples? I fiddled between apple pie, crisp and cake. Then I found a recipe that had the best of both worlds...apple pie cake. Who would have thought about that?

Picture to follow but here is my version of the recipe.

Apple Pie Cake

Preheat oven to 350 F.

2 eggs
2 cups of granulated sugar
1 cup of oil (I used corn oil, the original recipe asked for vegetable oil)
1 tsp of vanilla
2 cups of all purpose flour
2 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 each of baking powder, baking soda and salt
4 cups of apples (the recipe called for 5 cups but I found it to be more apple and no cake)
1 tsp of orange juice

Peel and core the apples. Cut into bit size pieces.
Add orange juice to apples to prevent from browning.

Wet: In one bowl, beat eggs, sugar. oil and vanilla. Set aside
Dry: In another bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well.
Fold in the apples.

Pour batter into a 9 inch springform cake pan. Be sure to place parchment paper on the bottom of the cake pan and lightly grease the sides.

Bake for approx. 50-60 mins or until an inserted toothpick comes out dry.

Your house will smell sooo goood.
Serves 12.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hello all,

It has been a while since I did any baking nor wrote any posts on my latest recipes.

The temperatures have started to drop..not much but enough to make me want to use the oven to bake! Here is a recipe for some excellent oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. They not just look yummy..they are soft and tasty.

1 cup of soften butter
1 1/2 cup of brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 rolled oats
1 1/2 cup of flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 F.

1. In a large bowl, beat butter and brown sugar till fluffy

2. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Set aside

3. In separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt and rolled oats together. Fold in the chocolate chips.

4. Add flour mixture to butter mixture in parts. Fold til it is well mixed. Do not over stir.

5. Roll into small balls of dough and place onto cookie sheet. Lightly press down each ball .

For better results, chill the batter for 30 minutes before rolling into the small dough balls.

Bake 10-12 minutes.

Makes 36 cookies.

Classic Pound Cake

I decided to attack a classic pound cake recipe. I would use one less egg than the actual recipe calls for. But the sweetness was just right for our tastes. I also baked it longer than the 45 mins it needed. I baked my version for an hour longer -- kind of long for a cake but the batter was quite thick and I did use a loaf pan too. How else could you bake a pound cake -- they are always baked in a loaf pan!

Ingredients were simple...here it is, enjoy this Sara Lee classic.

Classic Pound Cake (serves 6-8)

Preheat oven at 325 F

2 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 2/3 cup of granulated sugar
4 eggs (recipe called for 5 but I think 4 would work too)
2 tsp vanilla extract

In a bowl, mix flour and salt. Set aside.

In another bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating in between each egg addition. Beat in vanilla.

Add flour mixture 1/3 of the portion each time. Stir until well blended. Don't over stir.

Pour into lightly greased or lined with parchment paper loaf pan. Spread evenly. Bake in preheated oven until top is brown and inserted toothpick comes out clean (not wet). Approx. 70 minutes. But I would check with the toothpick at 50 mins first. Depending on your oven, pan and rack level in the oven, the time may vary. Maybe that is why my cake took longer.

Let cool completely before removing from the pan. Serve with strawberries and whipped cream.

Pear Crisp

As I was working away, I realized I forgot to defrost some meat for the night's dinner. Good thing I had a box of President's Choice chicken strips in the freezer and I can bake them from frozen! But anytime I put the oven on, I have to bake some sort of dessert with it. I found some pears from my parent's tree that I have taken the skin off and cored and kept in the freezer for a future dessert. That dessert was going to be born that night -- a pear crisp.

I found an apple crisp recipe in my Williams Sonoma "Fruit Dessert" cook book. And substituting it with pear should be a piece of cake....no pun on that.

It turned out...well, good. However, it wasn't as "crisp" as it should be. Culprit -- frozen pears. It really should be made out of fresh pears instead. Thus, you would have less moisture in the dish.

With my tip above, I am sure you will find that this recipe works.

Pear Crisp

Crisp Topping
1/2 cup of all purpose flour
1 cup of quick cooking rolled oats
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup pf cold unsalted butter -- cut into cubes (save a couple of the small cubes for greasing your pan)

Pear Filling
6 cups of pears, peeled, cored and sliced
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 F

Lightly grease a baking dish that can hold 2 qt capacity.

Topping:
In a bowl, stir together the flour, oats, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon.
Cut or rub butter into the mixture until it looks crumbly. Put in fridge while you prepare the pear filling.

Pear Filling:
Stir together sugar, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Add the pears and toss until all the pears have been covered with the sugary mixture.

Pour into the greased baking dish and distribute evenly. Sprinkle the crisp topping mixture on top of the pears evenly.

Bake for approx 50 or until the topping is crisp.

Serve warm -- with ice cream or whipped cream.

Strawberry Mousse

Strawberry Mousse (for recipe, see below)

Every year, we get together with the same group of friends for our annual potluck party. It is also a nice to see everyone and the kids always have a great time. This was also a first for Aidan. He was walking around the house, peeking into every corner and flashing his sly smile.

As for the dish, we contributed our regular fare -- dessert. With a twist, I also decided to make an appetizer. In previous years, I have made different types of desserts to bring...a cake made of many cupcakes to form a christmas tree, mango pudding in individual cups topped with cream, cheesecake, bread pudding, assorted cookie tray.... but for this year, my main requirement was --something cold (so we don't have to heat it to enjoy) and ease of transport. The end result: strawberry mousse.

I found the easy recipe and made a couple of changes because of the ingredients on hand...and it was still a success!

Strawberry Mousse (serves 12)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup of boiling water
1 cup of cold water
1 pkg of strawberry jello -- you can change the flavour for your own mousse
1 pkg of cream cheese
2 tbsp of sugar
2 cups of whipped cream (the recipe had a ready made whipped topping, which is fine)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cups of icing sugar
2 cups of peaches (you can put any fruit in season, I had some homemade jarred peaches)

Method:

1. Mix boiling water with jello and stir until dissolved. Then add a cup of cold water. Set aside.
2. Mix sugar and cream cheese until well blended.
3. Add jello to cream cheese mixture and mix well.
4. In a cold mixing bowl, add 2 cups of whipping cream, 1 tsp of vanilla and 1/2 cup of icing sugar. On low speed, beat mixture for 5 minutes and then increase speed. Beat until peaks form. Approx. 20 minutes.
5. Measure 2 cups of whipped cream and fold into strawberry cream cheese mixture. Save the rest as a topping to add when serving.
6. Line a standard bread loaf pan with plastic wrap. Then line in the pan with sliced peaches.
7.Pour mousse mixture into pan and cover the peaches.
8. Put in fridge to set overnight.
9. You can stop here...but I like a crust on the bottom...so, I lined up chewy chocolate chip cookies (store bought) on the top.

To serve...put a plate larger than the loaf pan on top and then flip the loaf pan to "drop" the mousse onto the plate. Remove the plastic wrap. Cut into slices and dollop with some whipped cream -- if you had any left.

Christmas Dinner

With everyone so busy with work, family and other obligations, the Christmas season always makes us slow down to allow us to enjoy what really matters. Getting together for a turkey dinner is only done once a year in our family -- so, it makes the gathering all the more special. This year's menu:

Starters: Cheese stuffed crescents

Main course: Roast turkey with sage and thyme
Stuffing
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Cranberry sauce
Roasted Vegetable Medley
Pesto Roasted Potatoes
Gravy
Dessert: Cheesecake

Chicken wings stuffed with sticky rice

Last night, I decided to make chicken wings but as of lately, the chicken wings were just pan fried and then some wet sauce like bbq or ketchup smothering it. I wanted to make it a different way. Then I remembered that I once attempted to make them with sticky rice stuffed in the mid wing -- and I failed too. The stuffing kept coming out if its pocket as it cooked and eventually, the wing was just cooking in the rice. I remembered how discouraged I felt when the dish failed too.

This time, I tried again..and with some toothpicks, it worked like a charm!

Here is my recipe -- you will have to modify the ingredients if you make more/less wings.

Chicken wings with sticky rice (lap mei fan) stuffing

Sticky Rice
1 cup of glutinous rice
1 inch long piece of chinese style pork belly (diced)
1/2 of one chinese sausage (diced)
chopped cilantro (optional)

1. Wash rice and add diced pork belly and sausage. Cook rice in the rice cooker.
2. When it is done, let it cool.

Chicken Wings (9 full wings)
1. Slice the drumstick part of the wings and set aside.
2. De-bone the mid wing piece and you will end up with a pocket.
3. Using a tablespoon of sticky rice with pork belly and sausage, sprinkle some cilantro and roll into a ball.
4. Stuff the rice ball into the mid wing and close the opening with a toothpick.
5. Repeat til all the mid wings are stuffed - you may have extra rice.

Note: Use spoons to prevent cross contamination of the raw chicken and cooked
rice.

6. Pan fry the wings on medium heat til there is a golden brown crust. Drumsticks can also be cooked at the same time.
7. Then lower the heat and cover. Cook thoroughly for another 20 minutes. Total cooking time is approx. 30 minutes.

my first attempt to make sushi

It has been so long since I had some sushi...well, the kind that has no raw fish, that is. I am not that adventurous.

I decided to try and make some the whole family would enjoy. The cucumber roll with some dried shredded pork.

I did two versions...one with a mixed rice of long grain and glutinous. The other with plain long grain (Dickens' lunch). The latter did not fare too well after being refrigerated overnight -- so, I do not recommend it. Unless you add the rice vinegar to make the rice wet. And that was the culprit. Too dry of rice makes terrible sushi!!!

I am not going to list the ingredients since nothing was prepared ahead of time.

Pear Bars

Ok, I have not been too faithful in this blog. But then, I have not really experimented with any new recipes over the summer. The weather has been too hot to turn on the oven when the house felt like an oven -- sometimes.

Now, that we have changed seasons...fall is upon us and of course, harvesting of fruits and vegetables call for warm and comforting dishes too. Forget salads!!

This year, mom's pear tree was very fruitful, no pun intended. Lots of the little green lightbulbs on the tree and plenty to share. So, far, Karen and Joyce have attacked their pears by making pies and strudel. I decided to make squares. I originally found this recipe in my big baking book and it was an apple bar. I changed the apple to pear and added my own twisted to it and came up with this one very sticky and sweet square. I say square because the portion would be smaller -- as it is quite sweet for a big piece to devour. However, if you love sweets -- have a bar. There is no rule on the size.

Dickens has brought it to share with his colleagues and I have shared it with my mom friends. The reviews were good. So, here is the recipe to share with you...

Pear Squares (makes 32 squares)

Preheat oven to 350 F

3 cups of peeled and sliced pears
2 tbsp of orange juice
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1/4 tsp of nutmeg
2 cups of quick cooking oats
1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup of melted unsalted butter
2 tbsp of sugar
1 1/2 cups of sliced almonds
1 cup of sweeten flaked coconut
1 can of sweetened condensed milk

1. In a bowl, combine pears, orange juice, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix well and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, stir graham cracker crumbs, oats, sugar and melted butter until well blended. Then press firmly in a baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper.

3. Drain the pear mixture and pour on top of crumbs. Then sprinkle almonds, then coconut on top of the pears. Pour condensed milk evenly over top.

4. Bake in preheated over for 30-35 minutes or until light brown. Let it cool completely before cutting into squares.

Steamed BBQ Pork Buns

I used to buy the pre-mixed blend flour to make steamed "cha siu bao" but when the price of the little bag of flour went from $0.99 to $1.29, I decided to try to make that dough from scratch myself.

Cha Siu Bao (Steamed BBQ Pork Buns)

1 tbsp active yeast
1 cup of warm water
2 cups of flour
3 tsp of sugar
1/2 tsp of baking soda

In a medium size bowl, add water and sprinkle in the yeast. Mix well. Let sit for 10 mins.

In second bowl, pour 1 1/2 cups of the flour, sugar and baking soda. Mix well.

Add the yeast liquid to the flour mixture and incorporate well. If the dough is too wet, add a little flour (from the remaining measurement) at a time. Until you have a dough that can kneaded. Knead for approximately 15 mins.

Larger bowl, add 1 tbsp of oil to coat the bowl, put the dough formed in a ball into the oiled bowl. Cover with saran wrap and towel. Allow to rise -- approx. 2 hours.

After 2 hours, rip dough into baseball size dough balls. Roll each piece on a floured surface and then fill with chopped BBQ pork pieces. Place wrapped side down on parchment paper. Repeat til filling is used up and no dough balls left.

Place in a steamer and steam for 20 minutes.

Pizza and Calzone Night PLUS Dessert!

thin crust personalized pizzas

calzones!!!

raspberry-mango pie mmmmmmmmmmm

Last night, I decided to try to make something we love to order on the weekends...pizza!!! And of course, you can just let your imagine go beyond that...calzone/pastie/pizza pocket! Toppings were going to be different, no doubt. I browned up some ground beef (real ground beef...not like the fake ground beef you get at real pizza shops. Did you know that the ground beef is really soy??) Anyways, I added some mexican seasoning to make the beef become taco filling...mmmmm...

Then whatever I had in the fridge...red peppers, mushrooms, cheese -- lots of that, and pasta sauce.

I let the girls make their own pizzas and said they were delicious. What is better than have the kids personalize their own dinner and enjoy eating it.

For dessert, Karen brought over a raspberry-mango pie from Wanda's Pie in the Sky pastry shop in Kensington Market. She warned us that it was rich...but I thought the tartness of the raspberry even it out. The crust was very buttery. Yum yum.

Pizza Dough --makes 8 good size pizzas

1 1/2 cup of warm water
2 tsp of active dry yeast
1 1/2 tbsp of honey
2 tsp salt
3 cups of flour
1 1/2 tsp of olive oil

Put water in large bowl and sprinkle yeast. Whisk in honey until blended or dissolved. You can leave the yeast to bubble -- takes approx 10 mins. But since I can never predict when a baby will give me quiet time, I added the salt and flour right away. Mix in the flour gradually until it forms a dry dough, then you have to get your hands into it to knead it. Knead for 5 mins. Then form into a ball and pour in the olive oil. I flipped the dough in the bowl so that the olive oil coats top and bottom of the dough.

Then cover it with plastic wrap and let rise for 2 hours, which it will double in size.

Then punch it, and cover again to rise for another hour -- this step is not necessary.

Preheat oven to 450 F

Cut up the dough into small palm size balls -- slightly smaller than a baseball. The flour your table or rolling surface and roll out to thin or thick for your crust. For calzone, roll out and add toppings to the top half of the circle and then brush with egg on the edges. Fold bottom to the top to make a crescent shape. Seal edges by pressing the edges with a fork. Brush the tops with egg for a nice brown crust.

Pizzas will take around 12-15 mins while the calzones take 20-25 minutes.

One pan dinner - Spanish Rice

You may have noticed that most of my recipes have been on the sweet side. But don't worry, I tested a spanish rice dish that I can share. I would not call it paella because the recipe does not use saffron. The taste is light and excellent for those hot days. The red colour is from tomato sauce. The chicken is my twist to the dish.

Spanish Rice with Chicken - serves 4 plus lunches for the next day. Now, that's a real bang for your buck!

4 chicken legs, skin off and cut into 3 pieces
Pinch of Salt and pepper

3 cups of rice
1 medium onion, diced
1 tbsp of chili powder
3 tbsp of olive oil
1/2 can of 796ml tomato sauce
1/3 water
1/2 cup of chopped scallions -- green onion
salt and pepper to taste

Wash and cook rice and set aside -- you can do this the day before.

In a skillet, brown chicken until cooked. Remove chicken from pan. Pour out excess oil and sautee the diced onion until transparent and brown.
Add the cooked rice and stir constantly. Add chili powder to the rice and stir. Add olive oil and stir thoroughly.
Combine water and tomato sauce and stir into the rice. It will look like wet risotto. But keep stirring to prevent sticking. Cook for 20 mins. Then add the scallions, and add salt/pepper to taste.
Return chicken to the pan and cover for another 20 mins. Lower heat to a gentle simmer. This will further cook and heat the entire dish and evaporate some of the liquid to make the rice less wet.

You can serve in the pan or plate it with rice, chicken and a side salad. You can also add some tiger shrimp as well.

My total cooking time was 1 hour. Not your 30 minute meal kind of dish but just as good and healthy.

Glutinous Rice Balls with Red Bean Paste

Whenever mom or dad goes to the chinese bakery for some bread, they would also pick up a few glutinous rice balls -- the "no mai chee". Just thinking about the chewy texture when you bite into it and the peanut and sugar filling falling off he sides of your mouth. And don't forget the coconut flakes. Makes my mouth water...oops.

As I searched through the internet, I found a recipe that used red bean paste instead of the peanut/sugar filling. I know Dickens enjoys the red bean dessert (hung dao sa), so, I decided to give a try.

Glutinous Rice Balls with Red Bean Paste Centre

Rice ball layer

• 1 1/4 cup of glutinous rice flour
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 3/4 cup of milk (or coconut milk -- this would probably make it taste better)
• shredded sweetened coconut for rolling rice ball

Red Bean Paste

• 1/2 red beans (washed and soaked for 3 hours)
• 1 1/2 cup of water
• rock sugar to taste -- you should taste for your preferred sweetness

Method
To make the rice ball layer, mix well rice flour, sugar and milk. You will make a wet paste like dough. Using a flat plate (makes the steaming time shorter), brush some vegetable oil unto the plate to prevent the dough from sticking when it is done. Pour batter into the plate. And steam for about 30 minutes. To check if it done, use chopsticks and poke the dough, if the dough does not stick to the chopstick then it has fully cooked thru. Test a few areas to make sure.

Set aside and let cool before using.

Red Bean paste
Boil the red beans until soft and grainy/sand like in the water. This means that the red bean has broken up and the bean has incorporated much into the water. Then add the rock sugar. Boil until the sugar has dissolved completely and let cool. Water should have reduced enough to form a thick porridge consistency. Cooking time should about 1 hour. But only use as a rough guideline. Time can vary depending if you soaked the beans. I didn't so, the cooking time was 1.5 hours to soften and for beans to break.

Set aside and let cool before using.

Rice dough preparation
Roll the dough into a long roll then rip into 12 equal pieces. Then roll one into your hand into a ball then using your thumb to start making a round disk by pinching the middle and working your way outwards. Dough should resemble a flat circle. Place the red bean past in the centre and then fold the sides up to enclose the filling. Final shape should be a ball. Roll the ball into the coconut flakes and then place in paper muffin cups.

For a new twist to this chinese dessert, use cookie cutter shapes. After the ball has rolled in the coconut flakes, press the ball into the cookie cutter (I like the heart) and you get heart shape glutinous rice dessert.

Guarantee to sweet anyone's heart.

Refreshing "Ice"Tea

The forecast called for high temps for today. I decided to make a popular Singapore treat that quenches the thirst and have tons of health benefits for you. It is a Chrysanthemum Tea Slushie. Ok, maybe not that popular in slushie form. I was intending on making the flower tea into jello but my ratio of tea to gelatin was way off. The jello never set after being in the fridge over night. So, I used my head -- which sometimes works, and put it in the freezer. Every hour, I would use a fork to scrape the ice and the eventually, I got my chrysanthemum tea ice.

Chrysanthemum ICED Tea

1.5 L of water
handful of dried chrysanthemum flowers (rinsed)
1 piece of rock sugar the size of half your palm -- but you can adjust the sweetness to your preference
1 tbsp of honey

1. Bring water to a boil
2. Add flowers and bring to a boil
3. Steep for 1 hour.
4. Use a strainer and pour tea into another container -- square cake pans would work
5. Let cool completely before putting in freezer.
6. After freezing for 1.5 hour, use a fork and scrape. Put it back in the freezer. Repeat every hour until all liquid has become ice.
7. Scoop and serve.

DIM SUM Lesson 1 - the Siu Mai

Last night, I decided to make dinner a little more extraordinary. DIM SUM. What? Dim sum is usually a morning or brunch thing but for dinner? Of course, this extends the meaning of ALL DAY BREAKFAST we are all accustom to. So why not with dim sum?

My menu:

Pork and Shrimp Siu Mai*
Glutinous rice with lap cheong, shiitake mushrooms and chinese parsley
Vegetable Chow Mein noodles

*see recipe and photo

Once again, I found the siu mai recipe online but I had to modify it because I knew what taste and texture I was looking for in a siu mai. The seasoning can be adjusted if you like a more robust flavour otherwise, the current measurements give an adequate taste for your tastebuds.

TIP - to make meat softer to the bite, add some water to the meat and mix well. It should be close to a paste than pieces of ground meat.

Pork and Shrimp Siu Mai (Shao Mai)
Makes 25 pieces
1/2 package wonton wrappers, round**
1/2 pound ground pork
1/2 pound shrimp, deveined and finely chopped
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 egg, beaten, for egg wash
1/3 cup of water

Garnish: Orange roe or 1 small quarter of a carrot, minced or some green peas
**If all you have on hand is square wonton wrappers, stack about 10 together at a time, place a round cookie cutter or drinking glass on top as a guide, and slice into square with a small knife.
In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the pork, shrimp, soy sauce, ginger, sesame oil, salt, pepper and water. Spoon a heaping teaspoon into the center of a wonton wrapper. Lightly brush the sides of the wrapper with egg wash. Squeeze the sides up until the wrapper forms a cup, tucking in the sides and leaving the filling exposed on top. Repeat with the rest of the wrappers. Garnish with orange roe/chopped carrots or 2 peas.
Line a large bamboo steamer with parchment paper. Fit steamer in a wok and fill water until 1/2-inch below bottom of the steamer. Steam for 12 to 15 minutes, until filling is firm to the touch. Serve hot. Optional condiments: soy sauce, chili sauce, chili oil.
For better texture, use a fattier type of ground pork.

Welcome to my New Blog

Welcome..welcome to my newly created blog just for those who enjoy reading about food and recipes. I have named this blog as Cooking Adventures - DIM (which stands for Do-It-Myself) because I wanted a blog dedicated to what I love to write and do -- trying new recipes or sharing a tastey experience.

If only Blogs can incorporate a "smell" button then you will not only see my success and failures but also give your nose a sniffing addiction or NOT. However, I will try to keep this as a joyful experience as much as I can.