First lunch of 2009… Portugese Chicken:

Portugese Chicken with white wine, served with spaghetti

Pretty good… should try this again sometime soon.

Here are the steps to make Portugese Chicken:

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken legs
• 2 tablespoon butter
• 8 cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 shallots, diced
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
• 1 teaspoon pepper (or to taste)
• 1 cup milk/light cream
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock (or as needed)
• 1 cup white wine

All the ingredients

Melt butter in a skillet. Add chicken and cook until nicely brown on both sides

Transfer to a pot. Add chicken stock, wine, garlic and onions. Use enough stock so the chicken is two thirds covered by liquid. Sprinkle flour on top

Simmer for 40-45 mins until chicken is cooked. Then remove the chicken and continue boiling the liquid until reduced to 1.5 cups

Whisk milk or light cream into the liquid, breaking up the garlic cloves as much as you can. Return chicken to the liquid and heat through

Perfect with spaghetti and a side of blanched broccoli

Not a bad start to 2009

And here it is, brightly lit up on the big day:

Celebrating 63 years

It was also my godfather’s birthday one week after my dad’s, so we had a double celebration.

The two birthday boys...

My two godkids anxiously waiting for the first slice

What it looked like on the inside:

Nothing says Happy Birthday like a layered cake

A perfect slice of dark moist chocolate cake with rich chocolate topping, extremely good if I could say so myself

Sinfully rich

Happy Birthday again!

One week earlier, I started off with the traditional Christmas sweet, the Old Fashioned Gingerbread. Brought this to office and it was gone within 15 minutes.

Old Fashioned Gingerbread. Dusted with icing sugar

Encouraged by the response, Santa’s little elf got busy over the weekend, and a little ambitious too. Made an assortment of Christmas goodies, starting off easy with the Cinnamon Sugar Biscotti.

Looking delectable in a colorful mug

Then the sugar cookies, shaped like Christmas trees and decorated with sugar glaze. Spent quite some time decorating these, but I think it’s not bad for a first time.

Nothing like Christmas trees to get you in the festive mood

Plenty people thought these at least were store bought, so I guess I did a pretty good job. Steve said these in particular looked very professional, while Shuh Jiuan said it looked “commercialized” (I think I’ll take that as a compliment too).

And finally, the highlight of the season, Gingerbread Men. Baked a whole army of these, and went wild decorating them now that I had discovered sugar icing.

Personalized gingerbread men for everyone. Note the earring on Dhinesh's gingerbread man, the orange hair on Shen Shen's, and the glasses+goatee on Bala's

All lined up for the camera

Attack of the Gingerclones

Fallen soldier...

A personalized gift set

All packed and ready to go. Ain't that a pretty sight?

Everyone’s asking if I plan on starting a business. So I guess that means I did a pretty good job making these But I still consider this a hobby. Still, Steve thought it was only appropriate that he be the first to come up with a logo for my potential future business:

It’s actually a pretty good logo. Simple yet elegant… I like Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to us all!

Friday night was an eating fest. The initial plan to hop around all the hawker stalls was dampened by the pouring rain (the rain clouds followed them all the way from Ipoh). So we went for a Bulgarian dinner at Vintage Bulgaria first. I finally brought my new baby on its maiden trip out, only to have it hogged by Sam.

Sam getting cosy with the Nikon D40

As luck would have had it, it was also Sam’s birthday.

Happy Birthday Sam!!! Hope you like your Tiramisu "doorgift"

The rain finally stopped after dinner, allowing us to venture outdoors. So we adjourned to…

The sign speaks for itself

where this uncle dishes up...

arguably one of the best char kuay teow in this part of town

Followed by a 3rd dinner at New Lane where we somehow managed to stuff down…

Sam's BBQ Chicken Wings

Duck porridge... to make up for Sam's fried entrails porridge having been sold out

O Chien

Penang Style Popiah

Loh Bak

Not forgetting dessert:

New Lane's famous See Koh Th'ng

Pat Po Guling Ping, only found in Penang... note Kelvin's apprehension

The aftermath…

Still can't believe we finished it all

We ended the night with a few drinks at QEII to celebrate Sam’s birthday.

First toast goes out to Daniel, who's still chilling out in Austin

Quotes to remember the day by:

1) This body doesn’t come for free…

2) Left… right!!! Right… (These errors were greatly reduced after a couple of drinks though… I guess now I know what kickstarts my brain)

Started off with my tried and tested Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin recipe. These are good for just about anything… from muffins…

can't go wrong there

to pancakes…

this was so good just by itself...

this is hands down my favorite all-versatile recipe yet

Recipe for the Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin is here:

Also went on to make:

Apple Banana Muffins

and…

Banana Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

and…

Fruit and Nut Muffins

Ok, so admittedly the Fruit and Nut muffin does not contain bananas in it, but it was still delicious. This is the first muffin recipe I’ve made that contains more fruits than flour. A very wholesome treat

And if you’re interested in the recipes:

Here are the recipes for the Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin and the Fruit and Nut Muffin. I’m not posting the recipes for the other two until I have tweaked them to perfection.

Banana Choc Chip Muffin 

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips

All you'll ever need for this

Mash the 3 bananas, makes roughly 1 cup

Beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter

In another bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Pour banana mixture into flour mixture

Throw in chocolate chips

Stir in until just moistened

Spoon the mixture into prepared muffin cups, bake for 20-30 minutes, and we have our banana chocolate chip muffins

Muffins ready

• 2 cups diced peeled apples
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cups raisins
• 3/4 cups chopped walnuts
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp salt

Combine apples, sugar, raisins and walnuts. Set aside

In another bowl, beat eggs, oil and vanilla. Stir into the apple mixture

Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Carefully fold into apple mixture. Be careful not to overmix

Fill muffin cups until almost to the top

Bake in preheated oven at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes or until muffins test done

Why chocolate banana cake? Well, Shen Shen hates fruits (apparently banana doesn’t count) so that narrows down the choice by quite a bit. And she’s already an expert at cheesecakes, so let’s not even bother going there. Besides, I baked banana chocolate chip muffin a couple of weeks back and both Shen Shen and Tat Hui loved it, so it was a safe choice. But obviously turning the muffin into a big cake would be too easy. So instead of using chocolate chips, I decided to go with melted chocolate topping instead. Then while Googling a chocolate topping recipe, I also came across this scrumptious recipe for caramelized bananas, and thought it would be a cool idea to layer the cake with that too (yes, the cake was getting more complicated by the second).

So I finally settled on the idea of making a banana cake, layered with caramelized bananas, and topped with melted chocolate. Spent Saturday night baking the cakes, and put them together on Sunday before her birthday dinner. And below is the process of putting the birthday cake together:

The 3 banana cakes, baked the night before

Slice off the tops to get 3 flat layers

Pop the sliced bananas, brown sugar and cubed butter in the oven for 30 minutes

30 minutes later... golden caramelized bananas... the smell so was incredible, they almost didn't make it to the cake

Melt chocolate with condense milk

Spread the chocolate on the first layer

Arrange banana slices on top

Repeat process with second layer

Reminds you of a big mac doesn’t it?

Coat the side and top with more chocolate

For the decoration, pipe melted white chocolate before the dark chocolate sets

Streak it, and we’re done. Chocolate Banana Cake is ready!

And what did I do with all that leftover cake top, melted chocolate and bananas? Why, make another small version of the birthday cake.

Waste not, want not. Chocolate Banana Foldover anyone?

At least I got to try my hand at more decorating. And to be honest, the second cake I put together from the leftovers was actually nicer than the original birthday cake. The real deal turned out too chocolatey (duh, should have seen that coming, triple layers and all) while the small one was just right.

Happy Birthday again Shen Shen. Hope you liked eating the cake as much as I enjoyed baking it

And here is the recipe:

Banana cake (adapted from a banana muffin recipe)

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup butter, melted

1. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. 
2. In another bowl, beat together the bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter
3. Stir banana mixture into the flour mixture until just moistened.
4. Bake in preheated oven at 350C for 20-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean

Caramelized Bananas

• 6 bananas
• 2 tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces
• 5 tbsp brown sugar

1. Slice bananas and place into a baking dish
2. Sprinkle butter pieces and brown sugar on top
3. Bake for 30 minutes or so until bubbling, golden and dry

Melted Chocolate Topping

• 250gm unsweetened cooking chocolate
• 250ml sweetened condensed milk
• 1 pinch salt
• 2 tbsp water
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, melt the chocolate with sweetened condensed mlik and salt.
2. Stir until it thickens for about 10 minutes.
3. Remove from heat, stir in water and vanilla.

Scrambled eggs

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp butter
• 1 tbsp milk
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 pinch black pepper

1. Whisk together the eggs, milk, salt and pepper until it looks slightly fluffy.
2. Melt butter in a large pan over medium heat. Stir in eggs and continue stirring until just cooked and fluffy. Dish up

Here it is, my first ever scrambled eggs with coffee, toast, and a banana chocolate chip muffin (freshly baked the night before, will put up the recipe for that next time). And they say, eat breakast like a king…

No better way to start the day than a wholesome hearty breakfast

Ahh… that surely hit the spot. Should definitely do this more often on weekends.

• 2 cups Australian dhall (soaked overnight)
• 6 cloves garlic, halved
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 carrot
• 1 potato
• 2 tomatoes
• 10 stalks french beans
• 1/2 small cabbage
• 2 tsp mixed spice
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 green chili, sliced
• 1 tbsp curry powder

Boil dhall with garlic and salt until dhall is soft

Add carrots and potatoes, continue boiling until soft

Throw in tomatoes and french beans

Add cabbage and curry powder

Saute mixed spices, curry leaves, onions and chili until fragrant. Add to pot and continue boiling

Sambar is ready. Add more salt to taste if necessary

And here it is, sambar with rice and mutton (which I did not cook so no recipe for that one).

Lunch is served

A very satisfying lunch, but still not exactly what I was looking for. I would have preferred the sambar to be much thicker like what I had for Deepavali, more like the thick dalcha consistency that you get when eating roti canai in mamak stores. Either I need more potatoes or more dhall, or I just need to boil the dhall/potatoes for longer until they’ve mushed up before I throw in the other vegetables. Will leave that for the next experiment.

Ingredients:

• 400gm Self Raising Flour
• 150gm butter
• 250gm raisins (or any other dried fruit)
• 200gm castor sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup or 60ml milk

The basic ingredients

Steps as below:

Fold in butter and flour

Stir in castor sugar and raisins

Add eggs and stir in

Stir in milk until it reaches a soggy consistency as above

Spoon the mixture into heaps on baking tray. Makes 2 trays

Preheat oven to 160C, and bake for 25-30 minutes.

 

Up close and personal… can almost smell it again...

 

Irresistably good. But we still found it too buttery even after reducing the amount of butter from the original recipe. Turned out more of a cookie crumbly consistency rather than a hard rock bun we were aiming for. So this post should probably be renamed to raisin cookies rather than rock bun. Perhaps will try this recipe again with only 100gm butter the next time round.

1. Mix 1 cup warm water and 1 packet yeast in a mixing bowl.

2. Add the below to the mix:

• 3 bananas, mashed
• 1 cup flour, sifted
• 1/3 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 egg

3. Leave to rise for 3 hours. Then add the below:

• 4 bananas, mashed
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 cups flour, sifted

4. Pour the mixture out onto a kneading board. Knead ~45 minutes. Continuously add more sifted flour to the dough until it can be picked up from the board with ease. Then leave to rise for 20 minutes.

5. Take another 6-7 bananas, split each into 3 strips lengthwise.

6. Divide the dough into 16 even portions. Then shape each portion as below:

Flatten dough out and arrange 2 strips of banana on it

Fold the sides over to envelope the bananas

Voila! Shaped dough

Arrange on a baking tray, and place a small piece of banana in the centre

7. Leave to rise for another 20 minutes. Apart from the stuffed buns, we also made some plain ones with walnuts and raisins

Dad got cheeky with this one...

8. Preheat oven to 200C. Bake for 50-60 minutes.

And here it is, fresh out of the oven. The bananas have this golden caramelized glow to it. The smell of freshly baked banana bread was incredible as well

Hot out of the oven

Bursting with bananas

It sure is nostalgic to bake (and eat) them all over again. I brought some up to Penang for my friends to try. Dhinesh and Satchi thought it was store bought, so I guess it must have looked pretty professional I have to try this again sometime in Penang.