Steamed Banana Cupcakes

I have two bananas in the freezer waiting for me to use it and then I came across this recipe while browsing through tastespotting.com. Hers looked really good, so soft and fluffy that I just need to give this a try. What can I say, this steamed banana cupcake is truly delicious! It's just like what she said, sooooooo good!



I added 1/4 tsp. banana essence into mine as American banana is not as fragrant as the one sold in Malaysia. We finished the rest of the banana cupcakes the next day and they were still soft and fluffy. Really good and you all should try it.

My Adapted recipe below:

Ingredients:

(A)

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

(B)

1 1/8 cup self raising flour

1/8 tsp. baking soda

(C)

2 bananas, mashed

1/4 tsp. banana essence

(D)

1/4 cup + 1/8 cup canola oil ( or vegetable oil)

Method:

1. Sieve B in a bowl, set aside.

2. Beat A until thick, fluffy and foamy.

3. Add C into A mixture. Stir in B alternatively with D. Scoop into a paper lined silicon cupcakes until 3/4 full.

4. Steam in a steamer for 15 minutes.

Cilantro Pesto Spaghetti

Clear my fridge time! I need to clear my cilantro which I bought two weeks ago. The best way I know how is to make pesto out of it. I have been making cilantro pesto instead of basil pesto for years. Reason is very simple, I always buy cilantro and hardly ever buy basil. My cilantro pesto consisted of cilantro, garlic, walnut, olive oil and season to taste with salt, black pepper and sugar. We love it!

I stir-fried some sliced fresh button mushroom in olive oil until soften. Added carrots and the leftover chicken breast meats from KFC and stir in the spaghetti and toasted well with my pesto and dinner was ready.

Miso Sesame Seeds Baked Fish

I love quick and easy to prepare dish. Anything to cut down my preparation and cooking time is my best friend. And once I learned that I could use my oven to bake or steam fish, it was like striking gold to me. Because finally I found the healthier, quick and easy alternative.

I love to experiment with different toppings for my bake fish. After I read from Daphne and EMWK blogs that they used Miso in their baked fish, I was really interested to try it out (still waiting for them to post their version though! ;o)). My first attempt was a failure because I underestimated how salty Miso paste was and we ended out scraping all the Miso paste away before we ate the fish. The above picture was my successful second attempt. :o) Here sharing with you my recipe so that you won't make the same mistake I made earlier, especially for those who never try it before.

Ingredients:

3 Tilapia fish fillets

1 Tbsp. Miso paste

1 Tbsp. hot/warm water

1 tsp. sesame oil

Sprinkle of black and white sesame seeds

Canola oil spray

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 450'F.

2. Cover your baking pan with foil and place the fish fillets on top.

3. In a bowl, soften the miso paste with warm water by stirring with a spoon. Add sesame oil and mix well. Take some of this paste and spread all over the top of each of the fish fillets. Then, sprinkle the top of the fish fillets with black and white sesame seeds. Lastly, spray the fish fillets with some canola oil.

4. Place in the oven uncovered and bake for 10 mins. Serve hot.

NOTE: If you use other thicker fish fillets, remember to adjust the baking time.

Gula Melaka Panna Cotta

Panna Cotta is an Italian dessert literary means "cooked cream". The mixture of milk, cream, sugar and gelatin made this dessert. V at EMWK first introduced me to this dessert and I totally loved it. She made her blueberries version. YUM!

When I saw this recipe posted by Yani, I just had to try it. I love Gula Melaka (palm sugar from Malaysia) and I could really taste how incredible this dessert will be in my mind. So, with the leftover heavy cream that I had, I started to make this easy dessert.

This is really divine but I found it to be on the creamy side. So, I would add 1 cup of milk as opposed to 1/2 cup of milk as she suggested next time. I put mine in the refrigerator to set (about 3 hours) instead of in the freezer for one hour. Sinful and delicious! My hubby and both my girls loved it too!

Asparagus Cooked in Two Ways

I think it's Asparagus Season here as it's on sales right and left at the grocery stores. So, I grabbed some. I always bought vegetable and fruit that were on sales for that week. And each week I would have something different. I prepared some marinated chicken breast slices, some carrots and chopped garlic and I was ready to cook dinner.


Cooked in spicy black bean sauce. This is for the parents of course.


Cooked in oyster sauce and added an egg. This is for the kids. Didn't plan to add an egg but I added too much oil, so why not? And it turned out so delicious and went so well with everything. So, sharing the recipe here with you.

Ingredient:

Asparagus, half bundle, about 2 cups, cut like the above
Sliced 1/2 chicken breast (marinated with soy sauce, sweet soy sauce & cornstarch)
1 small carrot, sliced
1 large egg
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Canola oil
Oyster sauce, about 2 Tbsp.

Method:

1. Heat wok with oil. When hot, add in the garlic, fry til slightly golden, add chicken slices. Stir-fry til the chicken is cooked. Add asparagus and carrot. Fry til the asparagus is almost cooked.

2. Season with oyster sauce, mix well. Break in an egg, break the yolk and spread around the veggie. Fry til the egg is cooked. Serve hot.

Strawberry Chiffon Cake - Part 2

Simple decoration as Evy requested, strawberry and sprinkles. My strawberry chiffon cake recipe can be viewed here.


Yummilicious!! Oh yeah, I didn't do a party for her this year, just made her a cake and took her out for lunch at her favorite locale.

You all really need to try this cake, it turned out to be so delectable, my hubby just couldn't stop at a slice! This is also the only cake thus far that he ate till the last slice. Next time I would make three layers so that I could have more strawberries bites. Simply YUMMY!! The chiffon cake is soft and light and the whipped cream is a perfect match with strawberry, I just love this cake! Can you tell how I adore this cake? :P

My Whipped Cream Frosting Recipe:
1 1/2 cup whipped cream
1/4 cup icing sugar
~Beat until soft peak is formed.

For middle layering:
Take some of the whipped cream and mixed in with some chopped strawberries.

Note:
The amount of whipped cream just enough to cover the cake, not enough for fancy decoration on top of the cake. You need to use 2 cups of whipped cream for extra decoration.

Check out my other Strawberry Chiffon Cake recipe.

Strawberry Chiffon Cake

What a mommy does when her daughter requested a strawberry cake as her birthday cake? Luckily she didn't ask for a Dora cake. :P I know I want either a sponge or chiffon cake as a base instead of butter cake. So, I picked chiffon cake to experiment since I haven't made any chiffon cake for ages. I actually did a lot of "bo bo" when making this chiffon cake. When blending in the egg whites with the yolk batter, I realized that the color was not red. So I added some red coloring while blending in the egg whites mixture. Really scary! And when I done mixing and started pouring into a pan, I realized I got the wrong pan. I was pouring the batter into a bundt pan instead of a tube pan. So, I had to take out my tube pan and pour the one from the bundt pan into the tube pan and added in the rest of the batter. I was actually praying that my chiffon cake won't fail me at this point because I was certain I was kinda messed out.
Luckily after so many scary moments, my chiffon cake was a success! I cut the cake into half to add in the filling later. This cake actually turned out so yummy! :) Stay tuned for part 2 for the complete assembly. ;)





My Strawberry Chiffon Cake Recipe (I adapted from my Pandan Chiffon Cake):
(A)
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sugar

(B)
1/2 cup canola oil
6 egg yolks
3/4 cup strawberries puree (Use a blender and puree 5-6 strawberries in 1 cup of water and sieved)
1 tsp. imitation strawberry extract
Few drops of red coloring

(C)
6 egg whites
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
3/4 cup sugar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350'F.

2. Sift (A) in a big bowl. Stir to mix. Add (B) and use an electric mixer to mix until incorporated, set aside.

3. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar in another bowl until soft peak, then gradually add in the sugar. Beat until stiff peak is formed. Fold 1/3 of the white mixture into the yolk batter gently but thoroughly. Then, add 1/3 of the whites and do the same until all the whites is used.

4. Pour batter into a tube pan, give it a knock on the table. Bake for 50-60 mins or until a tooth pick inserted come out clean. Invert the pan and let the cake cool inside the pan. When cooled, loosen the edges and remove the cake to cool completely on a wire rack.

Check out my other Strawberry Chiffon Cake with Marshmallow.