in my studio | category

Nov
01
2011

moist banana cake with cream cheese icing

We love bananas! But, ever since the floods hit Queensland a couple of years back, we’ve stopped buying bananas. They were as high as $14.99 a kilo, yikes! However recently, prices started to drop to around $5-6 (at the market) and now we’re back to eating them again! But if you go to the local supermarket here, they’re still selling them for around $9.

For this cake, I used 4 really old and black bananas. I bought them for $3.99 a kilo at the market. Dad said ‘Wow, you must be rich!’ thinking that I had spent $10 a kilo just to make this cake! The secret to making a perfectly moist and yummy banana cake is to use extremely and I mean extreeeeemely ripe bananas to get the flavour, look and texture right. There was once when I used ordinary yellow bananas, it didn’t turn out quite as nice. So don’t be fooled by these pictures that have a yellow banana in the background, it has to be black and mushy, ok?

Apart from celebrating the drop in banana prices, this cake was served exclusively upon the arrival of my aunt and uncle who came down to visit us from Malaysia. This is for you Uncle Dil and Aunty Nola, love you heaps!

RECIPE FOR MOIST BANANA CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE ICING
Adapted from Exclusively Food, with slight changes

Serves: 12
Prep time: 15mins
Cook time: 1 hour

Ingredients

For cake:
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
140g butter, softened
200g brown sugar
130g caster sugar
350g mashed ripe bananas ( 1.5 cups)
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
1/3 cup milk
2 large eggs
For cream cheese icing:
90g cream cheese, softened
45g butter, softened
210g (1 2/3 cups) icing sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice

Method for cake

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius fan-forced. If you don’t have a fan forced oven, preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

2. Grease the side and base of a 22cm diameter round cake pan. We use a springform pan for easy removal of the cake. Line base of the pan with non stick baking paper.

3. Place butter, sugar, banana, vanilla and eggs in a food processor.

4. Process for about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of processor. Add milk and pulse to combine.

5. Sift flour and bicarb soda together into a large bowl. Add flour mixture to food processor and process until just combined.

6. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for about 50-60 minutes, or until a skewer or knife inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.

7. Leave cake to cool on a wire rack.

8. Spread cooled cake with cream cheese icing.

Method for icing

Beat cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer until creamy. Add sifted icing sugar and beat until smooth. Add lemon juice and beat to combine. Spread icing over top and sides of cooled cake

120 lovely comments
Category: cake, desserts, halal, in my kitchen

Oct
28
2011

claypot chicken rice

I remember when I was 11, mum used to take my sis and I to Bangsar food court because they had the yummiest claypot chicken rice. Seriously sizzling. Seriously yum. This is a popular chinese dish served commonly at hawker stalls around Malaysia. The original claypot chicken rice is cooked with chinese sausage and dried salted fish. The version I made did not have both of these, but it still tasted just as good.

The secret about a good claypot chicken rice is getting the right amount of ginger and soy sauce. Of course the hero of this dish is the smokeyness that comes from cooking it in the claypot itself that you won’t get with any ordinary cooking pot. Claypot gives you that extra flavoursome crust you find at the bottom. Kinda like a paella crust. In which you leave the best for last. My sis and I used to fight for this. Get a spoon and just go crazy scooping and digging in. That for me my friends, completes my eating experience from this small humble claypot.

So after all the fun comes the ugly part. Washing up. Who likes scrubbing out burnt rice?

RECIPE FOR CLAYPOT CHICKEN RICE
Adapted from Malaysian favourites(cookbook), with slight changes

Serves: 2
Prep time: 15mins
Cook time: 30 mins

Ingredients

2 cups rice, soaked (I used basmati)
6 medium chinese mushrooms, sliced (or normal mushrooms)
1 boneless chicken thigh, cut into cubes
8 cloves garlic, finely diced
4 small shallots, finely diced
2inch old ginger, finely diced
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp light soy sauce
2.5 cups water (to cook rice)
1 cup chicken stock
handful of spring onions, sliced
salt and pepper to taste
3 tbsp oil

Method

1. Marinate the chicken and mushrooms together with all the sauces.

2. In a rice cooker, cook rice with water. Remove rice when cooked halfway.

3. In a claypot, heat up oil and sautee shallots, garlic and ginger until aromatic.

4. Add in chicken and mushroom pieces and cook for 7 minutes.

5. Add in chicken stock and half cooked rice to the mixture and combine well. Cover with claypot lid on a low – medium heat for 20 minutes.

6. Season with salt and pepper.

7. Garnish with spring onions and serve immediately.

8 lovely comments
Category: asian, chicken, halal, in my kitchen, rice

Oct
22
2011

30 minute chicken curry

Making a traditional and authentic chicken curry would simply mean staying in the kitchen for hours, pounding fresh ingredients and so forth. These days, you’ll easily find a lot of the supermarkets selling curry powder and curry paste. But I wouldn’t recommend buying curry powder from your local western supermarket though. Try to get them from any Asian grocery or even at your Indian grocer. There are many types but I only prefer one. Baba’s Meat Curry Powder, made in Malaysia.

When I first got married to my Lebanese husband, my mother in law made a pot of chicken curry (bought locally). The taste? Well, it didn’t come close to a curry. But then again, I can’t blame her. She’s not familiar with Asian cuisine so she and the rest of the family enjoyed it thoroughly. I just ate in silence. One day, I introduced my version of chicken curry using Baba’s and she fell in love. The look on her face was priceless, it was as though she had not tasted good chicken curry in her life.

There are many types of chicken curry; dry, wet, yellow, red, brown etc. The different variety of curries made by Malay, Indian, Chinese, Indo also slightly differ from one another. This curry here, I would say its a mix between Malay and Indian. Its so yummy and literally done in 30 minutes (if you use small cuts of chicken). I usually make a big pot so I have leftovers. Serve it with some rice, prata (roti) or yellow glutinous rice and there you go, a meal for the next 3 nights.

RECIPE FOR EASY MALAYSIAN CHICKEN CURRY

Serves: 3
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 30 mins

Ingredients

1/2 kilo chicken, cut into small pieces (with bones)
1 medium onion, finely sliced
1 cinnamon stick
2 cardamom pods
2 cloves
1 medium tomato, quartered (optional)
1/3 cup coconut milk
2-3 tbsp Baba’s curry powder (I like mine really hot so I use 5 tbsp)
2 cups water
1 tsp sugar
salt to taste
4 tbsp oil

Method

1. Heat oil and sautee onions in a medium size pot. Add all the spices and tomato and fry until fragrant for about 5 mins.

2. Add the curry powder, chicken and water and cook on a medium heat for 15 mins.

3. Pour in the coconut milk and stir until well combined.

4. Season well with sugar and salt then simmer for another 10 minutes or so.

5. Serve with rice or pratha(roti/bread).

Click ‘Read More’ below to print the recipe and leave a comment.

8 lovely comments
Category: chicken, halal, in my kitchen

Oct
17
2011

food review // old town kopitiam mamak

Wherever you go in life, it always ends up bringing you back home. Although, not literally (in this context). For me, having my quick fix of fresh and spicy Malaysian street food is what I love most.

Quoted from their website, “Old Town Kopitiam Mamak is the most authentic Malaysian restaurant…” and I agree, but just add ‘in Melbourne’ at the end! Mamak simply means Tamil Muslims and if you ever go to Malaysia, be sure to experience the street food culture (note: I don’t take responsibility if you get an upset tummy, mine surely can handle it!). Kopitiam on the other hand, refers to Malaysian Chinese coffee shops. So together combined, makes it a wonderful place just like home.

After all, that’s what Malaysia is all about. Food + Culture = A Glorious Eating Nation!

Pictured above is a mamak flipping a roti canai. Ahh, now I am reminded of how good and flaky this bread is. I’m giving it a 9/10.

The best mee goreng is, mee goreng mamak style. Its so flavoursome and smokey. 9/10 from us.

Curry Laksa. I get this every single time. Did I not mention I’m a laksa fan? This could easily pass for a 10, but presentation wise…hm…I’ll settle for a 9.5 instead. But do try out my version, here. Its as close as you can get to the one in Kopitiam. I promise.

If you’re familiar with Malaysian cuisine, you can never fail to order a bunch of satay sticks. This was our entrée, ‘chicken and beef satay’ with peanut sauce. Although I have to admit it isn’t as good as the ones back home, but hey, probably the best in Melbourne. 8/10.

I’ve been dining here over the last few years, countless amount of times and have not once been dissapointed. Just recently, they expanded their menu with a wide variety of mamak meals and drinks. Couldn’t be happier. The prices are pretty reasonable too, averaging from $9-$14.

We eat here one too many times, that my husband and I have a secret code for it. We call it ‘KP’. Give them a try the next time you’re in town.