Sunday breakfast - Banana Bread

Woke up at 6am this morning. Forgot to turn off the alarm.

Saw some banana in the kitchen, got an idea, fired up the computer and get into my favorite website, JoyofBaking by Stephanie Jaworski.

She got a fantastic banana bread recipe which I tried at least 3 times, all came out good. Only one advice, let the bread cool first before take out from the pan. I got inpatient once and the bread broke into multiple pieces.

Here is the recipe, thanks to JoyofBaking.

Recipe:

1 cup (115 grams) walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped (optional)

1 3/4 cups (245 grams) all-purpose flour

3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar

1 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

3 ripe large bananas (approximately 1 pound or 454 grams), mashed well (about 1-1/2 cups)

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Steps

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place oven rack to middle position. Butter and flour (or spray with a non stick vegetable/flour spray) the bottom and sides of a 9 x 5 x 3 inch (23 x 13 x 8 cm) loaf pan. Set aside.

Place the nuts on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly toasted. Let cool and then chop coarsely.

In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nuts. Set aside.

In a medium-sized bowl combine the mashed bananas, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla. With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, lightly fold the wet ingredients (banana mixture) into the dry ingredients just until combined and the batter is thick and chunky. Scrape batter into prepared pan and place the slices of banana on top of the batter for garnish. Bake until bread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 to 60 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool and then remove the bread from the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature. This bread can be frozen.

Makes 1 - 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf.

It is very very good. I am happy with the result.

Today's dinner - Slow cooked pork ribs with onion and carrot

Taking the blog post from Babe In the city on slow cook of pork ribs (here), I help my mom to make this (by providing the recipe) for dinner.

We were short of few ingredients, for example preserved beancurd, Worcestershire sauce and corn flour. We marinated the ribs with oyster sauce, sesame oil and pepper. Layered the onion at the bottom, carrot on the next layer and ribs on the very top.

Turn on the slow cooker on high till it starts to get hot and switched to medium and let it cook slowly for 3 hours, hence slow cooker.

Result, excellent, it will be nicer with some corn flour to make the sauce thicker.

Even Megan likes it.

Thanks BabeInTheCity for the recipe.

Gourmet Pizza Making Class

Attended a gourmet pizza making class, organized by TheCookingHouse in Sri Hartamas. Chef Enzo Dente teach us how to make the dough, the source and different kind of topping, even include Calzone.

Chef Enzo is the owner of Italian Restaurant in SS2, Buonesera Restaurant, the authentic italian restaurant in town. He makes the most authentic tiramisu in Klang Valley.


Here it is, Chef Enzo in action. Manning the big ass oven behind him, running full blast at 300C the whole time. The table at the right bottom corner is my working station, sharing with a few ladies.


Spinach ricotta cheese calzone. It was very very good. This is one of the most perfect made Calzone in the whole class.

Except for a mild stomach ache I was suffering before, it was nice to spend couple of hours in the company of 19 ladies and plenty of italian food.

I am going to attend another Chef Enzo's class in May for pasta making.

Home made wholemeal bread

I have tried this several time, each with small variation. All of them came out nice, except one that I was too eager to remove it from the container, and broke the bread. I use a microwave oven with convection function.

Here is the recipe

Dry Ingredient
1.5 cup of bread flour
1.5 cup of whole meal flour
0.5 tea spoon of salt

Wet ingredient
1.25 cup of warm water
1 tea spoon of dry yeast
3 table spoon of melted unsalted butter
3 table spoon of honey

1. Put dry yeast in the warm water, leave it in warm place for 10 minutes
2. add in the butter and honey and stir well
3. add all dry ingredient in a large bowl
4. pour the wet ingredient into the dry ingredient bowl
5. use a wooden spoon to mix them
6. add more (one tea spoon at a time) bread flour while kneading the dough (about 15-20 minutes)
7. Put a glass of water in microwave oven and boil the water
8. put some oil (i used olive oil) on the dough, to prevent it to get dry
9. leave it in the microwave oven for 1 hour (use the oven's timer)
10. After 1 hour of first raise, the dough should raise to twice the size
11. punch out the air and knead for couple of minute and return to raise again for 30 minutes.
12. After 30 minutes of second raise, it should double the size as well
13. knead or use rolling pin to remove all air in the dough
14. put the dough in the buttered container and let it raise for another 30 minutes
15. preheat the oven for 190C
16. After 30 minutes of 3rd raise, be careful not to disturb the dough, put in the oven and bake for 40 minutes
17. leave the bread in oven for 10 minutes after the oven stop, and put on wire rack for 15 minutes for cooling

Hope you enjoy your bread. I am.

St. Patrick's day food

I know, i know, St Patrick's day is over.

But how can one refuse this hearty guinness lamb/beef stew?

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/meat-recipes/steak-guinness-and-cheese-pie-with-a-puf

I want to make this in the weekend.

Thanks Jamie for the inspiration.

Making oatmeal cookies

Got inspiration from smitten kitchen (http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/02/thick-chewy-oatmeal-raisin-cookies/) to make this cookies which I always love to eat, especially the thick and chewy version.

Yesterday made the 4th batch, this time with walnuts (1/4 cup, not enough, next time I will double it to 1/2 cup) and choc chips. It turn out nice, a little less chewy and more towards crispy.

1/2 cup (1 stick or 4 ounces) butter, softened
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt (I often use a half teaspoon, but I like more salt in my baked goods)
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together. Stir this into the butter/sugar mixture. Stir in the oats, raisins and walnuts, if using them.

At this point you can either chill the dough for a bit in the fridge and then scoop it, or scoop the cookies onto a sheet and then chill the whole tray before baking them. You could also bake them right away, if you're impatient, but I do find that they end up slighly less thick.

The cookies should be two inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake them for 10 to 12 minutes (your baking time will vary, depending on your oven and how cold the cookies were going in), taking them out when golden at the edges but still a little undercooked-looking on top. Let them sit on the hot baking sheet for five minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool.