Banana Bread

Hub was requesting for me try baking banana bread. So i roughly googled and found this recipe. Decided to go with this recipe as I am sold by how delicious and soft the banana bread looks!

First time trying and I was a bit nervous. First my bananas was short, only managed to mash 200g of bananas. Top up with some milk to 250g and mash them up. Keeping fingers crossed it will dry up the bread. Heee..

Took a while to bake as it was a last min decision. Surprisingly looks good and smell so nice! Couldnt help it and cut a small piece once I took out from the oven and get hub to taste test! Hurray! Passed!! He says its yummy! 

Simple, easy and no mixer required! Do try it at home!!

Banana bread (adapted and modified from butternutbakeryblog)
380g banana
180g plain flour
1/2tsp baking soda
1/4tsp salt
130ml sour cream
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla essence
110g butter
150g brown sugar

1) Melt butter and whisk with sugar til paste like
2) Add in eggs, vanilla and sour cream and mix well
3) Mix in mashed bananas
4) Fold in flour til no streaks of flour can be seen
5) Bake at 170deg for 40-60mins or til skewer comes out clean

Creamcheese Sponge Cake

Lately exploring spongecake as it has been a norm for the youngest to ask for cake. Try my best to bake 1 as soon as he finished them. Remembering my creamcheese in the fridge, I decided to make use of it. Ordered a huge slab and need to find ways to finish them up before it spoils. 

Didnt take much pics as was rushing thru today with breakfast, lunch and dinner prep among all the chores that need to be done. Managed to squeeze in this bake just before I had my breakfast. Texturewise, its GOOD! Tastewise I think can be improved. I would consider adding some vanilla and lemon juice for some zest. Shall try that soon and update on the result.

Favourite way to keep is store them in airtight box, cut readily in bitesized! Youngest gave thumbs up and keep coming back to ‘queue’ for more! Even big kids too. Bet I need to explore my modifications soon! 

Creamcheese Spongecake (adapted from JeannieTay)

100g creamcheese

100g milk

40g butter

2 yolks

40g sugar (will increase to 50g next round)

80g plain flour

4 whites

30g sugar

**Will add 1tsp of lemon juice and homemade vanilla extract next bake*

1) Double boil butter, creamcheese and milk til smooth

2) Once mixture is cooled, add yolks then flour

3) Beat meringue into stiff soft peaks

4) Add meringue to batter in 3 additions

5) Steam bake 150deg for 80-90mins

Butter Sponge Cake

Today I decided to bake a butter sponge as past few days i always have a box of banana cake on the table for the littlest to snack on. Yesterday we finished and I didnt baked anything. He was asking for more cake. So I decided to bake something more original and not those heaty chocolatey pastries. Went back to my bookmarks, I decided to bake this Butter Sponge! 

Recipe calls for steam bake and also to melt butter over stove top and mix in flour. Reminds me of the cooked-flour method for chiffon. I felt that the cake is soft, moist and spongy. And the mild vanilla flavour is so yummy! 

Cut them into bitesize and store in airtight. Its gonna last for another 2 days maximum before its all gone! Should try baking this at home for tea break! It goes so well with a cup of coffee or tea! For now, I will keep this recipe and maybe explore changing the flavour soon! ❤️

Butter Sponge Cake (recipe from JeannieTay Blog)
60g Butter
80g Flour
1/2tsp Baking powder
4Yolks
60g Milk
1tsp Vanilla

4 Whites
75g sugar

1) Melt butter over stove and mix in 2/3 of flour til smooth
2) Add in milk and vanilla and stir them well
3) Mix in yolks til smooth and remaining flour
4) Beat whites n sugar til soft stiff peak
5) Fold in 1/3 meringue to butter mixture
6) Pour mixture into remaining meringue and fold in gently til no streaks of whites can be seen
7) Bake at 155deg for 70mins, in a pan of water
8) Leave in oven for 10mins once cake is done to further bake
9) Unmould and cool totally before slicing

Tom Yum Seabass

Lately my hub fell in love with seabass. I decided to trial and make something tangy and spicy. Came up with an idea of using tom yum paste to make a thick sauce. 

First, I panfry the seabass marinated with sesame oil, huatiao and some pepper. Panfry til skin cripsy and nice. Then fry the thick sauce to drizzle over! Oh my gosh! I regret not making more sauce! Its so tangy that it goes SUPER WELL with rice! Total ❤️❤️ Hub gave thumbs up too! So I definitely need to record down what I did so I can make it again!

This was my spread tonight! Kids love egg tofu so much that I make it into 1 dish with round spinach and minced meat. Favourite for them! 

Tom Yum Seabass

1 Seabass fillet, approx 300-400g

1 lemongrass, halve

2 ginger slice

1tsp chopped garlic

1Tbsp tom yum paste

1/3 cup water

4Tbsp milk

4 chilli padi, chopped

Marinate fillet with 1Tbsp sesame oil and huatiao with some pepper

1) Panfry fillet til crispy and brown. Set aside

2) Put some oil, saute lemongrass, ginger and garlic

3) Add jn tom yum paste and water and mix well. Lower fire and add in milk

4) Stir in chilli padi and off fire. Drizzle over fish, serve warm.

Tony roma inspired Ribs

Tonight we had baked ribs. Have been trying and cooking different dishes as we are keeping ourselves home as much as possible to be socially responsible. Only running out for quick errands like groceries and such. Redmart and NTUC slots are like striking toto, sighhhh.... 😔

I sautee some veg, panfry some chicken chops (in case fussy kids doesnt like the ribs) and my first time trying to bake potatoes!! Thankfully the potatoes came out well! Baked them wrapped up in foil at 180deg in my airfryer for 30-40mins. Checking on them by poking through a skewer. If it goes in easily means it is well cooked!

Hub gave thumbs up and kids totally love their meal! Finish up everything on their plates! Satisfying to see them love the meal I cooked!!

In case anyone keen to know the BBQ sauce and steak herbs that I used, this is the one! 

Baked Ribs and Potatoes

1 slab ribs, approx 1 kg

3Tbsp of BBQ sauce

1Tbsp huatiao/wine

1Tbsp sesame oil

1Tbsp chopped parsley

1Tbsp garlic powder

1Tbsp ginger powder

1Tbsp Steak rub

For brushing:

2Tbsp BBQ sauce + 4Tbsp honey + 2Tbsp water

Bake potatoes

Wash and poke holes in potatoes with fork and wrap in foil and airfry at 160deg for 30-40mins

1) Wash and trim off fats from ribs. Peel off the white skin-like membrane

2) Add all the seasonings in a ziplock/container, then put in ribs. Rub all over ribs and make sure it is fully covered. Marinate overnight if possible

3) Wrap ribs in foil, covered and bake at 160deg for 1hr

4) Take ribs out and put on baking paper, no need to cover and brush with the above sauce all over the ribs and continue to bake

5) Take out and brush the sauce every 20mins 

6) Once the meat is soft, using a chopsticks to poke through, it shld goes in easily. Use top heat and charr the ribs for 5-10mins. LOOK AFTER AS IT WILL BURNT EASILY. Serve warm with sides. 

Swissrolls ❤️❤️

Saw this recipe recently and bookmarked it. Decided to bake it today as I was craving for ice cream swissroll. Ordered from redmart but it didnt came. This swissroll was my young time favourite!

Wasnt nicely rolled but love the taste of the roll. Slight dry which I suspect from a little over baking them as original post made 1 and I split them into 2 rolls. I think this is a good recipe to keep for swissrolls. Its easier to roll and the ‘skin’ of the swissroll is nicely browned. 1 of the roll cracked, 1 didnt cracked that much. Phew!

Quickly smeared the jam, then the icecream and fridge them up in chiller and freezer respectively for 1hr+. Just in time for tea! Yums! 

Swissroll (adapted from Moony HS)
5 Yolks
1tsp salt
50g sugar

90g Cake flour
2g Baking powder
Veg oil 50g
Milk 50g

5Whites
70g sugar

1) Beat yolks, salt and sugar to balloon stage
2) Beat whites til frothy, adding in sugar in 3 additions to soft peaks
3) Sift in dry ingredients with spatula til no streaks of flour can be seen
4) Take out some cake batter and mix with oil and milk
5) Fold mixture back to batter
6) Spread evenly on baking tray and bake for 170deg for 30mins
7) Immediately peel off baking paper and cool
8) Cut some lines on begining and ending of roll to minimize cracks
9) Chill to keep shape after apply desired fillings

Easy Chee Cheong Fun

Saw this in 1 of those cooking facebook group, using vietnam rice paper to make chee cheong fun! Looks simple and easy and I have been wanting to try them out! 

This is the 1 I am using, around $1-ish from NTUC.  I took out about 8-10 sheets for today’s portion. It was quite easy as only need to soak them for a while and it will soften up for use. Only thing to note is that have to be careful in rolling and splitting the sheets. It is quite fragile and tear easily. It doesnt matter if you cant fold it neat cos its alright. Just briefly roll them up.

I would suggest brushing the plate with some oil before putting the roll sheets on the plate. It sort of sticks a bit after steaming. 

I mix some water with seasonings and drizzle over the steamed chee cheong fun. Yummy! See how soft it is after steaming! Its really nice and best to serve warm! 

Balance charsiew were made into wanton mee for lunch. Recipe can be found here

Chee Cheong Fun

10 sheets of rice paper

Some char siew bits

Some prawns

Sauce:

2Tbsp light soy sauce

1Tbsp sesame oil

4Tbsp water

1) Soak rice paper for 5-10mins in a bowl with drips of oil

2) Take out each piece carefully and sprinkle topping then briefly roll them up

3) Place on plate, lightly oiled. Steam for 5mins once water starts boiling

4) Drizzle sauce over and serve warm

Double chocolate chips muffins II

Using another recipe that I bookmarked recently. The method seems easy and straightforward too, only setback is I always lazy to melt chocolate! Hahaha.. 

Decided to bring my butt to work so that the kids can bring to school for snack break on Tuesday. I topped 6 of them with banana slices and 6 with peppermint chunks. Need to use up my ripe bananas too! Heee.. 

The smell from baking these while I am washing up and preparing my ingredients for dinner is amazing! So therapeutic! I love the smell of baking ❤️❤️

OMG!! So so so rich n moist! Super love the rich chocolate taste! TRY IT!!!

Double chocolate muffins (adapted from BiggerBolderBaking)

71g Plain four

37g Cocoa powder

1/2tsp Baking powder

1/4tsp Salt

115g Brown sugar

2 eggs

71g Yogurt

115g Oil

1tsp Vanilla extract

115g semi sweet choc, melted

some choc chips to mix in

1) Melt chocolate and let it cool a bit

2) Set dry ingredients in a bowl

3) Stir sugar, eggs, yogurt, vanilla and oil into melted chocolate

4) Mix in dry ingredients and then chocolate chips, do not overmix

5) Scoop almost full and top with more toppings of your choice

6) Bake at 180-200deg x25mins

Homemade whipped potato

Been wanting to try making whipped potato then a lovely friend shared in a foodie chat how she made with reference to a video. Took a look at the video and made my own! 

Along with blanched veg and then strained and quick toss them in oil n onions! Lovely!! Using back my previous batter recipe, I fried hoki fish as the main!

Kids super love the combi and even want more fish! As a mum, definitely happy to hear that!! And the potato, even my hub also said its nice! ❤️

Whipped potato

3 potato, peel and cut in chunks

3-5tbsp milk

gravy: 

1/2 bowl water

1tbsp light soy sauce

1tbsp oyster sauce

dash of black pepper

1/2tbsp cornflour

1) Steam potato chunks for 15mins til soft

2) Mash it and leave to cool slightly

3) Add in milk by spoonful and mix til smooth, add more if required

4) Heat up pan and stir the gravy mixture til thick, drizzle over potato

Airfryer Salmon

Been enticed by a neighbour to airfry/bake salmon with breadcrumbs. Being lazy, I didnt dig out my new pack of breadcrumbs. Instead I anyhow mix up a dressing to spread over the salmon, airfry them for dinner! 

Our usual salmon is always panfry then top with teriyaki sauce or just panfry n squeeze some lemon juice. This is a new variation and glad that the kids take to it well. Surprisingly very nice with a hint of lemon-sour and not overly creamy or garlicky! 

I asked the kids if its nice, and I believe the picture says a THOUSAND words! I, myself also surprise at the end product! Its nice and not overly gelat. Yuns!! Gonna document it down so I can refer to the amount of sauces used! 

Our spread for dinner tonite! 

Airfryer Salmon

300g Salmon, cut into 2 and slit

2Tbsp Mayo

1Tbsp lemon juice

dash of parsley flakes

dash of pepper

dash of ginger powder

some salt

2tsp chopped garlic

1) Mix above condiments in a bowl and spread over salmon

2) Wrap in baking paper and airfry for 25mins at 160deg