Banana cake

I absolutely LOVE banana anything. I didn't use to be a big fan of bananas, I think mainly because they weren't a juicy fruit. Growing up in Malaysia and Singapore has spoiled me for fruits. Back at home, there are sooooooooo many juicy fruits which are readily available and what's more, they are not expensive to buy at all! (from memory but times have changed and they may well be expensive).

Coming back to bananas - growing up I didn't like that. Especially the big ones that they sell here in Australia, but Mom and Dad used to buy them all the time, but I think it was because Dad really liked them. When I started eating bananas, I started to really like one particular sort of banana (and the name escapes me right now, but I will get back to this post after I speak to my mother). They were small banans with beautiful white white and VERY sweet flesh. I am usually able to at about four or five of these babies in one sitting. Absolutely delicious.

But aside from that I didn't like bananas.

I don't know when I changed, but now I love everything banana. Banana bread, banana milk, banana cake and even the banana ( I know that sounds stupid, but I love peanut butter, and not peanuts!)  Love it! I remember my mother making the most amazing butter cake and banana cake and I didn't really appreciate them until just before she stopped making them! When she was visiting me, I asked for the recipe and she promised that she would look for these recipes when she got home. She's been home for two months and I have not had a sniff of any recipes! She probably forgot and I keep forgetting to remind her. Nevermind, nothing the internet can't fix.

So we had some over-ripe bananas - I seriously want banana cake. So I googled "easy banana cake" and this recipe appeared. I liked it instantly because it looked easy and it did not have very many ingredients. Made it and result? Pretty awesome. I think I ate the whole loaf in a period of two days! Oops! That can't be good for weight loss.

It is delish and not too unhealthy, but surely a whole loaf can't be good for anyone. I'm going to give this recipe another go, but this time, I might try freezing individual pieces. I'll let you know how it goes!

Salads galore and my favourite meat

I think part of the reason why Luke and I are so suited to each other is because we both love the same things. One of our mutual love is Aussie's favourite meat: lamb**. I LOVE a good grilled lamb. I remember the first time I had lamb, I fell absolutely in love with it. It is a weird fuzzy memory though because I was 10 or 11, living in Malaysia. It was a family trip to Cameron Highlands (or was it Fraser's Hill? I told you this memory was fuzzy) with Deb's family and Uncle Casey's family. We hired a holiday bungalow and as luck would have it, THERE WAS A WATER OUTAGE. We had to take our "showers" from buckets filled with water - it was great! (as a child, it was very exciting, but on hindsight - it would have been nice if there was running water). But we had a great time! I can't even remember what we did, but I distinctly remember the housekeeper making scones for high tea and that night, we had a barbeque. I remember the food being amazing, can't really remember what we ate, but I remember the lamb. And it was the first time I tried lamb. I LOVED the flavour of it and have never looked back since.

How do I like my lamb cooked? I just love it with a toch of salt, and grilled (or pan-fried - which is what I do when I'm making it for dinner). I'm not a fan of crumbed lamb, I don't understand why would anyone want to put a crust on such a beautiful piece of meat. I think that because lamb has got such beautiful flavour, it should be enjoed as is. No mint sauce for me either - sacrilege I know, but I don't care! It has got to be pink and juicy inside and I believe that is the ONLY way to eat lamb!

In this dish, I went through the fridge to see what needed to be eaten. We had the following ingredients:

a) tomatoes;
b) basil;
c) zucchini;
d) red capsicum; and
e) fetta cheese

So I tossed the tomatoes and basil with some Paul Newman's balsamic vinegerette and some extra virgin olive oil. Tomato salad, DONE.

I then grilled the zucchini and capsicum, seasoned with some ground sea salt and black pepper and tossed with some olive oil. Topped it with some fetta.

All in all a very quick and delicious dinner! I believe it might be healthy too! *gasp*

**some people may disagree, but this is my blog, so my blog, my opinion - get over it!

Chili Prawns...

Not quite Nigella, you are a genius! I'm love love loving this recipe for chili prawns.

Prior to going to Singapore last year, I was harping on about chili crab and how awesome it was. And I don't understand why I thought so, I never ate crab when I was younger! I thought that it was weird and gross and thought that it was cruel of my parents to force me to eat it! So my dad used to just grab the mantao and dipped it in the chili sauce for me and of course I loved it! Still refused to eat crabs, but man the sauce was yummy!

So the last trip to KL, we have everything BUT chili crab. Everyone was hell-bent on making me try all sorts of different crab, crab with salted egg, crab and black bean! And the mantao they served with the crab was fried! I could have SWORN that it was steamed mantao and to be quite honest, the fried mantao made me feel a tad ill.

Either which way, I was keen on trying to make chili crab.

Um, problem - even though I now love eating crab, I still refuse to handle them. Crabs and lobsters - it's just too cruel (but yes, I eat them - it's a weird thing, I know!) So I was browsing the other day and stumbled on Not Quite Nigella's chili prawns. And you know what? It was DELISH!

For anyone wanting to get the recipe, visit her webiste here. She was right, it was a fast and easy dish to make, with simple ingredients. And what I loved about it was that the sauce can be prepared ahead of time, so you can prep this dish when you get home from work! Absolutely genius!

Thanks for sharing the recipe Not Quite Nigella!

Chicken stew

When I was younger, I used to love my mother's chicken stew. It had everything good and comforting in it - chicken, potatoes, onions, carrots and champignon mushrooms. I should emphasise that this is not your regular stew. This is chinese stew. A stew that you would eat with rice on a scorchng hot day. It's not comfoort food. It's just plain yummy.

Well, as I grew older and learned to cook, I would say that this dish should probably be called braised chicken. However, I will follow in my mother's footsteps and call this a chicken stew.

At the end of 2010, I took Mom to visit Nicole and Elizah in one of my favourite capital cities in Australia - Canberra (ok, I know I'm weird - lay off me! I like the Can!) Deb helped dogsit and as a thank you, I cooked a few meals for her - one of which was this chicken stew of mom's. She was watching, so there was a lot of pressure. My proudest (and funniest) moment was when she tasted the stew, turned to me and said "Can I have the recipe?"

Deb later on told me that she loved loved loved it as well, and I thought that I should make that for dinner tonight. Unfortunately, I fell asleep on the couch and did not have time to cook the stew for as long as I liked. So I thought maybe I should attempt a quick version of the stew, so here it is:

400g of chicken thighs (free range if possible)
1 onion (cut into wedges)
2 carrots ( cut into chunks)
Two cloves of garlic - chopped
Oyster Sauce (about three table spoons)
1 tablespoon of cooking oil
Three shakes of sugar
A dash of white pepper
About half cup of white wine (whatever's left in the fridge)
Enough water to coover the chicken

1. Cooking oil in the pot, and fry the garlic and onion until the onions are transluscent.
2. Add the chicken and continue frying.
3. Add the rest of ingredients and simmer until the liquid is reduced (in this case, if you are making a QUICK chicken stew, add less liquid and simmer until thickened slightly).

And VOILA! Quick chicken stew - Mom's style! :) I served it with some rice and stir-fried veggies (in this case, it was some kale, rocket and asian leaves Luke got from the supermarket).

Oktopodi

In preparation for my Chinese New Year Reunion dinner, I went to the shops to get some chicken and fish. Three whole chicken for $9.99 and about $18 a kilo for a whole Ocean Perch. I think. I can't even remember, but I don't think it was too expensive. Anyway, I couldn't help but notice some gleaming octopus at the Island Markets. Hm. I LOVE octopus. I pay freaking $20 odd dollars to have some  pickled octopus at the greek stores and when I was at the Estia festival last (Estia? I'm unsure of the spelling), all I ate was grilled octopus on the barbeque with some Ouzo. $7 a plate, and let me tell you - I can eat about 10 plates! :)

SO, I thought it would be a good idea to get some octopus. Some greek salad with some greek styled BBQ octopus (without the BBQ of course). The lovely people at Island Markets gutted and scaled the fish for me, but when I asked them whether they were willing to clean the octopus, it was a no go. No matter, I could totally clean and gut an octopus. I tuff.

I was so NOT.

I brought the octopus and dunked it in the sink. The whole time, I was psyching myself up "It's ok Ness,you can do it Ness, it will be fun Ness". Didn't work. I turned the water on and reached to grab it, but the minute I touched its head, I squealed like a little piglet. It was DISGUSTING. More than anything, it was the eyes that were STARING at me and the head was just ALIEN. *shudder* No deal.

So Luke came running into the kitchen and agreed to cut out the eyes, remove the beak and the ink sack. After that it was all on me. And to be honest - after the eyes were removed, it was a lot easier.

After I cleaned the octopus, I took a stab at attempting to marinate it Greek style, so in the same bowl, I added four cloves of chopped garlic, oregano, salt and olive oil.

Word to the wise - if you are attempting to cook BBQ octopus, use a freaking barbeque.

Well, I didn't have one, so I thought that I would pan fry it. Bad idea. The octopus was swimming in its own juices.

The end result? The meat was sweet, tender and juicy. Completely worth the work and the squeals. However, I think that the recipe could be improved tenfold with the use of a barbeque. Might give it another go when we finally get one.