Showing posts with label banana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label banana. Show all posts

Banana Bread + Tofu with Kimchi and Avocado

>> Wednesday, May 25, 2011

This is going to be a short  post (of polaroids) today.

Things have been rather repetitive over here.

I guess everything's...just calm. And I like that. 

Same faces, same routine, same dreams.

Being repetitive isn't necessary a bad thing, right?

Take this banana cake for example. It's a recipe I've been making over and over again and comes from Kate (check out her stylish blog too for other recipes.)

What's different about this bread is that it uses all whole wheat flour, and still tastes as good as my usual go-to recipe! Score. The texture is moist and soft and I love sweetening it with honey and the sprinkling of cinnamon on top. Oh, big chunks of bananas is a must in my bread. How about you?

Then there's this tofu with avocado and kimchi dish which has been making multiple appearances on my dinner table.
 
Call it an entree if you like. It's pretty much one of the fastest thing you can whip up as it requires no cooking. Just some chopping and slicing of ingredients that are almost always in my fridge.

I fell hard for kimchi (pickled vegetable, usually napa cabbage) at the tender age of 8 when I first stepped into the home of my Korean neighbour. And it's great to see it named one of the healthiest food in the world by Health magazine too. 

The best thing is if you normally find kimchi a bit too spicy for your liking, the tofu and avocado make it milder to the taste and the texture is a bit of everything in your mouth - crunchy, smooth and velvety soft. They make for a delicious trio.

I'm so addictived to this that sometimes it replaces my cheesy toast or cereals as the new midnight/TV snack.

Oh, and before I go (although it's something on my mind before I began this post)...

I just found out that Green Cilantro was mentioned in Saveur's 50 More Food Blogs You Should Be Reading recently. And all I want (and need) to say is THANK YOU - to those of you who made the effort to vote for this blog. I really appreciate it as I definitely didn't expect anyone to do so and can think of at least 7853 other blogs which should have been mentioned instead.

So thank you thank you thank you. You made this cold day a little bit warmer today and put a smile on this face here :)

Here's a doggy picture and I hope he makes you smile too. He's another four legged friend that I've the pleasure of bumping into these days. Turned out he's a bit of a softie and licker too. Who would've guessed.

Banana Bread
Adapted from AllRecipe
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup mashed bananas
  • 1 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, plus more to swirl on top
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 cup hot water
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, beat oil and honey together.

3. Add eggs, and mix well.

4. Stir in bananas and vanilla, then stir in flour, salt and cinnamon.

5. Add baking soda to hot water, stir to mix, and then add to batter.

6. Spread batter into a greased 9×5 inch loaf pan.

7. Sprinkle with cinnamon, and swirl with a toothpick for a pretty marbled effect.

8. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes. Be sure to check that the bread is done baking by inserting a toothpick in the top. It should come out clean.

9. Cool on wire rack for 1/2 hour before slicing.

Tofu with kimchi and avocado
Adapted from Masa

Note: The quantity of the ingredients are rough estimates. It is entirely up to you how much of each of the main ingredients you want to add.
  • 1/2 packet silken tofu
  • 1/2 cup Korean kimchi
  • 1 medium sized avocado
  • Some chopped spring onion to sprinkle on top
  • 1 tsp white sesame seeds
  • ~1tbsp Japanese style soy sauce
1. Slice the tofu into even square/rectangular pieces. Slice the avocado into even wedges as well. 

2. Chop up the kimchi finely. Chop up the spring onion too.

3. Plate up - place alternate pieces of tofu and avocado on a long plate and place the chopped kimchi and spring onion evenly on top.

4. Squirt some soy sauce on the top and don't forge to sprinkle wth some sesame seeds too.

Banana Mango Cake

>> Tuesday, December 7, 2010

I am going to be trite here and say something you have heard a million times recently:

I can't believe it's almost Christmas! And I can't believe another year has gone by!

What an eventful revolution around the sun it has been - so many changes, laughter, tears, joy, personal growth (which I wish there were more of!) and blessings. Another year of God's faithfulness.

What have I been up to apart from humming Disney songs (thanks to all those people who changed their facebook profile to Disney characters!) and eating buttered corns?


Well, I've signed up for this website which requires me to fill in my personal information like what I do in my spare time and what my daily routine is like. I wrote about which type of people I am compatible and can get along with. Things I can't stand in a person. You get the picture. I am trying to be 'matched' and connected with the people in this city.

I mean to me, this seems like the last resort. Especially if you are a bit desperate and just can't find 'the one'?  So, today I met up with a potential 'match' after work. I went over to the that person's place actually. 

Whoa, you're thinking...aren't you moving a little bit too fast Viv?!

Friends, I don't know what you're thinking, but I am looking for a flatmate/roommate of course! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lead you on. To think that this is some juicy post. But I just couldn't stop chuckling to myself when I was filling out the flatmate finder form. This is just a bit funny to me.

But yes, I am moving. Again. It's hard. It's tiring. It's oh-very-exciting. The house I saw tonight wasn't the one unfortunately. It was nice and warm. But it needs to work on its hygiene a little bit to be considered a contender. 

Let's hope the next few ones I see will be good! I'm dreaming about a light filled kitchen with some mango trees in the backyard.


Just because, I love mangoes. 

When life don't give you enough bananas, you can just use mangoes. Truly.

I was having a dilemma when I was making my usual banana cake weeks ago, only to find at the last minute that one banana was missing!  Calm down. Quick, think of your feet! What do I have. Mangoes! Now, where have I heard about mango bread before? Thanks Deb! I remember she said that mango bread is the Hawaiian's answer to our banana bread!

I used my usual banana bread recipe and just substituted a banana for 1 small mango. I also added in some nutmeg and cinnamon.


The verdict? This is like eating the most fragrant piece of cake ever. When I took a bite, I was thinking, 'This tastes sooo pretty'. Weird I know. But the mango and nutmeg add much 'perfume' to this banana bread that I can just imagine having this with a cup tea with my future potential flatmates in our mango-tree filled backyard.

Banana Mango Cake
Inspired by How to be a Domestic Goddess
  • 175g plain flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 50g unsalted butter, melted
  • 50ml grapeseed oil (or similar neutral cooking oil)
  • 1/4 cup yoghurt (I used greek yoghurt)
  • 150g sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3 small, very ripe bananas (about 300g weighed without skin), mashed
  • 1 medium sized mango (Updated 8/12/2010: it's Mango not Banana - sorry for the typo!)
  • (optional) a handful of chopped pecans (just because I found them in the pantry)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1. Preheat the oven to 170ºC/gas mark 3 and get started on the rest.

2. Put the flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt in a medium-sized bowl and, using your hands or a wooden spoon, combine well.

3. In a large bowl, mix the melted butter, grapeseed oil, yoghurt and sugar and beat until blended. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the mashed bananas and mangoes (cut into small cubes)

4. Then, with your wooden spoon, stir in the pecans (optional) and vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture, a third at a time, stirring well after each bit.

5. Scrape into the loaf tin and bake in the middle of the oven for 1-1 1/4 hours. When it's ready, an inserted toothpick or fine skewer should come out cleanish.

6. Leave in the tin on a rack to cool, and eat thickly or thinly sliced, as you prefer.

Chocolate Banana Cake + Pumpkin Pudding with Cinnamon sauce

>> Thursday, November 11, 2010


Life doesn't always turn out the way you plan (and I'm glad that is so!)

Because if that was the case, I'd be an airline stewardess now (perhaps en route to Paris right this moment?)

That was the plan at age five. You see, I met this stewardess on the plane and she was the nicest person in my young eyes.

No one had ever bent down to my height, looked me in the eyes and with sweetest smile said to me those 5 magic words...would you like some candies?

I thought she was an angel! (Obviously Mother never taught me about staying away from strangers with candies.)

Since then I've gone through many strange phases and never would I have ever imagined back then that I'd be doing what I am doing now. Never.


Anyways this amazing cake.... You are not meant to be seeing this chocolate banana cake on the screen right now. But it just happened.

This was meant to be a simple banana loaf...something that's very close to my heart. And something I had planned to bake to celebrate my new life in the new kitchen. The very first baked item chez moi in Melbourne.

But half way through the recipe 2 things happened:

#1 I realised I do not have a loaf pan. Only a cake tin.

#2 I couldn't stop thinking about the cocoa powder and dark chocolate chips from Koko Black I had purchased the previous day.

So this cake here happened as a result.

Even though this is a recipe for a loaf, but it worked out beautifully as a cake - moist, simple, and so satisfying at 11pm on a weeknight. I was worried about the chocolate over-powering the bananas but the flavours turned out quite balanced (even though the chocolate is still on a stronger side.)

Chocolate Banana Cake
Inspired by How to be a Domestic Goddess
Makes 8-10 slice
  • 150g plain flour
  • 25g cocoa powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 50g unsalted butter, melted
  • 50ml grapeseed oil (or similar neutral cooking oil)
  • 1/4 cup yoghurt (I used greek yoghurt)
  • 150g sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 4 small, very ripe bananas (about 300g weighed without skin), mashed
  • 100g dark chocolate chips
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Preheat the oven to 170ºC/gas mark 3 and get started on the rest.

2. Put the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarb and salt in a medium-sized bowl and, using your hands or a wooden spoon, combine well.

3. In a large bowl, mix the melted butter, grapeseed oil, yoghurt and sugar and beat until blended. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the mashed bananas.


4. Then, with your wooden spoon, stir in the chocolate chips and vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture, a third at a time, stirring well after each bit.

5. Scrape into the loaf tin and bake in the middle of the oven for 1-1 1/4 hours. When it's ready, an inserted toothpick or fine skewer should come out cleanish.


6. Leave in the tin on a rack to cool, and eat thickly or thinly sliced, as you prefer.

I should have been patient and bake this for another 15 minutes...you can see the bottom is still a bit on the gooey side.

Oh, and remember the pumpkin pudding recipe I promised a few posts back?

Sorry for the delay...but better late than never right? I hope you make this and enjoy it as much as I did. Puddings are great...I reckon the saying should be 'a pudding a day'. Not 'an apple a day'.


Pumpkin pudding with Cinnamon Sauce
  • 300g Pumpkin
  • 40g Sugar
  • 1 cup Milk
  • 1/2 cup Water
  • 5g Gelatine powder
Sauce
  • 1 stick cinnamon
  • 2-3 tbsp brown sugar
  • ~1 cup water
1. Soak the gelatine powder in 25mL of water until softened.

2. Remove the skin from the pumpkin and chop into bite-size.

3. In a pot over the stove, add water, milk, sugar and pumpkins. Cook until the pumpkins are soft.

4. Use a processor or blender, blend the pumpkin mixture until smooth.

5. Once the blended mixture is slightly cooled down, add the gelatine from step 1 above and combine until it is dissolved into the mixture.

6. Ladle the mixture into ramekins or pudding moulds and keep in fridge for at least 30 minutes until the pudding sets.

7. For the sauce, put the water, sugar and cinnamon stick in a small pot and bring to boil. Let it boil for a few minutes until the cinnamon flavour is infused into the liquid.


So tell me, what did you plan on becoming? I'm curious about how many people actually become what they had dreamed of.

Chocolate-Banana Marble Bread

>> Sunday, August 22, 2010


I'd put banana bread in the same category as my childhood friends - it's been in my life for as long as I can remember (and also the first thing I've baked in my life), and we've been through a lot together.

Good days, bad days, un-inspired days...the day when I resigned from my first full-time job (last week)...well, what else but banana bread!

Maybe what I love is the practicality of it. Like an all-purpose baked good that you can use in all situations. I mean, it really is the answer to some of life's toughest situations...like when you are:

a) so late for work and don't have time to make breakfast

b) incredibly stuck at work and the only thing left to do is to bribe colleagues with baked goods

c) in need to make your house smell truly domesticated...(there is a reason why banana bread is in Nigella's How to be a domestic goddess)

d) required to bake something at the last minute for people which says I-need-to-impress-but-I-don't-want-you-to-know-so-I-made-this-to-feign-indifference (don't under-estimate the power of the humble banana bread!)

Today, I introduce to you a fancier banana bread with a twist (of chocolate).

This is the first time I've used this recipe and the process is definitely more lengthy than my usual one (which I will post up another day!)

Chocolate-Banana Marble Bread
Adapted from The Art and Soul of Baking

Note: The recipe calls for cake flour instead of the usual all purpose flour. You can make your own cake flour: for every cup of cake-flour required by the recipe, take a cup of all purpose flour - remove 2 tablespoons of it and replace it with 2 tbsp of cornflour. Then sift 5-6 times.
  • 2 large or 3 medium very ripe bananas, at room temperature
  • 1/4 cup (2 ounces) buttermilk, at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 2 cups (7 ounces) sifted cake flour (see note above)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 cup (1 ounce) unsifted unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
  • 3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounce) boiling water, plus more if needed
  • 1 1/2 sticks (six ounces) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup (7 ounces) sugar
  • 2 large eggs at room temperature
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and position an oven rack in the center. Lightly coat the loaf pan with melted butter or high-heat canola-oil spray and line it with a piece of parchment paper that extends 1 inch beyond the long edge of both sides of the pan. Peel the bananas and place them in the bowl of the food processor.

Process to a smooth puree, or mash them in a bowl using a fork. Measure 1 cup of the puree and transfer it to a medium bowl, discarding the rest of the puree or saving it for another use. Add the buttermilk and vanilla and whisk just until blended. Set aside.


Use a fine-mesh strainer to sift the cake flour, baking soda, and baking powder together into a medium bowl. Whisk to blend well. Set aside. Place the cocoa powder in the small bowl. Pour the boiling water over the coca and stir until it forms a smooth paste — it should run thickly off the spoon. If it is too thick, add another tablespoon of boiling water and stir again. Set aside.


Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of the stand mixer. Beat on medium-high speed until the butter is very light, almost white in color, 4 to 5 minutes. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula. Turn the mixer to medium speed and add the eggs, 1 tablespoon at a time, completely blending in each addition before adding the next. About halfway through the eggs, turn off the mixer and scrape down the bowl with the spatula, then continue adding the rest of the eggs. Scrape down the bowl and finish blending the batter by hand.

Transfer half of the batter to the second medium bowl. Add the cocoa paste and, using the rubber spatula, gently but thoroughly blend it into the batter.

Drop alternating spoonfuls of dark and light batters into the prepared pan, but marbleize by using a spoon to gently turn the batter over in 3 places down the length of the pan.

Bake the banana bread for 55 to 65 minutes, until firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Transfer to a rack to cool completely. When cool, remove from the pan, peel off the parchment paper, and cut slices by sawing gently with a serrated knife.

While this banana bread is quite good (very soft and refined), I don't really think it is all that necessary to spend so much time on a banana bread (unless you do have the time!). Normally making banana bread is a one bowl task for me, but with this recipe be prepared to do a little bit more washing up ;)

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