Surprise surprise! More about me in coming posts!

Waddya lookin' at?

What's for tea-time? Banana Fritters (a.k.a Cekodok)

What do you do with left over bananas which if left uneaten, will ferment into a banana alcoholic eats with ugly bruised fruit: definitely NOT good eats!

'Cekodok' is a Malaysian snack made of ripened mashed bananas and flour. It is usually made 'fresh', deep fried and sold piping hot usually at a side street stall (all the exhaust fumes must somehow make them tastier!) Sold alongside with it are other popular snacks like 'Pisang Goreng' which is bananas coated in a batter and deep fried. Other forms of roots or vegetables can be used such as sweet potato and yam.

This is a very simple recipe to follow to make 'Cekodoks'. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 2 ripen bananas, mashed
  

• 1/4 cup plain flour

• 1/4 tsp baking powder

• pinch of salt

• 1/4 tsp brown sugar (optional)

• Oil for frying

Method:

1. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl
2. Heat oil in a wok or deep pan at medium heat.
3. Scoop 1 tbsp full of batter and let it 'slide' into hot oil.
4. Flip 'cekodok' once or twice to allow uniform cooking.
5. Fry till a slight tinge of dark brown and strain to rid of excess oil
6. Serve hot

Tips: Bananas are usually picked green and allowed to ripen during the transportation process or right within the enclosed plastic wrap of your local supermarket.
To accelerate ripening, you can place the unripen bananas with say one ripened left over banana in a brown bag and leave it overnight.
If you wish to extend the shelf life of the bananas, the fruit should be kept at room temperature and not within an enclosed space such as a plastic bag. When it is about to turn brown and has been out on the counter for a few days, you can then place them in the refrigerator. A cooler temperature such as 4 degrees in the fridge, will temporarily inactivate the enzymes. However dont be alarmed as the skin will turn brown at a faster rate in the fridge although the fruit remains unaffected. They can last for another week or so and by then should be eaten or discarded.
Never deep freeze bananas unless you wish to make ice cream or sorbet.

How I long for these...

Mum's cooking
Family dinners
Our large dining table







Malacca's Baba Chendol

Ice shavings topped with luxurious concentrated palm sugar and thick coconut milk with generous servings of 'atap-chee', red beans and jelly








Klang Bak Kut Teh
BYOT (Bring Your Own Tea) concept
Side serving of 'Yau Char Kuay'





















Manicure & Pedicure
Don't mind the ugly feet







These are a few of my 'deeply-missed' since being far away from home.
As a result, I have resorted to DYI (Do It Yourself), experimenting home cooked foods on my own, and attempted to give myself a foot / hand spa but to no success in creating beautiful French mani / pedi.
Hubby is my very own food critic :D

Homemade Yong Tau Fu

Yong Tau Fu has been one of my favourite eats but mum rarely made it as it was fairly time consuming (or so I thought then). We used to frequent the original Ampang Yong Tau Fu which used a combination of fish and pork minced. Since the opening of a branch near where we live, we hardly stepped foot into the original shop and as the other chain of shops only uses fish paste, they were deemed halal and we could bring our Muslim family and friends.

Yong Tau Fu is essentially a Malaysian dish in which bean curd is stuffed with fish or pork paste (finely minced) and is served in a clear broth. Many variety and combination has evolved since and now sides from using bean curd or tofu, vegetables like brinjals, chillies, ladies fingers and bittergourds are used to make yong tau foo. Some requires to be deep fried before serving with the broth.
It is then eaten with a dip of chilli sauce and a sweetened black soy bean sauce. For those who are carbohydrate dependent, you can eat them with a bowl of rice or noodles of your choice.

The following is my version of homemade yong tau fu. The recipe is simple to follow and it takes a slightly creative mind to recreate the stuffed vegetables. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1 to 1 and half lb white fish fillet (Spanish Mackerel, Tilapia etc). Using spoon, remove flesh from skin

• 1/4 tsp white pepper

• 1/2 tsp sesame oil

• 1 tsp light soya sauce

• 1/2 tsp sugar

• 1 egg white

• 2 tbsp cornstarch

• 1 tsp salt mixed with 4 tbsp water

Method:

1. Pulse fish fillet in food processor until finely chopped (If one does not have a food processor, pls dont hesitate to use a cleaver and do the manual chopping/mincing yourself)
2. Add in the seasonings of white pepper, sesame oil, soya sauce, sugar and egg white. Mix to combine.
3. Add in cornstarch, salt water and return to food processor. Switch to highest speed to create a paste like consistency. The result is a fish paste that is ready to be used as 'stuffing'


4. Prepare any tofu (brown 'tau pok', firm square tofu etc) or vegetables (bell peppers halved and seeds and veins removed, etc) of your choice. Use your creativity to create a pocket in each of the tofu/vege.
5. Fill the 'pockets' with the fish paste usually about 1 and half tsp full depending on the cuts and size of the tofu/vege.
6. Finally pan fry or deep fry the yong tau fu till light brown.

* lb=pound
tsp=teaspoon
Uncooked yong tau fu can be stored in the freezer except for stuffed tofu

What's for breakfast? Flapjacks?

Here's a tried and tested Flapjack / Pancake recipe that does not require buttermilk.
Enjoy!



Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsifted plain flour

• 1 tbsp sugar

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 1 cup milk

• 3 tbsp melted butter and allowed to cool

• 2 eggs at room temperature separated

Method:
1. Mix all dry ingredients together in a big bowl ie. flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
2. In another bowl, whisk milk, melted butter and egg yolks (wet ingredients)
3. Beat egg whites separately till stiff peaks.
4. Stir wet ingredients into dry flour mixture to make a batter. Do not over-stir
5. Fold in egg whites.
6. Heat skillet or flat pan with a little oil over medium heat. Preferably use non-stick skillet.
7. Spoon half cup of batter to make 1 pancake.
8. Once bubbles start to form over the edge, flip pancake to cook the other side for another 2-3 minutes.
9. Serve immediately with maple syrup / favourite jam / butter spread.
10. It is possible to use the same batter recipe and make smaller pancakes with red bean filling to make Dorayaki
11. Makes 6 large pancakes

* tsp=teaspoon
tbsp=tablespoon

Time to move on

Hi folks! Yes, naughty me for abandoning this blog close to a year now. Lots have taken place. Some good memories and there were a couple of not-so-good memories. As the day draws near for me to leave Singapore, I have mixed feelings. Part of me really am excited to start a whole new chapter in my life, the other part of me partly cries out fear of the unknown, uncertainties and of course the sadness that comes with farewells from family and friends.
Oh my darling Chomel is now back in KL with my family. Such a fortunate dog, she got to FLY back home (some folks out there have never stepped onto a plane before!)

Doggy diapers

Chomel has been paper-trained to do her 'business'. I have to say, what a huge improvement from say one month ago! She now pees on newspaper. In fact she even urinates exactly in the centre of the newspaper. Is that not good news? However, there has been mis-cues when it came to passing motion. She has, targeted correctly, and other times , slightly OFF target, and worse still elsewhere such as the toilet shower floor. Hmmm... smart dog. Toilet of all places! haha... maybe im underestimating my dog's real potential. Who knows, given time she may even use the bowl. hehe...

Well, have i mentioned in my earlier blog that my lil' darling has reached doggy 'puberty'? Yes, she had her doggy 'menses'.
It is almost 2 weeks now, and she's still having it.
I have not the heart to keep her in her play pen the whole day. So to allow her to run around freely around the apartment and avoid staining the floor / furnitures, I had her wear DOGGY DIAPERS! haha. I salute whoever invented those.





Chomel resting on her pillow while I blog away