Kuih Doko Pisang Raja

Do you know that in Malaysia, banana is the second most widely cultivated fruit, covering about 26,000 ha with a total production of 530,000 metric tonnes? About 50% of the banana growing land is cultivated with Pisang Berangan and the Cavendish type, and the remaining popular cultivars are Pisang Mas, Pisang Rastali, Pisang Raja, Pisang Awak, Pisang Abu, Pisang Nangka and Pisang Tanduk. Some of these types like Pisang Cavendish and Pisang Rastali are eaten raw. Others like Pisang Berangan, Pisang Abu and Pisang Raja can be eaten raw as well as used in making kuih and baking cakes. I like Pisang Berangan and usually use it to bake Banana Bread and Banana Cake as it gives a good fragrance when cooked or baked.

Recently, my neighbour has been gifting me with lots of Pisang Raja from her son's farm in Janda Baik. I have made Banana Fritters with some of them; I coated them with batter and deep fried them, resulting in crunchy banana fritters. I have also mashed some of them up to make Kuih Doko Pisang Raja. Whether they are crunchy fritters or cucur pisang, they are good for breakfast and tea time.


Ingredients:

• 360 g pisang raja
• 270 g self-raising flour
• 50 g sugar
• 160 g water
• oil for frying

Method:

• Mash the banana and place them in a bowl. It is not necessary to mash them too finely.

• Add self-raising flour, sugar and water into the bowl.

• Mix all the ingredients up into a smooth consistency.

• Heat up oil in a kuali.    

• Place egg rings in the kuali to heat them up.

• Scoop the batter into the egg rings.

• Once the batter has firmed up, remove it from the ring.

• When the bottom has browned up, flip the batter over to cook the other side.

• Once this side has turned golden brown, remove the kuih onto a kitchen towel to soak up excess oil.

• Note: If you do not have any egg rings, just scoop the batter into the kuali. Do not attempt to move it until the batter has firmed up.

Cheesy and Savoury Omelette

 

 

   

Cheesy and Savoury Omelette is a delicious choice for breakfast or just as snacks. It is made up of potatoes, red capsicum, green onions, eggs and cheese. However, we can vary the ingredients like adding mushrooms, red or yellow onions, chives, etc. and the omelette will taste equally good.

Ingredients:

• 350 g potatoes
• 100 g red capsicum
• 10 g green onions
• 2 eggs
• 80 g grated Mozzarella cheese
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• Cooking oil

Method:

• Cut the potatoes into small cubes.

• Cut the red capsicum into small squares.

• Cut the green onions into 0.5cm long.

• Add cooking oil to a pan and fry the potato cubes till they are soft.

• Transfer the potato cubes to a mixing bowl.

• Add the red capsicum and the green onions to the mixing bowl.

• Beat the eggs and add them to the mixing bowl.

• Season the egg mixture with salt and pepper

• Heat up the same pan with more oil.

• Place 3 (depending on the size of your pan) egg rings onto the pan to heat them up.

• Scoop some of the egg mixture into the egg rings. [You can still fry the omelette without the egg rings. Just scoop the egg mixture onto a pan.]

• Spread cheese on the mixture.

• Pour some of the mixture to cover the cheese.

• When the bottom has turned brown flip over the egg rings and let the other half cooked.

• Remove the egg rings when the omelette have firmed up.

• Once they are fully cooked dish them up onto a kitchen towel to soak up any excess oil.

• Arrange them on a serving plate.

• Serve.

Bean Sprout Fritters

 

Bean Sprout Fritters is another new dish for me. Having made it, I would say that it was great as a snack. Bean sprouts are cheap and easily available in the wet market and supermarket. Even so, some people even resort to growing their own by sprouting mung beans. The beans need dark or shaded places to grow. Constant watering of these sprouted beans will ensure that the stems grow long and ready for consumption. 


Ingredients: (Makes 5 pieces for 1 pax. You can easily multiply the ingredients for the amount you want to make. )

• 100 g bean sprouts
• 30 g rice flour
• 15 g all-purpose flour
• 10 g dried prawns plus some whole ones for sprinkling on top
• 3 g baking powder
• 3 g salt
• 3 g pepper powder
• 1 small stalk green onions (only green part)
• 3 bird's eyes chilies (optional)
• 50 g water
• Cooking oil for frying

Method:

• Wash and dry the bean sprouts.

• Wash and soak 10g of dried prawns. Chop them up roughly.

• Wash and cut the green onions into 0.5 cm length.

• Wash and cut the bird's eyes chilies into small pieces.

• Add bean sprouts, rice flour, all-purpose flour, dried prawns, baking powder, salt, pepper powder, green onions and chilies to a mixing bowl. Mix them all up.

• Add water to the mixing bowl and stir to mix with the ingredients. Add more water, spoonful by spoonful if the batter is too dry.

• Heat up cooking oil in a wok.

• When the oil is hot, scoop a spoonful of batter into it. Flatten the batter and make it round. Sprinkle some whole dried prawns on top.

• Fry the batter till both sides are golden brown.

• Transfer the fritters to a kitchen towel to soak up excess oil.

• Arrange the fritters on a serving plate.

• Serve.

Fried Loh Shi Fun

 

Loh Shi Fun is also known as silver needle noodle, rice pin noodle, bee tai bak and rat tail noodle. It is made from rice flour and shaped like a 2-inch long rat tail. Thus, the name rat tail noodle.  Most of the time it is fried with eggs, beansprouts and prawns. However, some people braised it with meat. While others cook soup with it. Whichever way it is cooked, it is delicious as it is smooth and has a taste of its own. Fried loh shi fun is a good alternative to rice. I fried it once in a while when we were bored with eating rice.

Ingredients:

• 450 g loh shi fun
• 2 eggs
• 2 pcs Shiitake mushrooms
• 3 cloves garlic
• 15 g dried prawns
• 50 g fresh prawns (medium size)
• 150 g bean sprouts
• 1 pc red chili
• 1 stalk chives
  
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 tbsp sesame oil

Method:

• Preparation

• Wash and soak Shiitake mushrooms in hot water till soft. Slice them thinly.

• Peel and chop the garlic.

• Wash and soak the dried prawns. Chop or pound them finely.

• Wash, peel an de-vein the fresh prawns.

• Wash and transfer to a colander to drain of the water.

• Wash and chop the red chili finely.

• Wash and cut the chives finely.

• Frying

• Heat up a wok with cooking and sesame oils.

• Add the mushroom slices and dried prawns and fry them till they are fragrant.

• Add the garlic and fry them till they are slightly brown and fragrant.

• Add the fresh prawns and fry them till they are half cooked..

• Add the loh shi fun, bean sprouts and red chili.

• Add the seasonings - light and dark soy sauce, salt and pepper.

• Stir fry till all the ingredients are cooked.

• Ladle them up into a serving bowl or plate.

• Sprinkle the chives on top.

Chives Pancakes

 

I bought so much chives - to fry with kueh teow, to stirfry with bean sprouts, to make chive omelette and to stirfry with taukwa. After all these, there was still some left. Usually, chives do not keep for long. So I had to think of ways to make something out of them rather than binning them later. Secondly, my family had been having lots of bread and the traditional sweet pancakes and kuih for breakfast. So, it was good to give them a change and to reduce the sweet food they had been having. That was when the idea of Chives Pancakes came in.

Since this was my first time making these pancakes, I weighed, washed, cut, mixed and wrote down the ingredients as I went through the process of making them so that I can use these measurements to make them again later.

Ingredients:

• 150 g all-purpose flour
• 75 g chives
• 10 g dried prawns
• 25 g carrot
• 25 g mushroom (1 medium sized mushroom)
• 20 g red chili (1 pc of chili)
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 300 g water

Method:

• Add flour to a mixing bowl.

• Wash, drain and cut the chives to about 1.5 cm long.

• Wash and pound the dried prawns.

• Wash, peel and grate the carrot and then chopped them up.

• Wash and soak the mushroom and then cut them into tiny pieces when they have softened.

• Wash, de-seed the red chili and chop it up.

• Add the chives, dried prawns, carrot, mushroom and red chili to the mixing bowl with flour.

• Break 1 egg into it.

• Add seasonings of sesame oil, pepper, salt and light soy sauce to the mixing bowl.

• Add water to the bowl and stir to mix up all the ingredients. Note: If the batter is too thick, the pancake will be hard. It should be a bit runny so that the pancake will be thin and soft.

• Oil a non-stick pan (24-cm) with a very thin layer of oil.

• Scoop a ladle of batter into the pan.

• Swirl the pan so that the batter cover the whole pan.

• Cover the pan.

• Once the bottom of the batter is cooked, flip it over.

• Remove the pancake once the bottom is cooked.

• Repeat till all the batter is finished.

• You can serve it on its own or with ketchup or chili sauce.

Fried Potato Pancake

    

  

Potatoes are edible tubers, available all over the world and at all times as the potato plants are perrenials. When we think of potatoes we always think of them as being a high carb food. As a result many people have lost interest in the potatoes as they prefer low carb food. But due to its carbohydrate content, potatoes are more energy packed than any other popular vegetables. Its fiber, vitamins (for example, vitamin C) and minerals (especially potassium) contents enable us human beings to perform at our best. Potatoes rank highest for potassium content among the top 20 most frequently consumed raw vegetables and the top 20 most frequently consumed raw fruits (www. potatogoodness.com). One important benefit of potassium is that it helps in maintaining our blood pressure as it helps in widening our blood vessels. Potatoes also help in our bone and heart health and many more. 

Potatoes can be cooked in many ways; according to finedininglovers.com, 63 ways!!! The most common are mashed, fried, baked and roasted. I have fried potato pancakes as breakfast cum snack for my family.

Ingredients:

• 325 g potatoes
• 25 g rice flour
• 10 g corn starch
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 stalk green onions, cut into 1-cm length
• 1 red chili, chopped
• 1 egg
• Water
• Cooking oil

Method:

• Remove potato skin, wash and cube them into very small pieces and place them into a pot of boiling water.

• Cook them over high heat for 20 minutes. Potato cubes should be soft but not broken up.

• When they are done, transfer them to a mixing bowl.

• Add rice flour, cornstarch, salt, black pepper, minced garlic, green onions, red chili and egg to the bowl.

• Mix the ingredients till they are well combined. Add some water if the mixture is too thick.

• Heat up cooking oil in a wok/pan.

• Place egg rings in the wok/pan.

• When the oil is hot, scoop the potato mixture into the egg ring.

• When the mixture has firmed up, remove the egg ring. Alternatively, if you do not possess any egg rings, scoop the mixture onto a cling wrap and mould it into an oval shape.

• Fry the potato mixture till they are golden brown.

• Remove the potato pancakes onto a kitchen towel to absorb excess oil.

• Arrange the pancakes on a serving plate.

Banana Cheese Toast

   

 

 

Banana Cheese Toast is an easy and fast recipe to make. It is great for those who are always in a rush in the morning. I got this idea from My Weekend Plan where there are many easy-to-make recipes whether they are breakfast, teatime or supper. This educational site is very useful for all bakers, whether beginners or seasoned; there are many interesting ideas, tips or tricks that one can learn from.

Ingredient:

• 8 pieces of bread slices (can be wholemeal or white bread)
• A bit of butter
• 2 bananas
• 4 slices of Cheddar cheese
• Some black sesame sees (although white ones can also be used)
• 1 egg + 1 tbsp milk for egg wash

Method:

• Cut off the 4 brown edges of the bread slice.

• Butter 4 slices of bread on 1 side.

• Mash the bananas.

• Spread the mashed bananas on the buttered slice of bread leaving a border of about 1 cm from the edge of the slice.

• Place a slice of cheese over the banana.

• Place the other slice of bread over the cheese.

• Use a fork to press the edge to seal it with the bottom slice.

• Egg wash the top of the bread and sprinkle some sesame seeds on it.

• Bake at 175 deg C for 10 minutes or until they are golden brown.