Wholemeal Bread

My family tries to eat as healthy as possible. One of the healthiest bread is wholemeal bread which according to Wikipedia is a type of bread made using flour that is partly or entirely milled from whole or almost-whole wheat grains. It is one kind of brown bread and its fiber content is four times that of white bread.

I bake wholemeal bread 2 to 3 times a week. Sometimes I bake loaves while at other times I shape them into buns.

The following ingredients are required to bake wholemeal bread:

• 250 g whole wheat flour
• 30 g wholemeal flour
• 80 g high protein or bread flour
• 16 g sugar (I usually use brown sugar.)
• 6 g salt
• 6 g instant yeast
• 225 g warm milk
• 1 egg at room temperature
• 20 g olive oil (I sometimes use corn oil.)

The method:

• Grease and line a loaf pan 8 inch x 4 inch x 4 inch. Set aside.

• Put the flours, sugar, salt and yeast into the mixing bowl.

• Pour the warm milk and break the egg into the mixing bowl.

• Add the oil into the mixing bowl. (Sometimes I use butter instead of oil. In this instance, I will add the butter only when the dough has formed into a ball.)

• Knead the ingredients into a smooth dough. This will take about 20 minutes or slightly more.

• Grease a bowl with oil.

• Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and put it into the greased bowl. Cover the bowl with a cling wrap.

• Leave the dough to proof until it double in size.

• Once it has doubled in size, remove the dough from the bowl onto a slightly floured table-top.

• Knead it manually for about 5 minutes.

• Then roll it into a rectangle and roll it up to fit the loaf pan. (You may also shape them into buns. Weigh the dough and divide it according to the number of buns that you wish to have. I usually divide my dough into 9 parts to obtain 9 buns.)

• Cover the loaf pan with a wet towel.

• Let the dough double in size.

• Pre-heat oven to 175 degree Celsius.

• Once the dough has doubled in size, bake it in the oven for about 30 - 35 minutes.

• Remove the pan from the oven.

• Remove the bread immediately from the pan and let it cool down on a metal rack.

• Slice the loaf once it has completely cool down.

Banana Bread

According to Medical News Today, bananas are rich in potassium and fiber.  They may help prevent asthma, cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and digestive problems.

Most of the time we eat bananas as they are; our favourites are Pisang Berangan and Pisang Rastali. Sometimes, we eat them with our cereals for breakfast or made into pancakes for breakfast or snacks or as a dessert with ice cream. We also add them into our Bubur Cha Cha. We also love banana fritters as tea time snacks. Usually, we will buy Pisang Awak or Pisang Abu for frying them into fritters. We also use bananas to bake Banana Cake, Banana Muffins or Banana Bread.

We bake Banana Bread quite frequently as it is delicious, aromatic, soft and easy to bake. The latter involves only mixing of a few ingredients. To make it, we need bananas of course, all-purpose flour, baking soda, oil, sugar, milk, salt, oil, eggs and some chocolate chips:

Dry Ingredients:

• 2 cups of all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon of baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Sieve and mix these 3 ingredients in a bowl and set them aside.

• 1/4 cup of sugar

• 1 cup of chocolate chips

Wet Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup of oil

• 100 ml of milk

• 2 eggs

• 1 1/4 cup of mashed bananas (I use Pisang Berangan.)

In another bowl, mix the oil and sugar. Whisk until the sugar is dissolved.

Add in the milk and whisk until they are combined.

Add in the eggs and whisk till they are well mixed.

Assembly:

• Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celcius.

• Grease and line a loaf pan of 8 in x 4 in x 4 in.

• Put 1/2 of the flour mixture into the bowl of wet ingredients. Stir to mix them up using a

        spatula. Then, do the same with the remaining flour.

• Add in the mashed bananas. Mix well.

• Finally, add in the chocolate chips.

• Pour the batter into the pan.

• Bake for 50 minutes.

• Once the bread is baked, remove it immediately from the pan

        and let it cool down on the wire rack. (You may test if it is baked by inserting a skewer 

        into the middle of the bread.)

• Remove the parchment paper from the bread.

• Let the bread cool down completely before cutting it.

Fried Fusilli

Fried Fusilli is a great meal for lunch or dinner. You can prepare it the Western way or the Chinese way like I have done. The Western style may be a bit heavy for some people due to the addition of cheese. The way I have cooked it merely involve frying the fusilli with meat, eggs and vegetables. You may replace the meat with seafood like prawns, crab meat, fresh scallops, mussels or even fish slices which had been deep fried. You can also add the various types of mushrooms that you can find in the market or supermarket.

• To fry the fusilli, first boil it according to the instructions on the packaging. Once done, set it aside. 
• I am using minced meat in this dish. Usually I will buy the ready one from my butcher. 
• I like using broccoli as it is sweet and it gives a contrast to the beige colour fusilli. Wash and cut into little florets and set aside. 
• Peel the carrots. Wash and cut them and set them aside. 
• Sometimes I will add cauliflowers. In this instance I will be using only broccoli. 
• Prepare 2 eggs. 
• Prepare some garlic. 
• Heat up some cooking and fry the eggs. Stir to break the eggs up and once cooked, dish them out. Set aside. 
• Pour some sesame oil into the kuali. Saute the garlic till fragrant. Add in the minced meat. When they are almost cooked, add in the stems of the broccoli and the carrots. Half-way through add in the broccoli florets and stir fry them till cooked, adding some water if necessary. Add in the chilli padi. 
• Pour in the fusilli when the sauce is boiling and stir. 
• Add the seasonings like salt, light soy sauce and pepper. 
• Your dish is ready to be served.

Bubur Cha Cha

Some people like their Bubur Cha Cha with lots of santan as in the first photo while others don't. And some like theirs to be thick while others like their Bubur Cha Cha to be watery. I like my Bubur Cha Cha to be thick with lots of santan as the latter has a natural sweetness to it. My mother used to cook it by boiling water in a big pot and cutting the potato, yam and banana and putting them into the pot to boil till they are soft. However, I do it differently:

• Wash 100 g of black-eye beans. Boil a pot of water. When the water is boiling, pour the beans into the pot. Let the water boil. Pour away the water of the first boil. Fill the pot of beans with water and let it boil till the beans have softened. Drain the beans and set aside.
• Take 50 g of sago and put them into a bowl. Fill the bowl with water to soak the sago.
• Peel 200 g of yellow sweet potatoes. Wash and cut them into little cubes of 1 cm x 1 cm x 1 cm. Put them into a metal plate.
• Peel 200 g of orange sweet potatoes. Wash and cut them into little cubes of 1 cm x 1 cm x 1 cm. Put them into a metal plate.
• Peel 200 g of purple sweet potatoes. Wash and cut them into little cubes of 1 cm x 1 cm x 1 cm. Put them into a metal plate.
• Peel 200 g of yam. Wash and cut them into little cubes of 1 cm x 1 cm x 1 cm. Put them into a metal plate.
• Fill a steamer with water and let the water boil.
• Once the water has boiled, put the 4 metal plates of sweet potatoes and yam into the steamer. Turn off the fire once the sweet potatoes and yam are soft.
• Fill a large pot with one-third of water.
• Wash 5-6 pandan leaves and put them into the large pot of water. Turn on the fire to boil the water.
• Once the water has boiled, pour the beans and four plates of sweet potatoes and yam into the pot. Let it boil again.
• Add in 300 g or more santan.
• Add in a teaspoon of salt.
• Add in sugar, the amount depending on individual taste.
• Pour in the sago. Turn off the fire after a final boil. Cover the pot to let the sago turn transparent.
• The Bubur Cha Cha is ready to be served.
• Some like to have bananas with their Bubur Cha Cha. Slice a banana on top of the Bubur Cha Cha before serving it. Or, you may slice a few bananas into the pot and let the bubur boil for a minute or two before serving.

Chicken Green Curry

My mother-in-law taught me this dish many years ago. I seldom cook it as it requires a lot of work even though it is a very delicious dish. It is only during festivals and special events that I cook it for my family, relatives and friends.

The ingredients are:

• 1 chicken -  about 1.2 kg, wash and cut into 8 big pieces, then rinse
• 18 stalks of lemongrass, wash and cut into small rings, to be ground
• 20 shallots, peel and wash, to be ground
• 20 cloves of garlic, peel, wash and slice
• 10 pieces of green chilli, cut into 2, lengthwise
• 200 ml santan
• Salt, according to taste

The method:

• Grind together lemongrass and shallots till fine.
• Saute ground lemongrass and shallots till fragrant.
• Add in the sliced garlic.
• Add in half of the green chilli. Set aside the remainder for later use.
• Add in the chicken. Stir till all the pieces are covered.
• Add a bit of water if required. Note that the sauce must be thick and not watery.
• Let the sauce simmer until the chicken is cooked.
• Add santan and let the sauce boil again.
• Add in the remainder of the green chilli. (The earlier batch would have become very soft and turned yellowish. These remaining ones should not be overcooked to maintain their greenness.)
• Add salt to taste.
• The green curry is ready to be served.

Sambal Petai with Prawns

Petai (or Bitter Bean or Stink Bean) is also called the Wonder Bean. Just Google the word and a whole lot of information on its health benefits appear. It is claimed that it can help those suffering from diabetes, constipation, depression, anemia, blood pressure, heartburn and so on. Not everyone likes petai because of its repulsive smell. Petai is actually an acquired taste for most. However, one can learn to eat it and love it.

One of the best way of cooking petai is to fry it with sambal and prawns, squids or anchovies. However, I usually fry it with sambal and prawns.

• To cook this dish, you have to get the sambal ready. (Please see my post on "Sambal".)

• Wash the prawns, cut off the tip of the heads and tails. Remove the entrails. Give them a rinse.

• Peel the petai, remove the membranes and split them into two to ensure that there are no worms in the petai. Rinse them.

• Prepare the tamarind juice. Take some tamarind, add some hot water and stir. Sieve to trap the pulp and seeds.

• Heat up some oil in the kuali. Put in a few tablespoons of sambal (amount depends on amount of petai to be cooked) when the oil is hot. Put in some red chilli if so desire.

• Fry the sambal until it is fragrant and it separates from the oil.

• Add in the prawns. When they are half cooked, pour in the petai.

• Add in the tamarind juice. (Add more for a more sour sauce.)

• Add in the seasonings - salt and light soy sauce.

• Fry until the prawns are cooked and the sauce is reduced.

• Dish out.

Man Fan (Rice Covered with Meat and Vegetables)

Man fan is rice covered with cooked meat and vegetable. It makes light my work in the kitchen; instead of cooking three to four dishes of meat and vegetable to go with rice, the meat and vegetable are cooked together and poured onto the rice, covering it.

The first step to cook man fan is to cook the rice. Once cook, scoop the rice onto a shallow plate.

While waiting for the rice to cook, the next step is to cook the meat and vegetables to be poured onto the rice:

• Chop a few cloves of garlic.
• Soak the shitake mushroom. When they have soften, cut them into pieces, lengthwise.
• Peel and cut some carrots.
• Wash and cut up the mustard (sawi), the amount depends on one's appetite for them.
• Wash and cut up the napa cabbage.
• Wash and slice up half of a piece of chicken breast. (If pork is preferred, then cut and slice the pork.)
• Beat up an egg.
• Get ready some water or chicken stock. I use only water.
• Put a tsp of cornflour in a bowl and mix it with some water (for thickening).
• Get ready the seasonings - white pepper, salt and thin soy sauce. Dark soy sauce is optional.

• Heat up a wok.
• Put in a tablespoon of sesame oil.
• Saute the garlic till fragrant.
• Add in the mushroom and fry till fragrant.
• Add water or chicken stock into the wok and let it simmer for a while.
• Add in the carrots, mustard and napa cabbage. Cook them for a while.
• Add in the egg when the water or chicken stock is boiling, stirring to break up the egg.
• Add in the seasonings of white pepper, salt and soy sauce. You may add some dark soy sauce if you prefer the sauce to be darker.
• Let the sauce boils. Once it boils, pour the cornflour water, stirring the sauce so that it thickens evenly. Let the sauce boil.
• Scoop up the ingredients and the sauce and cover the rice.
• Serve while it is hot.