More recipes with Banana leaves

Chicken Rendang

5 pieces Chicken thighs

1/2 cup toasted dessicated coconut

spices:

1/2 onion

5 pieces dried chilis

3-4 cloves garlic

1 thumb sized piece ginger

1 tsp belacan powder

1/2 can coconut cream

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp curry powder

1 tbsp vegetable oil (for stir fry)

Grind all the spices into paste form in a blender.

Heat pan, stir fry the paste with 1 tbsp vegetable oil until fragrant. Season the paste with salt, pepper & sugar. Pour in the cup of toasted dessicated coconut and mix well.

Rub chicken with some salt & pepper. Then spread the cooked paste on the chicken.

Place a piece of the banana leaf on foil wrap. Grease the banana leaf then place the chicken in it and seal the foil tightly. Bake in the oven at 400F for 45 mins.

Remove the chicken from the oven, open up the foil and broil another 15 mins until brown.

Serve this with coconut milk rice.

Nasi Lemak

I found another use for the banana leaves today!! yippie.. That's Nasi Lemak-coconut milk rice with grilled chicken rubbed with spices and curry powder, sambal shrimp and garnished with fried anchovies, cucumbers and hardboiled eggs. (just realized I forgot to put in the eggs before taking the picture!) Oh well..:)

Portuguese Grilled Fish

I have found some banana leaves while shopping at the Chinese grocery store sometime ago. I bought it anyway without knowing what I was going to do with it..Until last weekend, our friend gave us some fresh caught Bass... That calls for this dish here- Grilled fish in banana leaves, with some chili paste and fresh squeeze lime juice, it completes this dish.


The banana leaves give so much flavor to the fish, definitely much better than foil wrapped. Will surely try another recipe with the left over banana leaves.

Happy Earth Day cake

It's Earth Day today. Audrey and I baked another cake together. It's French vanilla cake with lots of frosting-Audrey's favorite combo. Well, you may noticed that the continents may not be so proportioned. ha. ha. This is going to be as good as it gets, for now!

Penang Hokkien Mee( Prawn noodle)

Penang Hokkien Mee, also known as Har Meen, Hae Mee or Prawn noodle is my all time favorite noodle dish. I order this dish a lot when we were back in Malaysia. It's so rich in flavor and of course, it is BEST served with big succulent shrimps.

I do not make them from scratch. Why do that when you can buy the ready made paste right? :)I'm sure there are many different brands out there, I particularly like the one by Tean's Gourmet. It's tastier but does not give you that 'dry mouth' after taste, like some do. However, I am not sure if they sell this here. I always load this up when I go back to Malaysia.

Anyway, here's what you need for this semi-homemade Malaysian favorite. :)

1 lb large head & shell on shrimp

1/4 cup ikan bilis (dried anchovies), rinsed

1/2 lb Water Spinach (kangkung)

1/4 lb Bean Sprouts


1 chicken breast


6 hardboiled eggs (peeled)

1 package yellow noodle


1/2 package Rice Noodle ( Wai wai Brand)

fried shallots for garnish


and last but not least, Tean's Gourmet brand Prawn Mee Paste

(Package says serve 4-6, but with the anchovies and more water, it could stretch to serves about 6-8 person, without losing its flavor)




Soup Base
about 14 cups of water + the paste+ 1/4 cup dried anchovies. Cook this as long as you prep the other items. (add the shrimp heads to this and continue cooking)

Shrimp
1. Rinse the shrimp, remove the heads. Drop the heads into the soup base.
2. Peel & devein the shrimp. Marinate the shrimp with 1 tbsp of sugar. Set aside.

In a separate pot of boiled water, cook the noodles, rice noodles, water spinach, sprouts, egg. Once they are cooked, I like to rinse them in clean cold water to stop the cooking process.

Cook the chicken & shrimp in the soup base pot. Do not overcooked the shrimp, place them in a strainer and dip it in the boiling soup..as soon as they changed to light orangy color and shrunken, I remove them and put it aside. As for the chicken, cook it on high heat in the soup base for about 5 minutes. Then, leave it in the soup and cover the pot for another 5 minutes). Shred the chicken into tiny strips.

Once all the ingredients been prepped. You may start the assembly process. Place a little of everything in a bowl and fill the bowl with the soup. Garnish it with some fried shallots.

Lastly, sit down and Enjoy!

Banana Bread/Cake

Bananas turning black and mushy? Instead of throwing them away, you can turn them into some fresh delicious banana cake in no time. Promise...No fancy ingredients required.







Here's what you need.


3 ripen bananas (skinned & mashed)
1 cup of all purpose flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda mixed with 1 Tbsp warm water


**add this just before you bake-

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 small package of raisins

Mix & beat all the ingredients together until well blended. Add nuts and raisins, bake 360°F for about an hour.

Twilight Marathon: Bella's Lullaby

So everyone had been telling me that I should read Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series or at least watch the Twilight movies. I somehow convinced myself that I wouldn't like it because of the vampires and warewolves.


One fine Saturday afternoon, while my hubby was flipping thru the channels, we came across 'Twilight' on the tv, I managed to watch the last part of it...and OMG, I told myself, I couldn't believe what I have been missing all this time...


After completing 4 books and 2 movies. I'm still craving for more of 'twilight'. I have listened to their soundtrack. I especially LOVED the Bella's lullaby by Carter Burwell. My hubby said the song sounded kinda out of tune...but that's what makes it so "twilight-y"though. :)

Heard the piano version on youtube and absolutely loved it...and so, I have been listening and playing it over and over again... so many times until everyone around me is proabably sick of that song by now...anyhow, I finally got it!!!...( and No, I prefer listening than reading it from music sheets...)

Anyway, here is my compacted version of Bella's Lullaby. ( edited for people with shorter fingers too, lol)

My version of Bella's Lullaby

My version of Bella's Lullaby

My version of Bella's Lullaby