Best Banana Bread recipe!

I love banana bread. Always have, always will! And no matter how many times the health-conscious out there remind me that its sugar and fat content qualify it more as "cake" than any recognisable form of bread, I still prefer to call it by its alliterative moniker.

The humble banana bread has seen me through some stressful times indeed: a particularly taxing day at school (i.e. PD/H/PE classes!) would be incomplete without a trip to the canteen for a thick slice of warm, toasted banana bread. And because calories simply didn't matter when you're a grubby teenager like I was, I would ask for it to be spread with margarine. The margarine (far inferior to butter, but that was what was available) would melt and seep into the airy pores of the fragrant banana bread, and I would savour it bit by bit from the greasy paper bag, breaking pieces off with my fingers.

I unashamedly consider myself to be an expert on banana bread, having eaten and indeed baked so many different versions. I've encountered some truly disgusting permutations (apple sauce! oatmeal! flaxseed!) to an absolute gem like this recipe. I can say with confidence that this is the best banana bread I have ever tasted. No, really, I've made this recipe three times now, and each time it has gone like a flash! And, despite my best of intentions, this banana bread has been the reason why I keep falling off my 'diet'. One taste of it and I'm a goner. I won't scare you with how much of the most recent loaf I ate by myself, but suffice it to say that the only reason I'm holding off on the next loaf is because I'm, er, running out of pants that fit ;D

I should mention that I used coconut oil and macadamia oil to bake this loaf of banana bread. However, I have also made it using only coconut oil. And they've all turned out great. The subtle scent of coconut was present only in the loaf made with purely coconut oil. What I'm saying is that please don't go out of your way to purchase coconut oil especially for this recipe. Any oil will do, and you may even experiment with stronger flavoured oils like hazelnut or olive oil. Do let me know how they turn out :) It's the proportions of ingredients in this recipe that matter.


Best Banana Bread recipe


Adapted from Served with love

Makes one 22cm x 12cm loaf

Ingredients

2 cups mashed bananas (use overripe ones)
1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup of oil (I used 1/4 cup coconut oil and 1/4 cup macadamia oil)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used vanilla bean paste)
3 cups cake flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line the loaf tin with greaseproof paper or aluminium foil.

2. Mix together cake flour, ground cinnamon, baking powder, and salt.

3. Beat together the eggs and sugar until fluffy and a pale yellow in colour. Whisk in the mashed bananas. Sprinkle the baking soda over this mixture and whisk it in.

4. Drizzle in the oil and mix it well into the batter. Whisk in the vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste. Fold in the flour mixture in three additions.

5. Pour batter into the lined loaf tin and bake for around 1 hour and 45 minutes, checking with a skewer for doneness around 1.5 hours into baking, and every 10 minutes thereafter (since baking times vary with ovens). If you find that the top of the loaf is browning very quickly, you may have to cover it with a piece of foil an hour into baking to stop the top from burning. The banana bread is done baking when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean (no wet batter).

6. Remove from oven and cool slightly in tin before cooling completely on a baking rack. For best results, wrap with cling wrap once completely cooled, and let it sit for two days before serving in order to allow flavours to fully develop.

Chicken Feet, or Dim Sum-style "Phoenix Claws"

I wouldn't go so far as to say that I'm a terrible cook, but I definitely lack the balls to be a good one. My grandmothers on both sides are good cooks - they've got the burn scars to show for it. Due to my ineptitude, I've accumulated a few scars as well, but they were mostly from stupid, rookie mistakes like plunging something dripping wet into a wok of smoking oil *shivers*. My paternal grandmother recounted this horrible story of how she got her whole face splashed with hot oil in her youth after carelessly dropping something into the wok from a height. See a theme emerging? I hate hot oil. And, by extension, deep-frying. Which is why I'm so darn proud of myself for these Dim Sum-style "Phoenix Claws".

I'm delighted with the way they turned out. From the acquisition of ingredients (maltose syrup, what's that?) to the dreaded deep-frying part...all those added roadblocks only made the final result appear more impressive. To me, at least. My sisters took one look at the raw chicken feet and refused to touch the cooked ones with a ten-foot pole.

I guess they do look vaguely...grotesque.

Why chicken feet? Well, they've always been a firm favourite amongst the adults in my family whenever we go out for Yum Cha. And since I rarely cook Chinese food for my family, preferring to leave the job for our more seasoned chefs (i.e. the grandmas), I want to make something that's not usually on the weekly menu when I do get the opportunity to wear the apron. I spotted the chicken feet at the Saturday Flemington Markets, and they were so cheap (around $2 a kilo) that I impulsively bought 2kg of them without a clear idea of what I would do with it all. I'm glad these turned out so well, because I still have a kilo stashed in the freezer!

!!!They have nails!!!

Maybe I should have given a warning before that picture. Whoops.

I used to dismiss Chinese cookery as the same old mish-mash of soy sauce, ginger, garlic and spring onions (and, ahem, MSG). Hopefully this won't sound too much like a reflective essay but: my eyes have genuinely, genuinely been opened by trying out Chinese recipes for myself. The careful balance of the "suan tian ku la" (sour, sweet, bitter, spicy) flavours, the use of all parts of the animal, the ability to transform something as unyielding as tendons into this wondrous chewy, gelatinous gustatory delight - it's anything but boring. Far from it. These "Phoenix Claws" weren't perfect, but because I had made them from scratch, and because of everything I've mentioned in this post, they tasted like the best chicken feet dish I've ever eaten. And judging by the way my family polished off the whole kilo I'd cooked, I'd wager that this recipe is a winner :)

Dim Sum-style "Phoenix Claws"

Recipe adapted from Yum Cha !

Ingredients
1kg chicken feet
2 cups vegetable oil (to fry them in)
4 litres water (or enough to cover the chicken feet for boiling)
60g fresh ginger, cut to 2mm slices
6 pieces star anise
1 small bunch coriander/cilantro roots
120g maltose syrup*

For the marinade:
4 tablespoons oyster sauce*
2 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons shaoxing wine*
4 cloves garlic, finely diced
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
2 tablespoons black bean sauce*
1 teaspoon sesame seed oil*

*Available from most Chinese grocery stores

Method

1. Wash chicken feet thoroughly, and chop off the tips of toes to remove nails. Scrap off any remaining bits of scaly yellow skin.

2. Dry the chicken feet with a paper towel. Toss the chicken feet in maltose syrup (you may have to melt the maltose syrup over heat to soften it) to coat.

Maltose syrup (right) and black bean sauce (left). 

3. Heat vegetable oil in wok over high heat until smoking. Fry chicken feet in batches, until the skin is a nice deep, mahogany colour. 

My ineptitude resulted in some burnt bits, but I simply scraped those bits off and carried on :)

4. In a pot, boil water and add ginger, star anise, and cilantro/coriander roots. Add the fried chicken feet. Bring everything to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 90 minutes. Drain.

Boiling the fried chicken feet.

5. Combine the marinade ingredients. Marinate the feet overnight, or at least 12 hours. Before serving, steam the chicken feet and marinade for about 15 minutes.

Japan City Eat Street, Chatswood

Myself and a few others made the inaugural trip to Japan City, located within the Chatswood Westfield, the day after it'd opened. This happened all the way back in March, but I've only recently uncovered the photos of our dinner, so you will have to forgive me if some of the details in this post is a little hazy. Still, I had fun eating there so I thought I'd share anyway!

Japan City is a cool concept - it's like a mini, Japanese-centric shopping centre within Westfield. It has its own food court or "Eat Street" on one side of the complex, and a retail section on the other side selling Japanese home wares, fashion, souvenirs etc. The "Eat Street" consists of numerous, distinct stations, which specialise in different types of food. For example, there was the Sushi Bar where we got our sashimi fix:

Quite pricey, but I do love the presentation, and everything was indisputably fresh. We also ordered a few types of nigiri:

Seared scallop nigiri (bottom) and what I think was Wagyu nigiri (top).

Prawn and salmon nigiri.

And then there was the Noodle Bar, which offers the usual suspects. As with everything else we ordered on the night, the two noodle dishes we ordered were shared between all of us. I think I've said this on many occasions, but I do love dining out with a large group of people. Unless they're stingy germ-o-phobes who won't let you steal bites off their plate.

Nabeyaki udon.

All our food came out quickly enough, considering that the restaurant had literally just opened. The Nabeyaki udon was heavy on the udon and light on everything else, lol. I could never see the point in ordering noodles at restaurants if the price is over $10 per serving, unless the noodles are handmade and the ingredients flown in from the Swiss Alps. Or something poncy like that. Otherwise, I'll make do with instant noodles at home. Not that I would ever voluntarily eat packet instant noodles, foul sodium-laden things they are. Okay, now I just sound like I'm PMS-ing. Moving on. The point is, if you're going to charge something hefty like $15-17 for a bowl of noodles, they better darn well be worth it. This wasn't. And neither was this:

Some other kind of noodle dish.

See what I mean by the details being a little hazy? I can't remember what the name of this noodle dish was, but I do remember the taste. It tasted...funny. I don't know if it was the leftover liquid from the preserved bamboo shoots (I'm guessing that's what those brown stick thingies are), but there was an almost chemical-like quality to the broth and noodles. We left most of it untouched.

Pork katsu with rice.

I think this pork katsu rice set usually comes with curry sauce, but my fellow diner preferred to eat it without the curry, hence the somewhat bare look to the dish. The pork was nice and tender, though, and the breaded crust very crunchy. I can't remember if this came from the noodle bar or the Teppanyaki House, which was where we ordered this teriyaki eel dish from:

Teriyaki eel.

Haha, is that a random mussel I see? The portion size was again on the smaller side, but the eel was well cooked and fatty, which is the way I like it. The teppanyaki beef, on the other hand, was a bit dry:

Teppanyaki beef.

My favourite from the night was the korokke, which for the uninitiated is like a creamier and richer version of the hash brown. The potato on the inside is mashed extensively, and then mixed with seasoning. There is usually some sort of filling in the middle, like meat, cheese, or vegetables. There were two kinds on offer (sorry, again the details escape me!), and we ordered four of each. They were served with a generous pile of sweet mayonnaise on the side. No skimping on portions here - these were huge! I won't tell you how many I had xD

Overall, I had a fun time dining at Japan City. Unless the quality of the food has improved drastically from when I went, I probably wouldn't go again, simply because you could get so much better Japanese food for cheaper prices elsewhere. Sorry, it was just too novel for me. And I'll stick with Ichiban Boshi for my next noodle fix.

Japan City Eat Street, Chatswood

Level 6, Shop 605

1 Anderson Street Chatswood, NSW 2067

Ski trip dinner at Smiggins Hotel, Perisher Valley

This is the third year I've gone skiing at Perisher, and I think I'm finally getting the hang of angling my body 'just so'. Of course, compared with the real ski veterans out there, I still look like an awkward klutz on the slopes. But at least I'm not barrelling down the mountain at an out-of-control 2000 miles/hr anymore (ahem, dad).

I thought I looked a lot more pro than this; haha, inflated ego much?

We were blessed with beautiful weather this year for the entire duration of our trip. Brilliant blue skies, penetrating sunshine (yes, I have the tell-tale 'ski mask' sunburn pattern), and good visibility all around.

Like last year, we stayed at Smiggins Hotel. Literally situated right next to the slopes, Smiggins Hotel is the excellent in terms of convenience and comfort. They also have very nice food!

This crumbed calamari was the entree of the three-course dinner we enjoyed at the Hotel's restaurant on one night. The menu changes each day, and there are two options available for each course. For my main, I ordered the beef fillet, which was perfectly cooked to rare (I like my meat bloody!), and came with a tomato and onion relish, some sort of jus, and beans and potatoes.

The other option for the main was salmon with jasmine rice. I tried some from my fellow diner's plate, and the salmon was absolutely melt-in-your-mouth.

For dessert, there was a choice of the cheese plate or cassata ice cream with biscuit and chocolate sauce. It's a no-brainer which one I went for! xD The ice cream was the consistency of a semifreddo (come to think of it, maybe that's what it said instead on the menu), and was studded throughout with glace fruits. A nice way to finish off the meal!

Here are a few more photos from my trip:

With my sister on the chairlift:

The snow on the slopes at the start of the day, having just been 'combed' and not yet marred with ski tracks (though obviously with footprints!):

Coming down a (relatively gentle) hill:

Being juvenile:

My snow angel/eagle!

Having successfully navigated one of the harder T-bar slopes at Mt. Perisher:

Random Round-up! Part 3

Here's another one of those "closet clean out" posts; just a little something to entertain everyone until I come up with a proper post :D

1) High tea at Tea Parlour, Redfern.

An awesome-looking spread, yes? And not your usual "High Tea" fare either. We visited this quaint little hole-in-the-wall 'parlour' for a friend's 21st. All the goodies you see above are baked by the owner herself, onsite; a feat I am most impressed by. The scones featured in the middle are THE BEST that I've ever tasted. Yes, even better than The Tea Room's down at the QVB! I love this sort of baking: unapologetically unpretentious, and clearly made with real butter xD Everything I had on the day (and I tried everything!) was so good that I couldn't help but eat, eat, eat the whole time I was there. The pecan pie! The cheesecake! The apple crumble tart! *salivates*

2) Durian ice cream from Breadtop.

I know my recommending ice cream from a chain bakery may raise some eyebrows, but this was actually really, really nice! The durian flavour was unmistakable, and did not taste at all artificial. The texture was smooth, but with that "chewiness" which I associate with added thickeners in ice cream. Maybe not everyone's cup of tea, but I quite liked it.

3) Various small cakes and slices from George's Hot Bread Shop, Hurstville.

Situated right near the ticket barriers at Hurstville Railway Station, this little bread shop appears unassuming from a distance, and I for one often passed it by with nary a second look. Had I ventured closer though, I would have discovered much sooner its amazing display of cakes and slices. We're talking real old-school, Australian baking; they even have chocolate crackles! On this occasion, I purchased one of their  sizeable Anzac biscuits (only 90 cents!), which was delicious and one of the best I've tasted, and the three cakes shown above: Black Forest cake (left), vanilla custard slice (right) and baked cheesecake (bottom). All three were bona fide fresh and scrumptious. My favourite was the vanilla slice: cold, sweet eggy custard, contrasted with the crisp, multi-layered pastry which shattered when I sliced into it. Mmm. And you know what? It's all so affordable. Where else can you get a ginormous slice of cake in the $3 range these days?

3) The 'Multi' at Noggi, Strathfield.

To celebrate a recent piece of happy news, I took my siblings out for frozen yoghurt at Noggi. And since we were all fro-yo aficionados and possess iron dispositions impervious to the wintry climate, I went ahead and ordered a 'Multi', the second largest size on offer. I don't think there were quite enough of us to tackle the 'Groupi' xD We got all four flavours (original, pomegranate, biscotti and green tea) and five toppings (gummi bears, Tim Tam, mochi, fresh strawberries, and Crunchie chocolate bar).

4) 'Fine apple tart' and the panna cotta lamington from Flour and Stone Bakery, Woolloomooloo.

After hearing rave reviews all around about these two items from Flour and Stone Bakery, I went and purchased said items the first opportunity I got, and could barely stop myself from tucking into them on the train trip home. The apple tart was visually stunning, but was a bit too tart for my liking, and perhaps would have tasted better warmed up. The panna cotta lamington was an indisputable winner. Incredibly moist, yet not soggy from being drenched in panna cotta mixture - a true wonder. This was one HUGE lamington, yet I managed to finish half of it in one go, and would have eaten the other half as well if I hadn't been sharing with my sister :D

5) The 'I need to unwind with sugar after a long, long week' fridge clean out.

I credit myself on being able to assemble a sugar feast on the slightest whim. It's most likely to do with the fact that my fridge is always stocked with leftover bits of cake, dessert liquers, and embarrasingly, heavy cream. Or in this case, 'lite' heavy cream. No, I'm not at all fat-phobic, it was simply because the lite version was on discount, lol. This concoction of cream, milk and Baileys, along with a slice of homemade caramel cake and the last of my precious Nigella Lawson brownies, sent me into a pleasant, dreamless slumber, and I awoke the next morning cheerful, well-rested, and 10kg heavier. Ahem.

Here's Part 1 and Part 2 of my 'Random Round-up!' series.


Tea Parlour
569 Elizabeth Street
Redfern, NSW 2016

Breadtop, Hurstville

Shop 2, 227-231 Forest Road
Hurstville, NSW 2220

George's Hot Bread Shop

Hurstville Railway Station (Hurstville Central shopping centre)

Noggi

2/2 Albert Road
Strathfield, NSW 2135

Flour and Stone Bakery

53 Riley Street
Woolloomooloo, NSW 2011

Sour Cream Lemon Pound Cake

All the bakers out there - have you ever made something that looked fine and smelt fine, but disappointed in the taste department? I had one such experience with a caramel cake. The darn thing looked perfect, all nicely risen and golden on top, and had that titillating and irresistible smell of caramelised sugar and butter. It held such promise...I took a bite, and disappointment set in as the cake was so depressingly bland. It tasted nothing of caramel. Indeed, it didn't even taste sweet, an impossible situation given how much sugar (and vanilla sugar at that!) I had invested in the thing. And even though I knew from that first bite that it was a total flop, I kept going back for more, hoping that the taste would improve on standing. All those wasted calories...which could have been spent on this Sour Cream Lemon Pound Cake instead.

I had a good feeling about this cake as soon as it came out of the oven. The intoxicating scent of lemons  permeated the whole kitchen, and even though it was the dead of winter and near midnight, I felt like I was swathed in a comforting blanket of warmth and sunlight...*ahem*, yeah creative writing and figurative expression have never been my forte; why don't I simply let the pictures do the talking?

I have made many-a-pound cakes before, and I've had consistently better results with a combination of cream cheese and butter, instead of a "pure butter" pound cake. Problem is, cream cheese is so expensive. And it seems such a waste to use it in anything except a cheesecake, where it can truly shine. And this is where sour cream comes in, because it produces a result indistinguishable from that made with cream cheese - for less than half the price! A quick search on the interweb found a pound cake recipe involving sour cream, courtesy of Cooking with Tanya and Epicurious.

The recipe makes a lot of batter, which is why you should use the 16-cup tube pan that both recipes recommend. I went with a loaf pan, and had about 2 cups of batter left over. One cup I put into a smaller pan and baked for 45 minutes, and the other I microwaved for 3 minutes. The microwaved version was...interesting. Good to eat straight away, but became very dry almost immediately afterwards.

The baked version, on the other hand, is very moist, and will probably stay moist and improve in flavour over the next few days. Simply wrap it with a few layers of cling wrap, and leave it at room temperature for 1 or 2 days before eating. The fragrance from the lemon juice and peel is very pronounced, and goes perfectly with the tang from the sour cream. Serve as is or toasted, with a tall glass of cold milk on the side.

Sour Cream Lemon Pound Cake
Recipe adapted from Epicurious and Cooking with Tanya

Makes 1 10-inch cake (in a bundt pan or chiffon/angel cake pan)

Ingredients
3 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
250g unsalted butter, softened
3 cups white granulated sugar
6 eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Finely grated peel from one large lemon
300ml sour cream

Method
1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius (325 degrees Fahrenheit).

2. In a bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Grease and dust the pan with flour.

3. In a separate bowl, beat the butter with an electric beater until creamy. Gradually add the sugar, and continue to beat for 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time. Beat until incorporated.

4. Stir in the lemon juice and grated peel.

5. Fold in the dry ingredients from step 2.

6. Mix in the sour cream.

7. Transfer the batter into the greased and floured pan. Alternatively, you could simply line the pan with foil.

8. Bake for 1 hour and 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted near the center comes out clean. You may have to cover the top of the cake with a piece of foil an hour into baking to stop the top from burning. Remove from oven, and allow to cool in pan for 15 minutes before turning onto a cooling rack. Let it cool completely before serving. I recommend wrapping it in cling wrap (once it's completely cool!) and letting it stand at room temperature for 1 or 2 days before eating it, to allow the flavours to develop.