Banana Nutella Cake

.. or muffin...
Trying to do a litle bit different on the banana cake, I decided to use some of my husband's Nutella and see how it goes. Verdict: Very soft texture. Taste wise, amazingly it didn't taste much of the nutella. More on the banana. I guess it enhance the banana taste. But it's yummy and this recipe is a keeper :D



Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup Nutella
1/3-1/2 cup mashed banana
56gm butter, softened
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Preparation:
- Pre-heat oven at 160-180C and grease baking pan/muffin tin
- In a bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and sugar
- In a mixing bowl, beat butter, egg, mashed banana, Nutella, vanilla and buttermilk.
- Add in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients
- Pour mixture into the baking pan, bake until the tester came out clean

Spiced up Roasted Cashews

Ever want to have something more than salted roasted cashews? Try this Spiced up Roasted Cashews. It has a mix of spicy, sweet and salted. Really brings a new flavor to the dull salted cashews.

Adapted from Betty's Kitchen.

Ingredients:
2 cups salted cashews
1/8 cup sugar
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/8 teaspoon red pepper (put more if you like em hotter)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons sugar (optional, I didn't put it)

Long time no see!

Waahhoooo!!! I have been slacking in the kitchen lately. But still I cooked up some stuff. Just that I'm lazy to blog about it HAHAHAHA But I think that my macarons class at Mmmmh couple of weeks ago worth to put on this blog. I just need to get the pictures uploaded and that would take time LOL But don't go anywhere, stay tune and I'll be back :D XOXO

Ninja House - Brussels

I saw this place with big sign outside saying 'Sushi et Grillades A Volonté'. Translated to All-you-can-eat Sushi and grills'. Yay!! This is my kinda place. It's called Ninja House and it's located near St. Catherine in the heart of Brussels city. I decided to try this place and see what's going on. This place used to be a Chinese restaurant because they still have one signboard outside that says it is a chinese restaurant. And yes, I passed by this place quiet sometime and I always thought it is a chinese restaurant. So I went here for the lunch all you can eat. The price is 17.90 Euros per person. I was expecting a buffet type where there is all you can take kinda thing, hahahaha. But, this place has the ordering system. Which is good because having sushi and raw fish on the buffet spread is not that nice.

 What is the system then? 1. You can stay up till 2 hours. - Hahaha So don't think you can stay the whole afternoon there and keep ordering. I wonder how they track this and kick out campers. 2. You can order up to 5 times only - On the order sheet, you have 5 columns. Each time you've ordered, the column will be striked out. So when you strike 5, out you go!!! 3. You cannot order (using the next column) before your current order has not arrived yet - Woohooo... So don't think that you can merge the columns hahaha. But I wonder if there is a timeframe where you can order and put that order in the current column. HHmmmm 4. You must finished what you've ordered - This is to avoid people to happily picking up things from the list and then do not want to eat them. I think the count is 1 euro per sushi left and 2 euros per warm food left. So those are the things that I can remember. Anyway, the system and rules are on the menu in 3 different languages. So don't tell me that you don't know! Boo yah!

 

 The verdict: The place: I went there at lunch time and it's not that busy. So my order came in quite fast. You can see the people in the kitchen (I mean just their heads), but it looks like they have a big kitchen and a lot of workers. It's a big restaurant, with 2 floors. No worries about getting a table here I think. The sushi: I took makis and sushis. For sashimi you need to add 4 euros extra. The sushis are good. I had my favorites: the salmon, the tuna, the tofu skin (inari), the one with fish roe. It's pretty decent I would say. I suspect that they have prepared some of the sushi beforehand, but I didn't detect any coldness. Everything melts in your mouth and between your teeth. So it's good. The warm food: I took the teriyaki salmon. It's really nice. At first look, I was a bit disappointed with the size. But then, I think you can't have it too big in 1 serving. If you like it first time, then order double portion at the next order. The surprise: The lunch comes with ice cream as dessert. I didn't know about this. I was about to go, then the waiter told me that I must stay for the ice cream hahahahaha. Oh well. So you get 1 scoop of ice cream from the choice of either vanilla, coconut, chocolate, black sesame and green tea. I went for the authentic green tea :-) Overall, I think this is a pretty decent all you can eat sushi place. For a sushi place in the middle of Brussels, I don't think this is expensive. The price is about right. I could go back to this place and also invite other people to go there.



 

Simple Afternoon Lunch

Instructed to stay home and rest by doctor since Tuesday afternoon, I've been diligently following the instruction. Nevertheless, I didn't know that the week is this long even though you are not at work hahahaha.... Seriously, I have not been outside since Tuesday afternoon. Sheeeshhh... But on the other hand, I slept as much as I could. I don't know if this is because of the viral infection or because I haven't had lazy days for some time hehehhe....

Anyway, it's Friday and I'm feeling better. I woke up this morning, without stucked nose. Everything cleared I would say. But I would take 1 day more to rest. But being me, I can't just sit around, and I think it's time for me to open up the kitchen.

Looking at what's left in the fridge, I found the Phyllo sheets, butter and goat cheese with honey. OK. Time to wrap up some phyllo I guess.



Then I saw a box of Francine Crepe mix. Oh well, why not.





So here we are, 1 hour later :

Izaka-ya - Chaussee de Vleurgat, Brussels

Authentic japanese restaurant near where I work.
I like to go to this place because when someone walks in, they staff will yell "irrasshaimase". Hehehehe... I like that so much! Their lunch bento provides the best possible combination and it's only 10 euros with free-flow hot tea.

The best is to sit at the counter and watch the staff work. Usually they are busy preparing the order, or preparing the evening menu.



Usually bento are sold out by 12:30. So you need to come really early, especially on Thursdays where bento contains maki and nigiri. Otherwise, you can order from the menu. My favorite in the menu is the mix sashimi (tuna and salmon). You will also get a bowl of soup, 3 condiments and a bowl of rice.



Itadaki-masu!

Snek Enak MAMEE

This is one of the childhood snacks that I can never get tired of.
Each time I'm back from Malaysia, my suitcase will be full of these packs till the brim!



So what does it look like? It's a ready-to-eat noodles! Yay!!! :D

What's going on???!!!!

Gah!!! No recent post?
One thing after the crazy baking for the Eid, I haven't done any baking. I think I had too much of sugar and butter, so need to tone down it a bit.

As for some food reviews, I think I have some backlogs somewhere. I still need to do the sushi place that I went sometime for lunch. Then, my mom arrived in Europe with lotsa Malaysian goodies :D Yay!!!! Thank you, mommy!

Stay tune, and more things to come, I promise :D

Asian Home Gourmet - Peanut Sauce Mix

Straightaway I'd say this is a big miss. While it gives a good aroma when cooking, but the taste is lacking something. I think it missed the hotness. Yes, it comes from someone who doesn't like to eat spicy stuff. Inside is the peanut powder, and you need to add a half cup water and a tablespoon of sugar (a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine goes dowwwn.... ok side tracked here LOL).

So what did you get with a reduced half cup of water? Even less than a half cup. Not only the taste is minimal, but the quantity as well. It's a serving for half person LOL. So you can see that the sauce is hardly 1 spoon deep. huhuhuuhu

I ate this sauce with mini spring rolls. Yes I love to dip spring rolls into peanut sauce. It wasn't enough for me huhuhu... I even licked the bowl hahahaha....

So if you want to try peanut sauce for the first time, you can use this packet. It's a safe bet. Nothing can go wrong. But if you are thinking to have more than enough, then maybe go for 2 packets. I've yet to try the dutch/indonesian instant peanut mix. Perhaps I'll try them and compare with this one.

Coulis de Prunes/Prunes coulis

I've got some prunes left from the tart, so I've decided to make a coulis (jam?). It's really great to use this coulis on top of anything that has not much taste, like natural yoghurt :D

Just add sugar and reduce the juice...





Finally I can use one of the many empty jam jars in the house :D

Asian Home Gourmet - Mee Goreng

Last time I used Go-Tan Bami Goreng paste. This time I thought I give Asian Home Gourmet a try. I did it with the same ingredient as Go-Tan's, with chicken liver (By now you know that I like chicken liver hehehe).

The taste? I can't remember exactly how Go-Tan's mee goreng, but I would say it's the same as Asian Home Gourmet's. There is no distinct difference that I can pinpoint easily. So basically both are safe bet, and can be used. It's your choice :-) Only that with half bottle of Go-Tan, I cooked the same amount of noodle (150g) as 1 packet of Asian Home Gourmet's. So I think if you want to cook for only 150g noodles, then go for the packet, but if you are going to cook for 300g noodles, than you need 1 bottle of Go-Tan's Bami goreng :D

Tarte aux prunes/Prunes tart

Easiest and yummy dessert in the whole world :D
I bought a ready-made tart base, and cut the prunes, arrange them, throw in some sugar... into the oven.
Some fruits like prunes may contain a lot of water, when bake it oozes out a lot of juice. So the best is to pre-cook your tart base (Cuire à blanc, in french). Like this you can preserve the crispy base.



Bon appetit!

Daifuku - Part 2

Last time I posted ice cream daifuku. This time I got myself a treat... :D
The traditional daifuku with fillings. Most popular fillings are read bean paste, strawberry, taro and peanut.
I went for a mix pack.... Hehehehe :D



So we have sesame coated, starch coated and peanut coated.


Both sesame coated and starch coated are with red bean filling.


The peanut coated are with peanut paste filling.


Don't be fooled with these cuties... I can only eat them 2 at a time (Yeah I thought I could wallop those 6 in one go LOL). However, they are divine. I'm sure there are other version which are great, like it's not come in a pack and freshly made.. Anyway, I'm settling for this, and not going anywhere.. these are mine! :D

Daifuku Ice cream ^^

I love my trip to Nagomi's shop, because I can always find cute things to buy (and eat). Remember the Edamame snack? *^^*

These pictures have been taken some time ago. Even on rainy windy Brussels weather I love the japanese ice cream. This one in particular is daifuku ice cream.

What is daifuku? Well, just ask the googly lord or saint wiki, and you'll see what I'm referrring to.
But if you want to stick to my description, here it goes.
Daifuku is a japanese dessert made of glutinous rice flour with fillings. It has a chewy texture and the fillings can varies. For example, this one has milk ice cream as fillings. Usually each daifuku is covered with thin layer of starch (corn flour) to avoid sticking (to fingers or spoon or fork).

Have you had daifuku ice cream before? Or normal daifuku? What is your favorite fillings?

2-pack Daifuku ice-cream for only 1,50€
It has so many things written on the cover, and I don't know what it means LOL I went to the website address written on the cover.
Go there for some crazy yummy Japanese ice cream and some funny comercials.


Inside you have 2 daifuku and a plastic fork


Pick the daifuku using the plastic fork given. The daifuku must be frozen (more like the ice cream inside must be frozen). Otherwise it's too soft then you need to eat using the spoon.


Yummers!

Pastry, Patisserie, Cake, Gateau - What's your fav?

I'm not a sweet tooth person. I think that's why I can still keep myself calm whenever I stepped into a bakery or patisserie in Europe. My significant other is a sweet tooth person and sweet as sugar too *^^* I think it is safe for him that he doesn't have someone else hogging over his desserts.

However, after few years living in the well-known patisserie country, I have acquired some sweetness in my mouth. I enjoyed the tart taste of rhubarb pie, the refine chocolate taste. I can easily distinguish a good chocolate (less sugar, more chocolate) compared to chocolate (with lotsa sugar, less chocolate). Not to mention that now I love to bake! But I still have problem to eat creams, like buttercream, and crème patissière.

As much as we have abundant desserts here in France and Belgium, I still prefer the non-Europan cake. I like the birthday cake that we have in Malaysia. You know the one with 2 layer sponge cake, and frosted with buttercream (not too much). The most important for me is the ratio between the cake and the cream. The problem I have with most french gateaux is that they have thin layer(s) of cake (which is called genoise or biscuit), and loads of creams. It's just too sweet and mushy. Can't they make a thicker genoise?

I have been putting off to try making choux pastry, e.g.eclairs and paris brest. This is because of the amount of cream that i have to prepare, and I am not a fan for that. But I must try making it as it's someone's fav huhu
On this topic, did you know that by default, eclair au chocolat in Belgian has vanilla crème inside it, instead of chocolate? It drove us nuts when we saw that the eclair has chocolat on the top, but vanilla fillings. It's just wrong! I asked my Belgian friend and he said that it's just too much to have the chocolate filling... Tsk tsk tsk... Whereas in France, by default, eclair au chocolat has chocolat filling.

My favorite dessert is crème brulée. It's lucky that I do not have a kitchen torch. Otherwise, I'll be making crème brulée all day! (that rhymes). What's yours?

Baile Átha Cliath Weekend Getaway

Last weekend I went to Dublin. I don't know what is the real reason I'm going there hahahaha But I think the little travel bug in me asked me to bring it somewhere. I've ended up doing shopping and eating.. a lot hahahaha



Some of the places I've been to and highly recommend if you happen to be in Dublin (not in any particular order:
Elephant & Castle
Koh
Nyonya Malaysian Restaurant
Penang Malaysian Restaurant
Any nice coffee place

Triangles aux brébis de Salakis

Après un test avec des feuilles de brick, j'ai encore 3 feuilles de bricks dans mon frigo. Que vais-je faire avec?
Traditionnellement, les feuilles sont utilisées pour faire des triangles ou des pastillas. J'ai trouvé beaucoup de vidéo sur Internet sur ​​les triangles de la brick et la façon de réaliser ces petites merveilles. C'est facile! Vous pouvez mettre ce que vous voulez dans le triangle, cela dépend de votre créativité! iiii
Et moi, j'ai mis le fromage de chèvre et des omelettes ^^ Résultat: Ils sont très très bons. Légèr et délicieux.

In English:
After a test with the phyllo sheets, I still have 3 sheets left in my fridge. What will I do with them?
Traditionally, the sheets are used for stuffed triangles or pastillas. I've found many videos on the Internet on how to make the triangles and the way to do this marvelous little things. It's easy actually! You can put whatever that you like as the filling, and it all depends on your creativity!!! heheheh
And me, I've chosen the goat cheese and omelette ^^ The result: They are really really good. Light and delicious.



Ingredients:
- Omelette
- Goat cheese (add some olives oil and salt and pepper)
- Phyllo sheets
- Melted butter

Preparation:
- Prepare the omelette (cut into smaller pieces)
- Prepare the goat cheese
- Cut the round phyllo sheet into 2, to get a half-circle sheet
- Spread some melted butter on the sheet
- Add the filling
- Follow the instruction on how to fold the sheet into triangle
- Pop the triangles into a pre-heated oven
- Bake until triangles turn brown



Time to eat!!!!!!!!!



Great dinner/snack/party food

Edamame - Salted Soybean Snack

Well-known japanese snack. I bought this frozen snack from the Japanese store near where I work.
At first it was kinda wierd to eat them, but after awhile it becomes addictive and I get the idea how to eat them.
You have to squeeze slowly the skin so that the first bean pops up, then pop it into your mouth. As said on the packaging, that it is salted. I was scared that it's going to be too salty. But it's not. It has the right amount of salt. But it makes you thirsty anyway :D

It's a beauty:


Frozen edamame:


Thawed edamame:


Warm them in the microwave for about between 4-6 minutes:


Great snack in front of the telly :D