If You Have Bananas and Sour Cream...

I love this recipe. I have made banana breads and banana cakes, but by far, I love this recipe the most. I love Rose Beranbaum's cake recipes. Period. This is by far the most tender and yummiest banana cake I have ever tasted. I attribute it all to the sour cream and mixing technique. One thing I love about Rose's cake recipes is that she incorporates her knowledge in food science into her cookbooks. I am a lover of recipe elaborations, explanations, tips and the like. This may have been due to my lack of knowledge in cooking and baking in the first place when I first became a wife, such that when I tried recipes of Malaysian food, many turned out into chicken feed. For years I gave up trying and focused on baking and western cookbooks instead, as they are more like chemistry, and should I say, more organized (well most are at least). And after gaining some food chemistry know how, I returned to my attempts at Malaysian food, and lo and behold, alhamdulillah, at least some of them were fit for consumption.

Anyway, like I said, this is by far my favorite banana cake recipe. The sour cream produces a very tender cake, and the lemon zest lends a delightful fragrance and wonderful tang, in addition to the sour cream. If you don't like your banana cake to look brown though, put off blending the bananas until you're ready with the dry ingredients, so they don't have time to oxidize (did I tell you I love food facts?), and you will get a light colored banana cake, with Allah's permission. It is also from this recipe that I concocted an allergy free version for Zeyoudee, which can be found here.

Taken from Rose Beranbaum's Cake Bible,

Cordon Rose Banana Cake

2 large ripe bananas (about 1 cup)
2 Tbs sour cream (for extra moistness you can use up to 1/2 cup)
2 eggs
2 tsp grated lemon zest
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 C sifted cake flour
3/4 C + 2 tsp sugar
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
10 Tbs unsalted butter, softened

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and grease and line pans. You can use an 8x8, or one 9 inch by 2 round pan or even a 9 inch springform pan.
2. In a food processor, or blender, blend the bananas and sour cream until smooth. Then add eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla and blend briefly, just to blend.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients (cake flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt) and mix on low speed for 30 seconds to blend
4. Add the softened butter and half of the banana mixture. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened.
5. Increase to medium speed (high speed if using hand mixer) and beat for 1 1/2 minutes
6. Add the rest of the banana mixture in two batches, and make sure to scrape down the sides between each addition. The batter will develop beautifully as you continue beating (the beauty is in the technique Rose has developed)
7. Pour batter into the prepared pan/s and smooth the surface. I always create a slight dip in the middle of the batter and bring them to the sides so that when the cake naturally domes, it will be somewhat level and not too domed in the middle.
8. Bake 30 to 40 minutes or till cake springs back when lightly pressed.
9. Cool cake in pan on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes, and then invert cake out of pan and cool completely.


Or you can also immediately dig in while it's still hot, and emanating a wafting aroma of banana and lemon. At least that's what my son did, despite me telling him to leave some for his father. I had sliced the square cake into strips and let them eat half of the cake and they devoured it uninhibitedly of course. I left, and when I returned, the other half was literally butchered, the culprit having moved away from the crime scene as far as he could. At the end of the day, there were two pieces left in the pan which went in the fridge. When I saw it, I told hubby and believe it or not, when he went for those pieces later on, he found the pan empty (but still in the fridge).

"Good joke, good joke!" he said.

Alas, he didn't get a taste of that cake. The kids beat him to it. He took revenge (not sure for that particular incident or an accumulated ice cream incidents in whci the kids would eat almost the whole tub and leave a measly bit for their parents) by eating more than half of the tub of ice cream. When the kids took the tub out to get some, they exclaimed,

"Hey! Who ate so much?"

Of course, they accused each other, and when it turned out that none of them did it, and hey, I didn't do it, the only person left to accuse was their father. Ahh...revenge is truly sweet when it involves ice cream. I guess.

A Squeal, A Whoop of Joy!

Four tries. That's how many tries it took for me to come up with a banana cake you won't believe is allergy free!

We had bought combs upon combs of banana so Z and I would have easy accessible snacks. Of course, after a while, these bananas screamed to be used up in something because they were starting to freckle. I had already made the allergy free Jemput Jemput, and on the same day, I had also made two banana cakes, allergy free, but they were not satisfactory at all.

So, I decided to have another go at it, this time, incorporating my baking know how, alternating the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. I decided to stick with coconut milk for the liquid. Rose Beranbaum's recipe for Cordon Rose Banana Cake had used sour cream, and so far, this cake is the BEST banana cake I've ever tasted in my life, and I have tried quite a few banana cake recipes. So I figured I'd best be sticking to a creamy liquid in my recipe.


On my first try, I forgot to include sugar, but I also thought I didn't need it because the bananas were already sweet. When the cake was done, I took it out. I had peeked while it was baking, and when I saw it rise, my heart leapt for joy, but I told myself not to be too excited because it could still turn out to be a flop. So, I took it out when it was done, and let it cool in the pan on the cooling rack before I inverted it and took it out. While it was cooling, I cleaned the kitchen. I tried hard to ignore it, for fear of facing yet another disappointment of a hard rock and untasty cake after so much work of deciding a measured amount of flour and other ingredients and writing them down on one of my recycled grocery lists paper.

But I finally could not ignore the cake any longer, and I gingerly inverted it. I couldn't help myself, so I lightly pressed it. It sprung back. My heart started to beat faster. I grabbed a knife, and started slicing. It was soft. My heart felt lighter. I took one cut piece. It felt fluffy and tender. My heart probably grew wings. I put the piece in my mouth. Heaven! My heart leapt right out along with my voice,

"Kids!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Come !!!!!!!"

They were all upstairs playing 'Sultan's kids'. They bounded down the stairs. One by one, they popped a piece of banana cake and nodded their approval. I squealed. Now I know how Alexander Graham Bell felt.

The first cake lacked sugar, and at first it tasted bland, but after a while, you could taste the banana. I decided to have a second go though, this time, adding 5 tablespoons sugar.

Meanwhile, Zeyoudee had his first cake, and the rest of us couldn't keep our hands off the cake, and before I knew it, there was no more First Banana Cake left. The second try was baking in the oven, and I peeked again. It rose. Alhamdulillah!

When it was done, cooled and all, well, maybe not all the way through, but I couldn't wait anymore, I cut it. It was gummy. I felt a tad disappointed, blaming the sugar, but after a while I realized that it was underbaked. I had taken it out too soon. So I still consider it a success, allahu akbar!

Personally I prefer the sugarless one though. It is healthier. So I have cut down the sugar to only 3 tablespoons in this recipe.

Zeyoudee's Banana Cake

1 C blended banana
1/2 C coconut milk
3 Tbs sugar
1/2 C brown rice flour
1/4 C sweet potato starch
1/4 C buckwheat flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 egg replacers (3 tsp Egg Replacer + 4 tbs warm water)
2 tsp oil

Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit. Lightly oil an 8 inch round cake pan, bottom and sides, and line the bottom with parchment paper, and lightly oil the top side of the parchment paper too. Sprinkle some brown rice flour, and shake the pan to distribute the flour across the greased bottom and sides of the pan, and dump out the excess.

1. Combine blended bananas, egg replacers, sugar, beat till combined, then add oil and beat again
2. Meanwhile, combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl and stir to distribute them evenly
3. Add the dry ingredients in 3 additions alternating with coconut milk, meaning, you first add a couple spoonfuls of the dry mix to the banana-egg mix and beat it till combined. Then you add 1/3 -1/2 of the coconut milk and beat till combined. Then add the dry mix again and keep alternating, but make sure you end with the dry mix. Here, on Chef Talk, the science behind this alternating method of mixing is explained.
4. Bake in 8 in cake pan (greased) for 20-25 minutes or till it springs back when lightly pressed
5. Cool cake in pan on cooling rack for 10 minutes
6. Slide knife around the edges to loosen the cake, invert it onto the rack and slide the pan off. Cool cake completely on the rack.

Cook's Notes:

• I used Ener G egg replacers. The directions for use is on the box.



• Make sure you blend the banana in a blender till smooth. This is so you get a smooth consistency for the cake. Mashing the banana will not result in a smoothly textured cake.



• Instead of using butter or Baker's Joy spray to grease the pan, I suggested using oil, to make this truly dairy free.

My next try is ... carrot cake, or apple cake, inshaallah.

Allergy Free Banana Ball Fritters

If not for Zeyoudee's allergies and a sister's determination in conducting her own kitchen experiments (despite not having any problems with allergies herself), I might have never learned about the properties of different types of flours, the different function of eggs, and eventually be moved to hatch some recipes of my own in concocting something my little Zeyoudee can eat without breaking into hives and going into a fit of coughing and wheezing, alhamdulillah!

It took me a while to get used to eating baked goods made with rice flour, and getting used to drinking rice milk. Rice flour is particularly grainy and gritty, and the first time I ate pancakes I made using rice flour, I was quite disappointed. Brown rice flour though, makes a huge difference!

I had made this Jemput Jemput with white rice flour first, combined with buckwheat flour. It tasted like...rice flour. It was okay, but I decided to try making it with brown rice flour. And it tasted...better.


The only thing I had to deal with was that it would brown very quickly compared to the Jemput Jemput made with normal flour. And I think this probably has something to do with the color of the buckwheat flour, which is somewhat grayish. It also tends to be crispy on the outside, but very fluffy and soft on the inside.

There I was, evaluating and critiquing my allergy free version of Jemput Jemput Pisang, yet when we handed some to Zeyoodee, he joyfully stuffed them in his mouth, simply happy to have yet another new thing to eat. Crispy, fluffy, I don't think he cared. Alhamdulillah!

And alhamdulillah, we gave him something that had coconut milk (coconut is considered a tree nut) days before, and he didn't have any reactions. So that opened up more possibilities for him, and I was beyond elated. He will be a true Malaysian. That means, I have to learn to make these Malaysian desserts now, after avoiding them for years because I couldn't rely on Malaysian recipes that are usually simply written as recipes, as opposed to western cookbooks that also include the science of chemistry behind baking. Let's just say I'm kind of a geek when it comes to following recipes. I want to know the whys, hows, in addition to the recipes. In fact, I don't like it when a cookbook just has recipes but no explanations.

And thus, the Cake Bible, by Rose Levy Beranbaum, is one of my favorite and most treasured cookbooks. Recently I also discovered her blog, and I have to say, it's one of my greatest 'stumble upon' on the internet. Ahhh....however, I have moved from the world of baking to the world of baking/cooking allergy free, and my favorite allergy free site now, is Karina's Kitchen. But I still owe my first peek into the world science behind the baking to Rose's Cake Bible, among other cookbooks I have amassed throughout the years.

Zeyoudee's Jemput Jemput Pisang

2 bananas mashed
1/2 c brown rice flour
1/4 c buckwheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 - 1/2 cup coconut milk/rice milk
salt


1. Combine the above together till they make a thick batter
2. Heat oil for deep frying
3. Drop spoonfuls of the batter one by one
4. Turn over to brown the other side
5. Drain on paper towels

Cook's notes:

• The brown rice flour has to be refrigerated once opened because it can go rancid pretty quickly.
• For a truly allergy free version, use gluten free baking powder
• Since it will brown very quickly, make sure to turn it as soon as it browns
• Wait until the oil is really hot, otherwise it will stick

I know most people probably have no need for an allergy free version, but in case you know someone who has allergies, especially multiple allergies, this will be one of those rare pearls!

When We Went Raspberry Picking...

One year, we went strawberry picking with the Malaysians. When the next summer came, I wanted to pick something else. So I suggested raspberries. I didn't know what raspberry plants look like.

It was a picking I don't want to go through again, at least not in that kind of weather. We were drenched with sweat under the sweltering heat, and those raspberries, they're too small that it felt like forever to fill our baskets.

Nevertheless, we did return home with pounds of fresh raspberries, which in turn, gave me a whole afternoon of bustling in the kitchen. I grabbed some recipe pamphlets from the Farm, and on the way home, started planning what I was going to with those raspberries before they go bad.


I made raspberry puree and froze them for my future cake creations. I made raspberry roll, and I made Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake, which we ended up giving to the Malaysian brothers because we had too mych raspberry baked goods in the house by the time I was done. By the time I was done, I was also completely exhausted, but it was worth it, because hubby came back from the brothers' house with a clean dish. He said the brothers loved it.

For a while, I thought I had lost the recipe, and while the kids and I were looking at the photos, my oldest daughter said,

You have to make this again," pointing at the photo of this Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake.

I told her, "I don't know where the recipe is."

But, today, as I was sorting out my recipe box while packing, I found it.

"I found it!" I exclaimed.

"You can make it then," she replied.

"No, raspberries are expensive."

"Do they have raspberry picking in New Mexico?" my younger daughter asked.

"No."

"In Malaysia?"

I chuckled to myself before saying, "No."

Poor kids.

So I guess we'll make it when the opportunity arises, inshaallah.

Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

Filling:

12 oz cream cheese, softened/at room temperature
1/3 C sugar
1 egg
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla



Streusel:
1/2 C (1 8 oz stick) butter, softened/at room temperature
1 C sugar
2/3 C all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt


Batter:
1/2 C (1 8 oz stick) butter, softened/romm temperature
1 1/4 C sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
4 C all purpose flour
1 Tbs + 1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 C milk
3 C fresh raspberries

1. Preheat oven to 375 F
2. Butter a 13x9 glass oven proof dish
   

Filling:

1. Cream cream cheese and sugar
2. Add egg, lemon juice, and vanilla

Streusel:
1. Blend butter, sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt

Batter:

1. Beat butter and sugar
2. Beat in eggs, and vanilla till light
3. Whisk flour and baking powder and salt
4. *Add the flour mixture slowly to batter in 3 additions, alternating with milk **Fold in raspberries gently
5. Spread 2 1/2 cups batter in the dish
6. Spread filling evenly on top
7. Drop spoonfuls of remaining batter on filling
8. Spread evenly, sprinkle streusel over
9. Bake on middle rack for 1 hour and 5 minutes or till golden
10. Cool completely

Cook's Notes:

• * For better mixing, the dry ingredients are added to the creamed butter alternately with the wet ingredients. The first addition would be the dry ingredients, 1/3 of it, then mix till combined, then 1/2 of the wet ingredients (in this case, milk) and mix again, then the dry ingredients, and so on. The last addition will be the dry ingredients.
• ** Folding is not the same as mixing or stirring. Folding ensures that the air we have worked to hard to trap in the batter is not released by stirring.
• I used an oven proof 13x9 oven proof glass dish. Use a 13x9 dish, oval or rectangular.
• The reason why the cream cheese and butter were required to be at room temperature is so the mixing will be easier. Just take out the butter and cream cheese sometime way before you plan to make this so by the time you do, they will be at room temperature.
• However, if you're in a rush, and don't want to wait for them to come to room temperature, or are afraid that if you wait, you will lose the motivation to make this at all (like what always happens to me, and I believe, my mom ;), just cream the cream cheese by itself with the mixer until it's soft, and the same with the butter.
• It's also better if the eggs are also allowed to come to room temperature so you will get more volume. (There is a whole dos and don't related to cake making that I cannot elaborate on here, unfortunately).
• A demo on folding (we're not talking laundry):

Well, I guess, we'll be waiting ages before we make this again, if we do return to Malaysia, unless we substitute something else for the raspberries that is. Hmm...maybe mangoes, mangosteen, jackfruits, guava, durian, rambutan...ohh...the possibilities!

Going Bananas!

Only after I got to know the Somalis in Columbus did I associate banana with the Somalis, because of the interesting fact that they eat their rice with bananas.

Bananas, all kinds of them, grow in abundance in Malaysia, and I really mean in abundance! When I was prescribed glasses, I devoutly, every single morning after Fajr, headed out to our orchard and struggled to get drops of fresh morning dews from the banana plants (just the banana plants, not tapioca, not durian, not anything else!) into my myopic eyes, as per my grandmother's prescription for curing my myopia. I can still feel the smoothness of the banana leaves, and I can still see those coveted pool of fresh dew breaking into glistening drops as they slid down the central stem of the banana leaf. I'm still myopic by the way, so no, it didn't work.

Since we have a lot of bananas, Malaysians have come up with many ways to eat it, but none of them includes eating it with rice. :) We have fried banana fritters, banana ball fritters, banana in sweet rich creamy sauce, ...err...well I guess that is about it, well at least those that I am aware of (and I'm not really an expert on Malaysian food, despite being Malaysian). You can find banana fritters being sold on the streets by hawkers, freshly fried and still steaming hot. It's usually served for tea when guests come to visit, since it's pretty easy to whip up last minute.

This version, called Jemput Jemput, in Malay (which directly translate to 'invite/tiny portions'). I wondered about the etymology of the name, and asked my husband.

His theory:

1. Because of its size, and the way it's made is by deep frying tiny portions

My theory:

1. It's easily whipped up for guests, and you tell them, "Jemput makan," (Please come and eat! The 'invite' version of the meaning)

Jemput Jemput Pisang (Banana Ball Fritters)

4 overripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 tsp baking powder
1 3/4 cup flour
dash of salt


1. Combine the mashed bananas and coconut milk in a big bowl
2. Add the flour and baking powder and salt
3. Mix with a wooden spoon into a thick batter
4. Heat enough oil for deep frying, wait until it's really hot
5. Take one spoonful of batter, and using another spoon, swipe it neatly, as a ball into the hot oil
6. Turn it over when the bottom is light brown
7. Serve warm as a light sweet snack

Cook's notes:

• Make sure the oil is hot before you drop your first banana ball in it. If it's not hot enough, the banana balls might stick, and it won't fluff up as much. I learned this the hard way.
• Turn down the heat a tad if it browns too quickly.
• Rule of thumb for deep frying: don't crowd the pan or the oil temperature will dip
• Just like making pancakes, don't overmix the batter, or the gluten will overdevelop and make them tough.
  
• Below is a how to video:

Check out other Jemput Jemput Pisang on the blogosphere:

Jthorge's Jemput Jemput Pisang on Jthorge's Kitchen

Brenda Tan's Jemput Jemput Pisang on Mum Loves Cooking

Beachlover's Jemput Jemput Pisang on Beachlover's Kitchen

Moroccan Fruit Salad

I first tasted this at an iftar gathering over Ramadan and I fell in love. It's also a much healthier alternative to deserts at your dinner parties. Considering all of the cake and chocolate we've been eating lately, I decided to quickly put together a healthier option. With tons of school work and midterms underway, the 10 minute preparation time was also pretty appealing :)

What you'll need

- some red and green seedless grapes, sliced in half
- strawberries, chopped up to make bite size pieces
- kiwi, peeled and chopped
- bananas, chopped
- oranges, chopped
- 3 tablespoons yogurt (You could add more- we're not big on yogurt though)
- 1 cup of mango juice (you can also use orange juice)
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
- any other fruits of your choice, this is just what I had in my fridge

1. Chop and dice your grapes, strawberries, kiwi, bananas, and oranges and throw them into a bowl to mix
2. Add the yogurt and mix
3. add one cup of mango juice, 1 tsp of sugar, and mix
4. Serve :)

* I planned to make fruit kebabs but I remembered I needed skewers for that!