Banana Bread

1/2 cup salted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3-4 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 180 C

2. Grease and flour a loaf tin.

3. Cream butter and sugar.

4. Add eggs to the butter and sugar one at a time.

5. Add mashed banana and vanilla.

6. Sift in the flour, baking soda and salt.

7. Combine but do not over mix.

8. Pour into the loaf tin and bake for 1 hour.

Crab bee hoon

Serves 4-6

Chicken stock
2 Chicken Carcasses
5-6 chicken feet
2 tablespoons dried soya beans
1 handful dried anchovies (Ikan Bilis), washed
1 white Onion, cut into wedges
5 - 6 garlic cloves, smashed
3 slices old ginger
Half a carrot, cut into chunks
About 1.5 litres water or enough to just cover all ingredients
(Optional: 2 teaspoons chicken powder)

2 large, fresh Sri Lankan crabs or 3-4 small to medium sized (or a combination!)
300g dried bee hoon vermicelli
2 tablespoons peanut oil
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 slices old ginger
2 tablespoons of tsao tsing cooking wine
Chicken stock (above)
1 - 2 tablespoons dried Sole fish powder (made from 3 - 4 pieces of dried Sole)
2 tablespoons salted butter, melted
1/4 to 1/2 cup Carnation full fat evaporated milk
1/2 - 1 tablespoon fish sauce or soy sauce
1 handful of chye sim, cut into 3 inch pieces
Finely ground white pepper

1. Make the chicken stock by adding all the stock ingredients to a large pot. Skim as much scum as possible. Bring to a boil and then cover and lower to a simmer for 2 hours. Strain and discard the ingredients.

2. Cut the pieces of dried Sole fish and fry in some oil till golden brown - do not fry till it's too dark brown! Remove and set on some paper towels to drain the oil. Pound in a mortar and pestle or in a spice grinder till a powder. There will be excess so you can keep this in an air tight container.

3. Soak the dried bee hoon in tap water for 10 minutes and strain.

4. You should dispatch the crab just before cooking, or no more than an hour kept in the fridge on ice.
Cut the crabs into pieces.

5. In a large wok, heat the oil and add the crab pieces. Toss a few times and add the ginger and garlic. Keep tossing for about 5 minutes. Less than 5 minutes if you're using small crabs.

6. Add in the stock, Sole fish powder, melted butter and evaporated milk. Start off with 1/4 cup first. You can add more later if you prefer it milky.

7. Bring to a boil and add the fish or soy sauce, and white pepper to taste.

8. Add the strained noodles and chye sim to a large claypot and transfer the crab and stock to it. Cover and cook on for another 5 minutes.

9. Give the stock a final taste. If you like it more milky, add more evaporated milk.

10. Turn off the fire and serve in the claypot. Garnish with coriander leaves if desired and serve with dipping sauce of sliced chilies in soy sauce.

Adapted from The Bonding Tool.

ABC Muffins (Apple, Banana and Carrot)

1 large egg
1/4 cup melted butter (I used salted - if not using salted, add a pinch of salt)
1/3 cup mashed ripe bananas
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1.5 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup grated carrot
2/3 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup ground almonds
1 cup + 2 tablespoons wholemeal flour

Optional:
Cream cheese frosting (recipe below)
Chopped walnuts

1. Melt the butter in the microwave and preheat the oven to 190 Degrees Celsius.

2. Whisk the egg, bananas, applesauce, baking soda, sugar, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, milk and vanilla extract. Add in the cooled melted butter.

3. Mix in the grated carrot, oats and almonds.

4. Sift in the flour and mix. Do not over mix.

5. Divide into a greased muffin tray (6 jumbo or 12 normal sized).

For the frosting:
1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
3/4 cup cream cheese at room temperature
2 cups icing sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Cream the butter and cheese with an electric mixer until smooth.

2. Add half of the sifted icing sugar, mix, then add the other half.

3. Add the vanilla extract and mix again.

4. I stuffed my muffins with the frosting using a piping nozzle but you can omit, or cut a bit out from the middle and spoon in the frosting.

5. Spread it on top of the muffin and garnish with chopped walnuts.

Sweet and salty chocolate peanut butter pie

Serves 6-8

For the crust:

125g digestive biscuits, finely ground
5 tablespoons caster sugar
85g salted butter, melted

For the filling:

1 cup chunky peanut butter (I use a good quality one with no other ingredients except for a bit of salt)
85g Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-3 tablespoons icing sugar *
* Add as much as you like to your own taste. As I used a good quality peanut butter, I had to use about 2-3 tablespoons to sweeten - if you're using brands like Skippy, you may not need that much as it's pretty sweet already

For the topping:

230g (8 ounces) good quality semisweet chocolate, chopped or broken into pieces
1 cup/300ml heavy cream
1/4 cup salted roasted peanuts, roughly chopped

For the crust:

1) Preheat the oven to 190C.

2) In a food processor, blitz the biscuit, sugar and butter. (You can crush the biscuits by hand too)

3) Press it out onto a greased 9 inch tart pan with removable base, and bake for 7 minutes. Leave to cool. (You can also leave it in the fridge or freezer to chill, but I prefer to bake).

For the filling:

4) Mix all the ingredients for the filling. I used the food processor but you can do it by hand too. Spread it on the cooled crust. Mine was a bit doughy so it was easy to press out with my fingers.

For the topping:

5) Heat the heavy cream in a saucepan till it's simmering, and pour it over the chocolate. ( I sweetened my chocolate with a bit of icing sugar but if yours is sweet enough then there's no need) Mix till it's combined.

6) Pour the chocolate over the filling and sprinkle the chopped peanuts on the top.

7) Chill in the fridge, uncovered for at least 3 hours. Then remove the rim and base of the tart pan carefully with a palette knife.

8) Serve chilled.

Garlic Noodles

Serves 4 -6

800g fresh egg noodles ( I used hokkein noodles)
10 cloves garlic, finely chopped
About 60g butter
4 tablespoons normal olive oil (Don't use extra virgin!)
Finely grated parmesan cheese (use however much you like. I used about one handful of a really good one - not the powdered type )
Freshly ground black pepper

For the cooking sauce:
4 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon finely ground white pepper
3-4 tablespoons garlic powder
4 teaspoons chicken powder
1 teaspoon sugar
Splash of hot water

To garnish:
1 whole bunch (about 5-6 stalks) sliced spring onions

1. Prepare a bow of ice cold water to shock the noodles after boiling.

2. Bring a huge ass pot of water to a rapid boil and boil for 1 - 2 minutes.

3. Quickly drain the water and immerse in the cold water. Drain again and allow to air dry for about 5-10 minutes.

4. While noodles are drying, combine the oyster sauce, fish sauce, white pepper, garlic powder, chicken powder, and sugar. Add a splash of hot water to loosen the paste and dissolve the sugar.

5. On high flame, heat the olive oil and add the butter. As soon as it melts, add the garlic and turn the heat to low. Fry till it's fragrant. Be careful not to burn the garlic.

6. Add the sauce paste, combine and fry for another minute or so to combine.

7. Add in the noodles and coat the noodles with the sauce.

8. Add in the Parmesan cheese till it melts, about a minute.

9. Turn off the heat and add in freshly ground black pepper.

10. Serve on plate and garnish with lots of sliced green onion.

* I adapted this recipe from Maggie Foodie on YouTube, which was adapted from Crustacean restaurant. I've never tried those famous Crustacean noodles but this turned out pretty dam good. So easy to make too for a quick dinner. Add some left over roast chicken and it's good to go!