SHL Free Range Organic Chicken Soup

Once in a while, when I entertain guests at the farm, I will cook based on our farm produce.  At a recent gathering, I decided to do my version of the chicken soup featuring our chicken.  Cooking free range chicken is different than cooking "cooped up" chickens as free range chickens do not have soft flabby meat and tastes great when cooked with herbs and spices and will result in tender chicken meat.
To start with, we have fresh chicken which we will place over open flame for a few seconds to remove all the fine "hairs" left after the feathers have been plucked.  Cut the chicken into 10 pieces, separating them at the joints and the chicken breast is cut into 4 pieces.
Rinse them well to remove any unwanted innards left.  Place in a drainer and let the water drain off.

The ingredients I use to flavour the soup are:

1. Fresh tumeric (kunyit hidup)
2. Fresh small galangal (lengkuas kecil)
3. Kaffir lime leaves (daun lima pert)
4. Lemon grass (Serai)
5. White basil (selasih putih)
6. Fresh ginger (halia)
7. Star Anise (bunga lawang)
8. Cloves (Cengkih)
9. Coarse salt (garam kasar)
10. Big red onion (bawang merah besar)
11. Yellow onion (bawang kuning besar)
12. Garlic (bawling putih)
13. Chopped celery (saldri)
14. Chopped carrots (lobak merah)
15. Fresh bay leaves (daun salam)

When I cook dishes like this, I am pretty much old school which means I do not use a blender but prefer to use mortar and pestle.  I use olive oil and heat it up and add the onions which have been pound coarsely.  Next I will pound ginger, galangal and tumeric and add it to the pot once the onion has been cooked until it is translucent.  After allowing it to cook for a few minutes, I will add the white basil, bay leaves and kaffir lime leaves which I pound to just break it up a bit.  After 1 minute or so, I will add the garlic which has been pound to a relative fine consistency and follow it with Carrots, celery star anise and cloves.  I add the chicken to the pot and stir it around and add water followed by the lemon grass stalks which I just fund the ends.  I bring the mixture to a boil and then slow the heat to allow it to simmer for about 1 hour.  I add salt and turn off the heat.  The soup is ready.

My choice of the seasoning is based on the goodness that I want the soup to have apart from having it taste good.  This soup can be served on its own, eaten with rice or as the gravy for noodles.  So, there it is - our version of free range organic chicken soup which results in tender chicken meat and tasty soup filled with nutrients :)

Local Salad Mania

We are used to eating the normal "western" salad that comprises of lettuce, tomatoes, etc.  However, locally, our ancestors have been consuming salads as part of their meal only we call them ulam.    Their salad dressing was sambal belacan only theirs didn't include pesticides or growth hormones.  The argument would be whether minute amounts affects us and many would say, it is only a little bit. However, this little bit will accumulate.  So, in my quest to have better quality meals without "having to pawn the house", I began to look at what we have.  Personally, I love salads and it is very suitable here, with our warm climate.
So, what to put in salads:

1. daun ulam raja - cosmos caudantus
2. pucuk tujuh bilah - pereskia sacarosa
3. kobis - cabbage 
4. bayam - spinach
5. bunga kantan - ginger torch
6. kemangi - lemon basil
7. ruku - ocinum tenuiflorum

These are some ingredients for the salad which should be naturally grown without pesticides or growth hormones.  Slice the cabbage and ginger torch and just tear the spinach.  The combination of these based on traditional medicine is purported to provide therapeutic benefits for diabetes, high blood pressure, blood cleanser, cancer cells, stomach and colon, respiratory system - in short a whole bunch for the whole body.

Now, how about salad dressing.  My version of the salad dressing with a twist it:

1. Blended mature daun durian belanda - soursop leaves.
2. Limau kasturi - calamansi juice
3. Natural honey (if you like a touch of sweetness)
4. Virgin olive oil
5. Salt to taste

What does the salad dressing bring to the table? Based on traditional or homeopathic remedies, it is packed with vitamins and minerals, anti-bacteria, heart benefits, cancer prevention - and so much more.

For this salad, all the ingredients are raw and with the exception of olive oil, are all local ingredients.  To make it totally local, you can try virgin coconut oil instead of virgin olive oil.  When you eat it, it is just another dish and much easier to consume than taking pills.  Try making it as part of your regular meal dish and I hope you reap the benefits and have a healthier life.  If you want to read more in detail about each of the salad ingredients, check out my plant specific blog.  Happy 2014!

SHL Red Tilapia Asam Pedas

My latest culinary adventure in the SHL Kitchen was to create my own version of the local dish Asam Pedas.  The aim was to use as many ingredients as possible from the farm.  The fish used is fresh red tilapia and with its firmly soft (is that an oxymoron? I guess most of you know what I mean) and ability to absorb flavors, I thought it would be a good fish to use for this dish.  Next I had some bottle gourd which I felt would also be a great vegetable to add to this dish as it can absorb the flavors of the Asam Pedas.  I also used vine-ripened tomatoes to have that slight sweet taste and a touch of sourness.The herbs used in this dish was also available at the farm so the journey began.  The ingredients used were:

1. Cleaned red tilapia (300gm fish size to make serving much easier
2. Tamarind juice - add more if you like it really sour and less it you just want to have a subtle taste
3. Red chillies
4. Bottle gourd
5. Vine-ripened tomatoes
6. Shrimp paste (belacan)
7. Persicaria odorata or known in English as Vietnamese mint or in Malay as Daun Kesom 
8. Lemon grass or serai
9. Red onion
10. Salt to taste

I do not like to use the blender and prefer to use a mortar and pestle (lesung batu) to create a paste of chillies, belacan and tomatoes.  I also use it to pound the lemon grass to be added.  I brown the sliced red onions in oil and add the chilli-tomato-belacan paste to it.  After a few minutes, allowing the flavors to blend nicely, I added the tamarind juice, lemon grass, daun kesom and additional water to create a gravy.  After it is brought to a boil, the pieces of bottle gourd is added.  When this has become soft and the gravy brought to a boil, the fish is added.  Once the fish is cooked, it is now ready to serve.  It is an easy and quick dish to prepare, all in all taking less than 30 minutes to prepare from cleaning the fish to serving.

SHL Smoked Red Tilapia

One of the things I enjoy is to experiment with ways if preparing whatever we produce.  I began producing smoked red tilapia in November 2012 - in small quantities first to have people try it out.  Based on the positive feedback, I began to make them quite regularly and sell it at the Sunday morning market in Sg. Penchala.  It is a popular item and finishes fast.  Many have asked how it is made so here's how I process it so maybe whoever is interested can try to make it too.
Starting with fresh red tilapia, preferably those bred in running water ponds (as it tastes tons better), clean off the scales and cut it open from the "back" so that is splits open and remains joined by the "tummy" side.  This will enable the fish to absorb more of the marinate and "dries" faster.  Rinse it well and at the farm, since we have clean, river water, the fish doesn't get touched by chemicals in our normal water although it may be present in small quantities.  Be sure that the fish is really fresh or the meat of the fish will become "mush".
Nest step is to prepare the marinate.  The ingredients are:

1. Lemon grass (serai)
2. Calamansi (limau kasturi)
3. Coarse salt

Pound the lemon grass and squeeze in the juice of the calamansi and add salt, mixing these ingredients well.  I also add the calamansi fruit that has been "juiced-out" in the marinate.  Add the fish and mix it well with the marinate and let it marinate for at least 6 hours, keeping it in the fridge the whole time.  I tend to marinate it for at least 24 hours.
The most time-consuming part is the smoking of these fishes.  It is important to have damp firewood that will create the smoke as well as turn into embers to provide the necessary heat to slowly dry the fish.  Be sure not to have flames as this will cook the fish too fast and not allow it to smoke nicely or you will end up with grilled fish and not smoked fish.
Now that you have the smoked fish, what do you do with eat.  There are many ways to prepare them for your meal:

1. Fry them to create a crispy fish and you can munch on the whole fish.
2. Cook a sambal with chillies and a touch of shrimp paste (belacan) and tamarind juice (air asam jawa) to create a spicy smoked red tilapia dish.
3. Cook a coconut-based gravy either with or without chillies, with or without belimbing buloh and add the smoked fish to create a creamy dish or  masak lemak as an accompaniment to your rice.
4. Chop it up and add to your rice porridge.

If any of you have any other ways of turning it into your meal, I would love to hear about it.  Happy trying :)

Marinated Red Tilapia

Starting with a great, fresh fish, there are many ways to prepare red tilapia.  Being very fortunate to have lots of ingredients that I can use as a marinate at the farm, I decided to experiment a bit to see how the flavors will blend.  I enjoyed it so I am sharing it here.  This marinate can be applied to 1-1.5kg of fish.  Ensuring that the fish is fresh and farmed in "running water" makes a difference to the final taste of the dish.

Ingredients for marinate:

1. 2 stalks of lemon grass (serai)
2. 1 yellow onion
3. Fresh tumeric (kunyit)
4. 3 calamansi (limau kasturi)
5. Salt to taste

I prefer using a mortar pestle (lesung batu) as opposed to a blender so I placed all the ingredients for the marinate together and pounded them until they became a paste.  I then added some salt and the juice from the calamansi - I added this after the other ingredients were pounded to prevent it from "jumping out" of the pestle.  To speed up this process, I had sliced the lemon grass, onion and tumeric.  Try to use fresh tumeric as it does make a difference to the taste as opposed to using tumeric powder - this will also add better nutrients to the dish.  There are numerous health benefits from the lemon grass, tumeric and calamansi so this is a healthy way to prepare the fish at no expense to the taste.

The marinate was then applied to the fish and left to marinate for 1 hour.  You can marinate it longer if you wish - I was just hungry hence the 1-hour marinate.
This fish can then be grilled, cooked over charcoal or fried.  For a low-calorie option, you might want to avoid deep-frying the fish.  as a note, there is no need to add any flavor enhancers as by using fresh ingredients that bursts with flavor, your palate will enjoy the experience.  In my hurry to eat the fish, I forgot to take pictures of it done :)

Catfish (Keli) - A very versatile fish

Due to going the cheaper route, there is a lot of catfish (keli) out there that tastes just horrible.  Unfortunately, this has led to people having a poor impression of the taste of catfish.  This much maligned fish is really at the mercy of catfish producers who are bent on going the easy route by not taking care of the water and feeding the fish garbage. 
When produced properly, this fish is very tasty, definitely not smelly or having the "muddy" taste.  As with any fish, if you do not take care of its freshness once harvested, this further affects the taste and smell of the fish.  Do not blame the fish but blame it on these types of producers and the consumers who are not interested on taking care of themselves by eating quality food. So to the nay-sayers of the catfish, do not fault the fish if you have had a bad or not so good experience dining on the catfish.  I used to be a non-catfish eater but now I enjoy the catfish but of course, only from my farm :).
At the farm, I have spent about 2 years in studying and testing how to produce quality catfish.  The key components are the water quality and feed.  Flowing water is essential in ensuring that the water quality is good and fish wastes are removed regularly, and that there is sufficient oxygen as in keeping the bacteria in the water down due to wastes.  Even if aerators are used to ensure sufficient oxygen but if the water is not regularly refreshed, that the fish will be living in its wastes.  Think of it this way, if you are not willing to put your foot into the pond, why are you willing to put what is produced from that pond into your body? 
The second component is the feed,  Catfish that is fed with bacteria-laden food such as carcasses such as from goat, chicken, and pig, chicken innards, animal and human waste as well as all sorts of garbage will result in lower cost of fish feed which translates to cheaper prices but does not produce tasty fish.  After all, the age old axiom that "you are what you eat" can be applied to these catfish.  At the farm, the fish is feed with quality fish meal as well as "vegetables" such as tapioca leaves, keladi leaves, young shoots of tebrau and the inner pseudostem of the banana plants.  So, it is a matter of choice for the consumers.
When buying catfish, the first thing that you need to check is the underside of the fish.  Select catfish that has a white skin on the belly, avoid any fish that has slightly yellow color skin on its belly.  The flesh of the catfish should be firm and not "mushy" and the color on the skin of the catfish shouldn't have a greyish pallor - these are indicators of the freshness of the fish.  When the flesh is mushy, it is a good indicator that the fish is already well on its decomposition process, faster for fish that have been fed with bacteria-laden feed.
It is always best to buy live catfish or for those that prefer cleaned catfish, catfish that was cleaned after just killing it and frozen within the hour.  Of course you would need to know how to handle the catfish when live - watch out for its stingers.
Now that you have the cleaned fish, what can you do with it?  In Malay culture, most of the time it is fried to a crisp or made into curries or masak lemak bercili.  Sometimes, it is grilled but not often as this requires for the fish to be fresh or you end up with this mushy fish.
From my experience and testing in my farm kitchen, this is a very versatile fish and you can do more than this.

1. Whole smoked catfish - the fish is marinated with herbs - either kaffir lime leaves or lemongrass and salt overnight before it is slowly smoked.  Once ready, it is stored frozen to retain its "freshness".  The smoked catfish can be eaten in many ways - cooked in savoury/spicy dishes or fried or heated and eaten with rice, sticky rice or even in sushi.
2. Dried whole salted catfish - the fish is salted and sun-dried.  This fish can then be fried or cooked in savoury/spicy dishes.
3. Catfish fillet - the fish is fillet resulting in nice pieces of boneless, skinless fillets which can then be cooked in many ways.  It can be breaded and baked, dipped in flour and pan-fried, dipped in batter and fried, seasoned with a variety of herbs, lemon, salt and pepper and grilled or pan-fried.  The ways of preparing the fillet is limited by your imagination.  To produce the fillets, you should select a fish that is at least 800gm so you can get good-sized fillets.

I hope more people will opt to eat quality fish in their diets and discover the versatility of the catfish.

Mangosteen Puree

Yes, it the seasons of fruits in Hulu Langat.  Another popular seasonal fruit is mangosteen or manggis (biological name: Garcinia Mangostana).  This fruit does not keep well in its raw farm but I find that by creating a nice pink puree of it, it can be kept longer and used for multiple purposes.

There are many purported health benefits to this fruit including for athritis and joint pains, high blood pressure and lowering of cholestrol and aid to the digestive system.  This fruit has a high fibre content and is rich in anti-oxidants.  All in all, this fruit provides for a myriad of health benefits. 

I think the puree form of this fruit also makes for great baby food, rich in nutrients and tasty.  I suggest using raw sugar as opposed to refined sugars.

Ingredients:

1. Mangosteen
2. Raw cane sugar

Method:
Peel the mangosteen and place it in a pot with raw cane sugar.  For 10kg of fruit, I used 0.5kg of raw cane sugar.  Depending on the sweetness and sourness of the fruit, you can adjust the sugar used.  There is not need to add water as this fruit has a high water content.  Once the mixture starts to bubble, reduce heat and simmer until it reaches to a consistency of your choice.  Run the mixture through a sieve to remove the seeds.

Consumption and uses:

1. A a base for a delicious fruit drink.  Just add water and serve chilled on our hot summer days.  Great pairing when eating durians.
2. As an ingredient in creating a mangosteen jelly or agar-agar.  Taste delicious as an after meal dessert.
3. Simmer it to a thicker consistency and you can produce a conserve which is great eaten with buttered toast.

Storage:
Store in the refrigerator.

Notes:
Personally, I like to leave the puree in it more "watery" form and drink it as a delicious, cool fruit drink.  In this form, it takes about 1 hour cooking time.

Farm Recipes: Tasty Green Sweet Potato Leaves Vegetable Dish

Nowadays we are more familar with the commercially available vegetables such as kailan, sawi, pak choy, etc. - with many of them being imported from China due to their cheaper cost.  Many of us do not know that sweet potato shoots or pucuk ubi keledek makes a great tasting vegetable dish and is very nutritious.  At my Sunday market stall, I am often asked how these leaves can be prepared.  There are many ways of cooking these leaves and they are quick to prepare.  In this blog, I am presenting two ways to prepare the dishes.

As with any leafy vegetable, get those that have not been contaminated by pesticides or herbicides - if the leaves have "bite" marks, this is one of the pointers.  In my opinion, these leaves taste like a cross between kangkong and spinach but without the "thready" texture of kangkong.

Green Sweet Potato Leaves with Eggs or Sayur Pucuk Ubi Manis Goreng Dengan Telor

Ingredients:

1. Sweet Potato young leaves (pucuk ubi manis)
2. Garlic (bawang putih)
3. Red onions (bawang merah)
4. Eggs
5. Salt and pepper
6. Oil

Preparation:
Cut the leaves the way you would prepare spinach, separating the young stalks and the leaves.  Dice onions and garlic.  Heat oil in pan and fry the onions until translucent.  Add garlic and continue cooking until garlic soft.  Add the sweet potato stalks and toss for a few minutes.  Add eggs, scrambling them in the mixture.  Add the leaves and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Notes:

• The quantity of garlic used can be adjusted to your taste.  The garlic can also be cut in big chunks instead of diced.
• You can use 1-2 eggs, depending on the quantity of vegetable.
• You can use either white or black pepper - depending on your preference
• The oil used is according to your taste.  For added health benefits, you can use olive oil or good quality vegetable oil such as safflower or sunflower.
• If you like chillis, you can add them either as paste or cut.

Green Sweet Potato Leaves with Salted Fish or Sayur Pucuk Ubi Manis Goreng Dengan Ikan Masin

Ingredients:

1. Sweet Potato young leaves (pucuk ubi manis)
2. Garlic (bawang putih)
3. Red onions (bawang merah)
4. Dried salted fish
5. Salt and pepper
6. Oil

Preparation:
Cut the leaves the way you would prepare spinach, separating the young stalks and the leaves.  Dice onions and garlic.  Heat oil in pan and fry the onions until translucent.  Add garlic and cut-up salted fish and continue cooking until garlic soft.  Add the sweet potato stalks and toss for a few minutes.  Add the leaves and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Notes:

• The quantity of garlic used can be adjusted to your taste.  The garlic can also be cut in big chunks instead of diced.
• Choose good salted fish that is not too salty.  Depending on the salt content in the fish, you may not need to add more salt.
• You can use either white or black pepper - depending on your preference
• The oil used is according to your taste.  For added health benefits, you can use olive oil or good quality vegetable oil such as safflower or sunflower.
• If you like chillis, you can add them either as paste or cut.

Farm Recipes - Ikan Kering Lampan Goreng Herba

The lampan fish has many bones but like many fish with lots of bones, have great taste.  I love dried salted fish but often find that the ones available are very salty hence that's the dominant taste in any dish you cook.  I decided to produce our own salted fish without the overpowering salty taste.  I also love the flavor of lemon basil and kaffir lime leaves and thought that it would enhance the flavor of the dried fish.
Most often, people just fry the fish or make a curry so I decided to make a variation to just frying the fish using lemon basil (kemangi) and kaffir lime (limau perut) leaves.  With the crispy, lemony taste of the fish, I also enjoy snacking on it without worrying about the bones.

Ingredients:

• 200gm Ikan lampan kering
• 1 red onion
• 2 stalks of lemon basil (Kemangi)
• 1 medium sizetomatoes
• 2 red chillis
• 2-3 kaffir lime (limau perut) leaves
• Cooking oil preferably sunflower or safflower oil

Preparation:
Rinse the dried fish and place on a strainer.  Heat the cooking oil, sufficient to fry the dried fish.  Fry the fish until crispy and remove from the pan.  Reduce the oil in the pan, leaving sufficient quantity to fry the the remaining ingredients. 
Slice the red onions and red chillis, and chop the lemon basil and tomatoes.  Fry the onions until soft and translucent, add the red chillis and lemon basil and toss until it has softened. Add the dried fish and tomatoes and mix them together in the pan.  It is now ready to serve.

Farm Recipes - Papaya Agar-Agar (Jelly)

During Ramadhan, I do not do Sunday morning market.  Instead, I opt to share the produce with family, friends and neighbours.  Among the produce that is ripening in quantity is papaya.  Most often, it is consume raw and as it doesn't last long once it is ripe, and I wanted to consume it in a different manner, I decided to experiment with turning it into a dessert as I thought this would make a refreshing and cooling as well as easy on the stomach dessert after a day of fasting.  So this was my contribution to this week's iftar with my family clan :).

Alternatively, you can also create a refreshing drink by with the papaya puree as a base and adding pineapple, orange or other fruit juices - this will give you a natural vitamin A and C boost as well as great for your digestion.

It is very easy to make this dessert with simple ingredients.  As always, I cook by feel so I can't give you exact measurements just proportions.
Ingredients:

• Agar-agar
• Papaya - 1 medium ripe fruit - best if it is tree-ripened
• Water ( 1 pack of agar-agar to approximately 1 litre of water - adjust the water for softer or harder agar-agar)
• Sugar

Method:
Dissolve the agar-agar in a pot of hot water.  Add sugar according to your taste.  Puree ripe papaya and add a few tablespoons of the puree into the cooking agar-agar until you get a nice color to the mixture.  Place in pans and spoon in the remaining papaya puree into the pan.  Here you can be as creative as you want - creating lines or drops - whatever pattern you desire.  Leave to cool and chill before serving.

Farm Recipes - Lempok Durian Bread Pudding

After the Durian Fest, I was left with about 20 durians which either needed to be eaten within one day or processed to a form for future consumption.  Since the durians were really creamy and sweet and since I am not a fan of tempoyak, I decided to cook them and turn them into lempok durian.  The process is simple but definitely time consuming. 

My version of lempok was just to cook the flesh until it turned from creamy yellow to caramel in color with a rather thick consistency, similar to dodol.  It takes over an hour and needs to be frequently stirred or it will burn.  One thing for sure, both my arms got a good workout as the durian will become thicker and thicker, requiring more and more effort to stir it.  Once done, after cooling it, I packed them into plastic bags and placed them in the chiller for storage.

Now that I have got this great lempok durian kampong, I decided to experiment.  Most of us have eaten bread puddings with raisins or similar so I decided to experiment with making lempok durian bread pudding. 
This is definitely one of the easiest recipes for me.  What matters is the quality of the ingredients.
Ingredients:

• Sliced bread
• Lempok durian
• Fresh coconut milk
• Water

Method:

Dissolve the lempok durian in coconut milk and water over medium heat.  Stir constantly to ensure smooth mixture.  I use equal parts of water and coconut milk.

Lightly oil a pan.  Tear the slices of bread into pieces and start layering the pan, alternating between bread and lempok mixture.

Heat over to 180F and bake for 45 minutes.

Can be served warm or room temperature and with misai kucing tea - tastes great!

Notes:

Due to the sweetness of the durian, no sugar was needed for the lempok or in making the pudding.

Happy trying and hope you like it :)

Farm Recipes - Sugar-Glazed Striped Gourd

I love striped gourd with its creamy texture and subtle taste.  Most of the time, I tend to prepare it as a savoury dish.    I have roasted sliced gourd coated with a bit of salt and olive oil, diced them and used them in a vegetable soup, added it to dalca and just had them boiled in salted water.
The current plants have produced a substantial number of gourds so I started thinking of how it can be prepared.  Thus, recently I decided to try preparing it as a sweet tea-time dish, calling my dish Sugar-Glazed Striped Gourd.  To my delight, I loved it and so did my testers.
It is very easy to prepare and takes under 30 minutes to prepare.  The sugar glaze is prepared with a bit of blended margarine hence it adds that creamy taste to the glaze and less sugar is used and does not dry out.  I love adding cinnamon to it as it not only adds to the taste but also gives a nice aroma to the dish.

Ingredients:

• 1 striped gourd
• 2 tablespoons of margarine or butter-blended margarine
• 1 tablespoon of sugar – preferable raw or brown sugar
• Salt (not required if using salted margarine)
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder (optional)
• 3 tablespoons of water

Method:

Peel, slice and remove the seed of the gourd.  Using a flat pan, melt 1 tablespoon of margarine and cooked the slices of gourd until tender and brown.  Remove from heat.  Using the same pan, melt the remaining margarine, add sugar, cinnamon and water.  When the sugar has melted, dip the slices of gourd and plate it.  Pour the remaining glaze over the slices and gourd and serve.

Farm Recipes - Rastali Banana bread (Kek Pisang Rastali)

Pisang Rastali

Once the Rastali Banana is ripe, it gets soft after a few days.  So, since I had some ripe Rastali banana, I decided to experiment making banana bread that was easy to make and didn't take a long time nor use complex ingredients.  After all, I do not think cooking should be complicated, use as little time as possible (we all have busy schedules), easy to find ingredients and as nutritious as possible without having to think of it as a "Health Food".
With the abundance of bananas at the farm, I decided that I needed to come up with alternative ways of eating them other than raw or as banana fritters (pisang goreng).  Moreover, I wanted to test how this particular banana tastes when it is transformed to a bread - flavor, sweetness and moistness.
The beauty of Rastali is it has a natural sweetness to it so you can use less sugar.  Since the fruit was produced as naturally as possible, I decided to use ingredients that will add to the nutritional value and are as less processed as possible.
The bread turned out well, springy and soft and slightly moist giving it a light taste with a lovely banana flavour.  It takes about 30 minutes of preparation time, without using any electrical gadgets so you do not need to go out and buy a mixer or own a food processor.  The utensils that I needed were 1 mixing bowl, 1 large bowl (to mash the bananas), 1 whisk, 1 fork or masher (like those you use to make mash potatoes) and 1 spatula.

Ingredients:
8 cups of mashed Rastali banana
6 cups of self-raising flour
2 cups of corn oil or olive oil
2 cups of brown sugar or raw sugar (trying to get the most out of sugar)
8 eggs
2 cups of milk - I prefer to use low fat milk
2 teaspoons of vanilla essence
2 teaspoons of cinnamon - preferably fresh grated.  I used Sabah cinnamon sticks.
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Method:
Using a whisk, mix the eggs, corn oil and sugar until it has blended well and slightly foamy on the top.  Add it to the mashed bananas.  Stir in the vanilla essence. cinnamon and salt.  Add milk to the mixture.  Fold in the flour and pour into 2 cake pans or 1 large pan.  Bake at 175F for 35-40 minutes or until the cake is done (I use a toothpick and stick it in bread.  If it comes out cleanly, it is done).

Next experiment, is Pengat Pisang Udang or the closest I can describe it in English, is a soupy banana pudding(?).

Farm Recipes - Lemon Basil (Kemangi) Pasta

More often than not, we have pasta Italian-style or "Malaysian-Italian" style with the addition of chilli or sometimes, spices.  With our tropical weather, I like a lighter version of pasta - without cream or butter.  There are many herbs and vegetables on the farm and I decided to try something different today so I experimented with this dish.  With the Kemangi, it gives the dish a slightly lemony flavour balancing the "heaviness" from the pasta and parmesan cheese.  I must say I really enjoyed it and if you are on a diet, watching your cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes, and other stuff, try this (by the way, I am not the "measuring" kind of cook so bear with me):

Ingredients:

• Spaghetti, Fetuccine or Linguine pasta
• 1 fresh, Terung Bulat (oval Aubergine)
• 2-3 stems of fresh Kemangi (Lemon Basil)
• 4-5 young leaves of fresh Daun Salam (Indian Bayleaf)
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• olive oil
• salt
• fine grated Parmesan cheese
• chilli flakes (for those who like it a bit "hot")

Method:
Boil pasta to al dente and drain the water.  Dice aubergine, slice Kemangi and Daun Salam, chop or crush garlic.  In heated olive oil, toss garlic and aubergine until soft. Add pasta.  Turn off heat and add Kemangi and Daun Salam.  Toss them around and salt to taste.  Serve with Parmesan cheese.  Add chilli flakes if you wish.

Based on the ingredients, here's what you feed your body :

1. From Kemangi, you get magnesium and beta-carotene - good for the heart, diabetes, stress
2. From the garlic, natural antibiotic and good for the heart and those nasty bacteria
3. From Daun Salam, good for diabetes, high blood pressure, reducing cholesterol
4. From purple Terung Bulat, vitamin A, C, Calcium,etc. - good for the cholesterol, bones, etc.
5. Pasta - carbohydrates to fuel your body
6. Olive oil - you all know how great this oil is for you

Of course, to get the best nutrition value, get chemical-pesticide free produce.  If you try this recipe, let me know what you think and if you did variations, please share.