Archive for fruits

Banana-walnut bread or muffins

June 22, 2008 at 7:17 pm · Filed under baking, cooking, food, fruits, health, nutrition, summer

Hi, my name is Maggan. Welcome to Maggan’s kitchen!

Oops! Don’t read if you’re blood type A or AB. Continue if you’re blood type O or B.

I made banana-walnut muffin the other day. I didn’t get enough and made banana-walnut loaf this morning for brunch. Aside from the difference in shape, the former is sweet bread and the latter is more like meal-bread.

This recipe is taken from Dr. P. J. d’Adamo’s Cook Right 4 Your Type. In terms of health benefits, it is categorized as neutral for blood types O and B and should be avoided by blood types A and AB. I’m and O. I hope H is neither A nor AB.

Ingredients for 10-12 muffins:

  • oil for pans (or paper muffin cups)
  • 2 cups white or sifted spelt flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda (Silly me! I didn’t read carefully and assumed the recipe said baking powder.)
  • 1 cup brown or raw sugar or Demerara sugar
  • For type O 2/3 cup or 157 millilitres canola oil (Ideally cold pressed but the usual canola oil is fine.) For type B, replace canola oil with butter
  • 2 large bananas, cut into chunks
  • 3 eggs, beaten
  • 1/2 cup or 125 millilitres chopped walnuts
  1. Pre-heat oven at 180 degrees Celsius.
  2. Oil the muffin pans. Or use paper muffin cups.
  3. In a bowl, mix all dry ingredients except walnuts.
  4. In another bowl, mix the wet ingredients.
  5. Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients.
  6. Blend them together by folding. Don’t overdo it to get a smooth dough. (The charm of muffins is the rough texture and rustic look.)
  7. Add walnuts for last few turns with the spoon.
  8. Fill the muffin pans or cups 3/4 full.
  9. Bake 25-30 minutes or until your stick or small knife comes out clean when you poke a muffin.
  10. Let muffins cool on rack.

Now, wasn’t that easy? Well, the baking powder didn’t do any damage. The muffins turned out beautiful. The taste was delightful. I didn’t have baking soda but resolved to fill my kitchen supply for future use.

Jeez! I only had 3 paper muffin cups left. Before I could panic, I was able to improvise. I used up the remaining paper muffin cups and the rest of the batter went into my narrow rectangular mould. Wonderful! I’d have 3 banana-walnut muffins and a banana-walnut loaf. Moist and just-right sweet, perfect for tea or unsweetened soy milk.

This morning’s banana-walnut loaf was the unsweet version. Ideal to spread marmalade or honey on. I’ll bring some to work tomorrow for a good energy kick during our coffee break. A slice or two of banana-walnut bread should keep me feeling full for 4-5 hours.

According to the book Cook Right 4 Your Type, muffins offer many possibilities of combining different dried and fresh fruits, as well as nuts and seeds. I definitely agree. I think I’ll try apple. Then I’ll try cherry. Then blueberry. Maggan’s planning the future. The book further suggests to feel free to substitute other fruits, nuts and seeds according to your blood type.

Note: For wholegrain banana bread, replace 1 cup white or sifted spelt flour with 1 cup whole-spelt flour. This means, use 1 cup white or sifted spelt flour plus 1 cup whole-spelt flour.

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Mixed fruits with nuts and cream

March 30, 2008 at 1:48 pm · Filed under dessert, food, fruits, spring

Hi, my name is Maggan. Welcome to Maggan’s kitchen!

I had thought that brunch is too early for dessert. Not this recipe of mixed fruits with nuts and cream from the Cooperative (the recipe below is my own modified version).

There’s no arguing that fruits and nuts are healthy. However, the mere mention of cream in a recipe frightens weight-watchers and health freaks. In this recipe, the cream is neither the heavy nor medium kind ideally used for whipping or ice cream. More precisely, I used kesella. It is a kind of cream which has very mild sweetness, almost like yogurt in appearance and texture and like cream fraiche in consistency.

Ingredients for 4 portions:

  • 250 grams frozen mixed fruits
  • 1 pack (250 grams) vanilla kesella
  • 4 teaspoons chopped nuts (any or combination of walnuts, pumpkin, sunflower, macadamia, pecan)
  • 2 tablespoons grated coconut
  1. In a glass, alternately put a tablespoon or two of fruits, and kesella into layer until the glass is 3 quarters full.
  2. Top with mixed chopped nuts and grated coconut.

What a way to use our vintage beer mugs. They certainly looked good with mixed fruits and kesella in them. What a handsome pair!

You know what, don’t worry if you cannot find kesella in your grocery or country. Replace it with unflavoured yogurt. If the yogurt is too sour and you want some sweetness, add some honey.

My frozen fruits were a mix of mango, pineapple, raspberries and grapes. But a mix of berries will also be wonderful, I’m sure. In fact, I’ll use blueberries and raspberries the next time I do this dessert. If there’s an abundance of fresh fruits available during the season, I’ll use fresh fruits.

B has got to taste this. I just know she’ll love it.

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Carribean chicken again?!

December 18, 2007 at 8:17 pm · Filed under christmas, cooking, food, fruits, winter

Hi, my name is Maggan. Welcome to Maggan’s kitchen!

The Christmas tree is up. The Christmas stockings are hanging and filled with Werther’s butterscotch. The Christmas goat is standing as tall as it can, and proud too. The red candle is going to be lit up tonight during dinner with Oleg and Jewel.

While the Christmas atmosphere in Maggan’s kitchen is heating up, H is playing his Christmas vinyl collection. Jose Feliciano’s Feliz Navidad, Bobby Helms’ Jingle Bell Rock, The Ronettes’ I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus. Classics! These songs were consistently on top of the charts during my childhood Christmas-es. Especially Jingle Bell Rockbecause I never forget that my prep school teacher choreographed a dance to that tune. Miss de Leon later married and became Mrs. Matias.

Yesterday, I re-positioned some of my plants after making room for the Christmas tree. After putting things in place, or so I thought, I realized that the kitchen window’s Christmas spirit also needed some cheering up. That leaves me something to think about next week. Some ginger-cookie cutters perhaps? Or why not real home-baked ginger cookies?

Tonight, I’m treating Oleg and Jewel to Caribbean chicken. It’s not the usual yuletide fare but it’s exotic, therefore unusual, and therefore special. Caribbean chicken again?! I’ve made Caribbean chicken twice (and blogged about it each time) using canned mangoes and pineapple. This time, I’m using fresh ripe mangoes. The fruits are on special this week at HomeBuy.

Fresh mangoes are good but lack sweetness. These are not the Philippine kind of mangoes. These are the Brazilian kind—red, roundish, like the human heart. My solution is to pickle the fruit in 2 tablespoons of sugar, after slicing it julienne, that is. Pickle the fruit while the chicken fillet is marinating in lime juice.

Fast forward to after dinner. Oleg and Jewel enjoyed dinner. They seemed extra hungry too, coming from work on a Saturday. Anyway the Caribbean chicken this time was tangy. Unlike my earlier attempts when I had used canned mangoes.

I had thought that Caribbean chicken with fresh mangoes might still be too tangy for our guests’ tastebuds (even after pickling them in sugar) so I added more sugar than the recipe required. About 2 tablespoons more. It was still tangy but just a hint by now. Mangoes are supposed to be tangy anyway. Seasoned with a little salt and flavoured with a pot of fresh coriander, the Caribbean chicken was perfect, according to our guests. To my delight, it tasted as good as it smelled, according to Oleg. This bested all earlier versions of the same recipe. I heard someone screaming for more. More!

Unfortunately, dinners don’t work the same way as concerts do where artists manage to pull something for an encore at the audience’s demand. I’m sure though that there will be an encore for this Caribbean chicken number. I want to do it with Philippine mangoes. They’re the sweetest and yellowest!

Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock. Jingle bell swing and jingle bell ring. Snowing and blowing up bushels of fun. Now the jingle hop has begun. Hmm hmm hmm…

     

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Winter salad with saffron and pomegranates

November 24, 2007 at 7:06 pm · Filed under christmas, cooking, food, fruits, salad, vego, winter

Hi, my name is Maggan. Welcome to Maggan’s kitchen!

Saffron has made its premier early. ICA has been selling saffron buns since the beginning of this month. Soon after, Arla released its recipe booklet called Winter party! 

If fashionista is to fashion, then foodista is to food. Maggan’s kitchen followed the winter trend, naturally. Last week, pomegranates were specials at Homebuy and ICA. 2 for 10 bucks. This week, they are extra special at ICA—3 for 10. Yesterday, I picked the 6 biggest pieces and bought them. Am I depressed? ([whispering] Psst, I’ve also bought 6 pieces of the yellowest and sweetest pineapples this week at 10 a piece.) I blame it on seasonal affective disorder. Sure.

I’ve read about Persian cuisine, especially about their lovely rice. One recipe uses saffron and pomegranates. It does not only look very lovely on picture, it looks delish too. To this day, I can only dream about it. I’m not ready to make a trip to Iran.

Winter salad. This is my answer to Persian rice. Or the closest I could get to actually tasting it. It’s from Arla’s kitchen.

Ingredients for 4 portions:

  • 2 decilitres bulgur
  • .5 gram saffron
  • .25 gram butter (or olive oil)
  • 4 decilitres chicken bouillon (optional)
  • 400 grams chicken thigh fillets (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • pinch of ground black pepper
  • 2 pieces avocado, seeded and diced
  • 1 piece pomegranate
  • 150 grams feta cheese
  • 5 decilitres mixed salad leaves
  • 2 decilitres light creme fraiche tomato and basil
  1. Saute the bulgur and saffron in butter in a casserole in low heat.
  2. Pour the bouillon, put the lid on, and bring to boil following the instructions in the bulgur pack.
  3. Cut the chicken into bits. Fry them in butter in a frying pan in low to medium heat for 7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
  4. Open the avocados cutting them lengthwise. Remove their seeds and dice the fruit.
  5. Open the pomegranate cutting it lengthwise. Cut the halves further. Pick the seeds and set aside.
  6. Drain the feta cheese. Crumble it into small pieces.
  7. Put the salad leaves in a big serving dish. Alternately lay the bulgur, chicken, avocado, pomegranate, and feta.
  8. Serve with creme fraiche.

Well, if you’re not big fan of butter, substitute the ingredient with olive oil. If you don’t like the fat in the chicken thigh fillets, substitute it with breast fillets. If you’re a vegetarian, omit the bouillon and chicken all together.

With the colours saffron yellow, Persian red, and nutritious green, this recipe promises to light up the Christmas dinner table. H actually took a picture of this salad. Unfortunately, our kitchen lighting was insufficient by photographic standard. My description gives a better picture. Ahem!

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Banana-apple curry sauce for tortellini

November 19, 2007 at 4:06 pm · Filed under cooking, food, fruits, meat, pasta, winter

Hi, my name is Maggan. Welcome to Maggan’s kitchen!

Home sweet home. Although it’s good to be back home, I’m still having some hang-over from the Paris trip. Oh well, now I can eat vegetables and home-cooked meals again.

This banana-apple curry sauce is inspired by H. He does this with tortellini. H’s recipe for this sauce is basic. He makes the sauce with butter, flour, milk, and curry. When done, he slices the banana and dices the apple. Then he puts them as toppings on the tortellini topped with curry sauce.

Well, I modified H’s recipe a bit. Not because it isn’t good but because I don’t exactly know how he makes the sauce. I figured that cooking the apple and the banana in the sauce, (basically just bechamel sauce with curry) instead of serving them raw and separately, would give more flavour and taste to the simple tortellini meal.

If the title banana-apple curry sauce ignites your taste, here’s the recipe.

Ingredients:

  • 5 tablespoons butter
  • 5 tablespoons whole wheat flour
  • 6 decilitres milk
  • 1 apple
  • 1-2 bananas
  • curry powder (yellow)
  1. Melt the butter in a sauce pan or small casserole in low heat.
  2. Add the flour.
  3. Let the mixture boil for 2 minutes.
  4. Take the casserole from the heat.
  5. Add the milk little by little, whipping, blending, and mixing after every addition.
  6. After adding all the milk, return the casserole onto the heat.
  7. Dice the apple. Don’t throw away the pips or core and seeds. Put them all in the sauce.
  8. Slice the banana round.
  9. Put them in the casserole. Mix the sauce every once in a while. Do not leave it unattended for a long time.
  10. When the sauce gets warm, add the curry according to taste (or colour).
  11. Cook the curry sauce until it thickens. It doesn’t have to start boiling.
  12. Pour over cooked tortellini.
  13. Serve with a mix of green salad leaves.

Imagine the rich yellow colour and the different shades of green colour on your plate that smells fruity. Feeling hungry now?

I made this recipe last week. I cooked more than half a kilo tortellini. H and I finished it easy. It would have made for an excellent bento. Well, next time. Next time, I’ll make the whole tortellini pack for dinner and bento.

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