Bananas for Bananas

As the world should have taken note by now, Sri Lankans hate wasting things. Despite the fact that we waste water, electricity and and our own breath (case in point?) most Sri Lankans I know hate to waste food. And other things such as old clothes, which my mother for example stores for 'rainy days'. It is therefore a constant source of frustration to me when I have to throw out bananas by the truckload when they get a little too ripe to eat. 

I like my bananas just ripe. Not under ripe and not over ripe. That gives me the space of about one day to finish off a bunch. In a household of two, thats near impossible. So we ended up throwing out a lot of bananas until I came up with alternative uses such as banana waffles, banana pancakes, and banana muffins. 

Banana muffins have turned out to be a hit with the family, and I even made them for breakfast one morning for the hubby. The recipe (from Joy of Baking, available here) is ever so simple, and I used it because the ingredients are so easy to find in the kitchen cupboard. I add whatever I think will match the banana flavor, chopped cashew nuts, chopped chocolate, grated cinnamon etc. This batch is nuts and cinnamon. It was lovely, and filled the kitchen with such a warm summery smell. Perfect afternoon tea material. 

While I add an extra banana when I have one or two left over from the recipe, just remember that the more banana you add, the more sticky the muffin will be. As it is, after the banana cools, the top of the muffin tends to be a little sticky. I don't mind, but some people might.

The mix, ready to go into the oven, is shown below. I sprinkled nuts on top as well, so that you get some crunch with every bite.

I used my silicone cupcake cups which I found in the party section at Arpico Hyde Park Corner (I know, why would you stick bakeware in the party section. And this was in a random box, not even where you would expect to find it). I have also seen these at Odel Alexandra Place (home section). Really, this was one of my best investments. I have made so many muffins with these, and no greasing, no sticking, just bake and pop. Here they are, right out of the oven. You can see how nicely they have risen.

Winning the Yeast Wars

The first time I tried making bread was perhaps when I was about fifteen. With my sister, I would sit with a recipe book of my mothers' and attempt to make many strange things, many of which were not only edible, but made it into the permanent 'special occasion' menus of the old homestead. However, bread eluded us. Each attempt was an epic failure. They would come out looking beautiful and round and golden; but they were literally gal banis (rock hard buns). You could only eat them when they were hot out of the oven, and even then, they were very dense. 

I wondered how bakeries did it. We blamed it on poor quality yeast. On low temperatures. On hot temperatures. But we never got it right. Strangely, when used for pizza, the bread was fine. Sure, it was slightly dense, but we got a rise out of it (no pun intended). 

Then I moved to New York for an year, and for an year, I researched bread. In between the other things I was supposed to be doing there, I watched so many cooking shows that I  learnt a lot more in that year than over ten years of trying to make bread from a book. Thats when I learnt about the punch test, and the window pane test. That you have to be gentle with the yeast, that you have to gently coax it to rise, to breathe, to literally give you melt-in-your-mouth delicious bread. 

But the man I really have to thank for helping me defeat Yeast, once and for all, was Sanjay Thumma. Seriously. His recipes are AMAZING. I used his recipe for dinner rolls (which you can find here), and they came out perfect. I filled them with a fish, onion, curry powder and potato mix, which we Sri Lankans call maalu paang (or fish buns), and my husband gulped three of them down hot out of the oven. 

One tip for making bread, is to knead properly. While you are highly unlikely to over-knead if you knead by hand, you are VERY likely to under-knead, which will result in gal banis. Believe me, I know, I made those for ten years. My tips;

1. The key is to test the dough after kneading for ten minutes. Do the punch test (i.e when you stick a finger in the dough, it should not spring back immediately), and the window pane test (i.e. when you stretch a bit of dough between your fingers, it should stretch, allowing the light to come through, but not breaking.

2. Be Gentle. Don't punch down the dough after resting it as if you are punching your last ex boyfriend.  Just gently let the air out with your fist. Be gentle. You want the yeast alive and kicking, not bruised and half dead.

3. Hot oven. If the recipe says 225 deg. celsius, it says that for a reason. You need a hot oven to allow the yeast to rise properly before it dies ( I think). Anyway, if your oven is not hot enough, your buns will be a flop. Really. Invest in an oven thermometer if yours is not accurate.

Thats it folks. This is truly a recipe to try. Happy cooking!

Taco dreams

For a blogger with an appetite, I have been contemplating starting a food blog for a while. The only thing that held me back was the urge to let off steam about other things I love and hate about living in Colombo as well. Finally, I have found the perfect middle ground- a blog about food AND other things (GENIUS!). And where better to start a food blog on Colombo, than with a food item that is not available in colombo to 1. the food blogger with a budget and 2. the food blogger with a discerning tongue for the genuine thing. 

That said, I recently had a craving for a new-york-food-cart-on-14th street and 9th avenue-mexican-taco. Yes. I know. Its far away. But when I want food, I want it. No, you can't offer me a fountain cafe hot dog to compensate. No, you do not want to offer me a Sri Lankan pol rotiya (coconut flatbread for those not in on the local lingo) with chicken on top and call it a chicken taco. And charge me for it. Yes, one establishment tried to do that, and I still have nightmares about it. And yes, I did pay for that particular abomination. 

Given these the lack of a decent taco in this nation of sun and sand, I decided (as usual) that I had to make one. The tortilla (I made flour tortillas), was made with wheat flour and a pinch of baking powder, similar to our kiri roti (milk flatbread? forgive the direct translation). You can find the recipe here. I would use less water next time, it was difficult to roll out the dough (just keep using flour to take away the stickiness), but they were deliciously thin and soft. 

For the topping. Ah, the topping! With a taco, there are somethings that must be there, that define the very character of a taco- the avacado, the tomato, the sour cream (I just used local buffalo curd mixed around until it resembled sour cream/ stirred yoghurt), and the indispensable fresh cilantro. And fresh Onion slices. These five ingredients define the taco. as opposed to the chicken pieces on a rotiya. The creamy avacado, the citric tomato, the cool, sour, sour cream, the crunchy onion, and the herby pop! of cilantro. An ode to a taco.

You can then add chicken (left over roast chicken would be great), or fish, or any other meat you fancy. You can also add cheese, monterey jack being the cheese of choice, but I guess any melty cheese would do. I just ate it vegetarian, the four basic ingredients just transporting me all the way back to west 14th street in mere seconds. 

My husband's first comment when eating one, i.e when he could wrestle one away from me, was 'interesting'. There he is, grabbing a taco before I could eat it. And then he ate several more, which I presume to mean, that he liked it. 

Tacos, ladies and gentleman, are awesome. Colombo supermarkets still do not offer tortillas to the discerning consumer (or else I have missed them all together). But let that not stop you from making your own. This whole thing you can put together in an hour, and believe me, its a great, nutritious, healthy, delicious, (did I say great?), week night dinner.