Cajun Chicken -- going sounthen

Was a bit out of ideas of what to cook on a Saturday Lunch for the family.. So I thought.. Hey bought some cajun seasoning from Phoon Huat.. Let's make some Cajun Chicken.. Went to market, bought the chicken breast only to find out that I did not buy Cajun Seasoning.. I only bought red chili flakes and ground cayenne pepper ... I know..

OMG!!! I know  (*pic from The Guardian)

Anyway, i decided to make do with what I have.. And thanks to Jason I had some dried herbs at hand to make a Cajun seasoning. It was quite easy to make actually. And it turned out to be quite yummy.. woohoo.. hahha.. maybe 10min of prep time + 30min or more of marinating time + 10 min of cooking.. It is very easy to do.. Can also marinate in the morning (even better, all the goodness is being soaked into the chicken) and have it cooked when you are back from work.. yea!

Here how I made it:

Ingredients (Make 4)

• 4 chicken breast
• 2 Tbs Olive Oil
• 3 Tbs Ground Cayenne Pepper
• 3 tsp Dried Oregano
• 3 tsp Dried Thyme
• 3 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 clove garlic (finely minced or grated)
• 1 shallot (finely minced or grated)

*Note: Usually the cajun seasoning calls for dried onion and garlic powder but since I do not have them in hand.. no choice, I went to minced them but I lower my portion cos minced onion and garlic are more overpowering than the powdered form..

Directions:

1. Using a rolling pin, pound the chicken breast till it is even in height of about 1.5cm. Ensure that the chicken is dried using kitchen towel.
2. Mix all the spices/herbs/salt/garlic/onion into a small bowl. Set aside
3. Rub about 1-2 teaspoon of oil onto the chicken breast and coat the chicken with the dry mixture evenly. Set aside in the refrigerator for at least 30min.
4. Heat up a non-stick pan with half of the remaining olive oil, place 2 chicken breast at one time. Cook the chicken 4-5min each side. And you are done. 

Chomp Chomp.. Meat Galore.. 

Note: This is good to serve with Mash Potato and some mixed vegetables.. You are all set to go.. :)

Banana Bread.. Version 2.0 .. My quest to healthy yet tasty bread

Since Kimmie asked me to make Banana Bread, I decided to make one from the previous recipe and another one with an improved recipe.


This time, i decided to change plain flour to oatmeal flour and reduced the amount of sugar by 25%

Let's now talk about Version 2.0

Ingredients (Makes 1 loaf)

• 1 3/4 Cup of Oatmeal Flour (Take around 2 Cups Oatmeal and grind)
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1/2 tsp of Cinnamon Powder
• 1/2 Cup of low-fat yoghurt (thinking of trying greek yoghurt the next round)
• 3/4 Cup of sugar (thinking of lowing the sugar amount the next round)
• 2 large eggs
• 5 medium sized ripe bananas, mashed ("kim-jio" for those living in Singapore)
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• Zest of 1 orange (medium size)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Set aside a 9" by 5" loaf pan with parchment paper and greased with butter or non-stick spray. 
2. Take the oat (rolled or quick) and grind it for a couple of mins. It is okay if it is not finely grinded.  
3. Mix the 1st 5 dry ingredients together and set aside. 
4. Add the orange zest into the mashed banana and mixed well.
5. In a mixing bowl cream the sugar and the yoghurt together for a couple of minutes. Add egg and continue mixing till well combined. 
6. Add in the banana-orange zest into the mixing bowl. Mix them till well combined. 
7. Lastly, add in the dry ingredients and stop mixing once 90% of the dry ingredients are combined. Using a spatula, fold to ensure all the dry ingredients are well mixed. This is to prevent over-mixing and the formation of gluten in the flour. If so, the bread will be tough. 
8. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 35-40 min or until when you insert a toothpick into the middle of the loaf and the toothpick comes out clean. 

Apparently it is faster to bake banana bread made from oatmeal flour.. Wells. 

Yea... Banana Bread... I added oat on top to give it a more "healthy" look.. Hahha

You can still see chunks of banana in the bread... 

Bababa Banana Bread version 1.0

After the holidays. Christmas - New Year - Lunar New Year... Oh My! I have gained quite a bit of weight here and there... wells basically the whole body la.. Sigh.. Have been eating healthier and hitting the gym more often.. On top of that, trying to build more muscles so that I can increase my metabolism rate..

Was a bit bored at home and have not been baking (hence no posts recently)... Work has taken most of my time.. by the time I reach home, I am so exhausted, the last thing on my mind is bring out that flour and bake some thing... It was kind of depressing though.. Not able to do what I like to do... Like my energy is being sucked away. Ok, I digressed a bit.. So... Back to me being bored at home.. I decided to bake something simple to kind of get the engine going... Macarons were out of the questions.. Brought the icing sugar and almond meal out only to put them back in a split second.. Saw some banana.. Ah Ha! Banana Bread then.. But banana and bread.. not very calorie friendly.. Hmm.. I went searching the internet.. looking of how i can make it healthier.. Wow.. a few nice substitutions  out there to replace high calorie ingredients to something more healthy.. I decided to go slow one at a time.. replacing one ingredient with a healthy one each time i baked.. So to experiment and to come out with a more healthy yet incredibly delicious one to recommend.. Am thinking if I should record my whole journey here or just the successful ones.. Wells lets start with version 1.0

Ingredients (make 1 loaf)

• 1 3/4 Cup of Plain Flour
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1/2 tsp of Cinnamon Powder
• 1/2 Cup of low-fat yoghurt (thinking of trying greek yoghurt the next round)
• 1 Cup of sugar (thinking of lowing the sugar amount the next round)
• 2 large eggs
• 5 medium sized ripe bananas, mashed ("kim-jio" for those living in Singapore)
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• Zest of 1 orange (medium size)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Set aside a 9" by 5" loaf pan with parchment paper and greased with butter or non-stick spray. 
2. Mix the 1st 5 dry ingredients together and set aside. 
3. Add the orange zest into the mashed banana and mixed well.
4. In a mixing bowl cream the sugar and the yoghurt together for a couple of minutes. Add egg and continue mixing till well combined. 
5. Add in the banana-orange zest into the mixing bowl. Mix them till well combined. 
6. Lastly, add in the dry ingredients and stop mixing once 90% of the dry ingredients are combined. Using a spatula, fold to ensure all the dry ingredients are well mixed. This is to prevent over-mixing and the formation of gluten in the flour. If so, the bread will be tough. 
7. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 40-45 min or until when you insert a toothpick into the middle of the loaf and the toothpick comes out clean. 

I know.. Don't look that appetizing 

This bread surprisingly baked faster than the normal banana bread recipe.. Usually the bread will take around 1h or more to bake.. I checked it at the 40min mark and it turned out done.

But look how airy the bread is.. not those normal dense banana bread. The air pockets make it very chewy too

Surprisingly, the yoghurt turned out to be quite a good substitute for butter... Now I know.. Got quite a few good compliments from the family and friends.. Even the picky sunshine said it was good.. Moist and the sweetness is just nice... Yea my first experiment was a success!