Not quite grandma's Vegan Banana Cream Pie

Many of you asked me what I did with the food I made. If it is a meat dish, it usually ended up at Mr Wonderful. If it is vegetarian, I would share it with my vegetarian friends. Mr Wonderful once told me he had never eaten so much fruit and vegetable in his life. However I could not get him to eat a vegan pie. He loves pie. In his opinion a pie without butter, dairy and all, is not worth eating.  His Grandma, mother and sisters were all bakers. They used to run a family diner in Northern MN and they made pies from scratch everyday. He once told me he "knew" pies.

I did a terrible thing this week. I mislead poor Mr Wonderful to eat a piece of my Vegan Banana Cream Pie. I didn't tell him it was vegan, with no butter, no dairy, no eggs. I asked how the pie was, he said: " Taste just like Grandma's". Well - that's a BIG win!! He didn't know what he ate and he asked for second!!! Shhhhh... let's not tell him  :)

I didn't make the pie to challenge the poor man, I was actually asked by my friend Moni for a Vegan banana cream pie on National Banana Cream Pie day. I wanted to come up with something that she could enjoy with her husband, Steve. I was told that Steve loved Banana Cream Pie. I want to make sure I can preserve the taste and richness of the pie without the  dairy and eggs. 3 of the key item I used: Coconut milk beverage, English Bird's custard powder and Rich Whip.
The coconut milk here is not a traditional coconut I usually use for cooking, it is an non-dairy alternative. I love the product. It has a hint of coconut. the same consistency of milk. It cooks very well.
No many realize there is no egg in the custard powder, it is actually corn starch with some coloring.
As with Rich Whip, it was the 1st non-dairy topping in the food industry!! Rich Whip is the only topping without any milk product. Many of the whipped topping do contain milk solids.

Vegan Banana Cream Pie

The crust:

1 1/2 cup cinnamon graham cracker crumb, you can grind you own, it's about 1 inner package of crackers.

1/3 cup sugar

6 tbsp coconut oil, melted

Filling

2 tbsp Bird's custard powder

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/4 cup non-sweeterned coconut milk beverage

1 tsp vanilla

2 med size banana, sliced

Topping:

1 8oz frozen carton liquid Rich Whip

1/4 cup powder sugar.

Directions:

Lightly spray a 8" pie pan with Pam or other non-stick baking coating.

In a med size bowl, mix cracker crumb and sugar. Add melted coconut oil. 

 Mix well.

 pour the crust mix into a prepared pie pan, evenly press the mix down to make the crust. Set a side

To make the filling
Warm 1 cup of coconut milk in a small sauce pan till hot, but not boiling.

In a separate medium size bowl, mix sugar together

 Slowly whisk in the remaining 1/4 cup of coconut milk

Mix well and make sure there is no big lumps and the mixture is smooth

Add the hot coconut milk to the custard mix.

 Return the custard mixture to the pan over med low heat

Keep whisking and cook the custard till thickened and coat the whisk or back of a spoon.

 The custard should be pudding like, return the mix back to the bowl again

 Mix in 1 tsp vanilla

 Fold in 1/2 of the banana. Let the mixture cool in the fridge for about 30 min. It would appear to be very thick.

In a med bowl, whip Rich Whip till stiff.

Fold in add 1/4 cup of power sugar.

 

Remove the custard from the fridge, fold in 1 cup of the whipped topping

 Mix with the beater for about 1 min to break up the banana

Reserve a few pieces of the banana for garnish, evenly space the remaining banana in the pie crust.

Top with the custard

Even the top

 Pile the remaining topping on the pie. If you choose, you can pipe the topping on the pie.

Chill and let the pie set in the fridge for 2 hours till set. Garnish with banana slices

You can substitute Cool Whip or other whipped topping if you do not need the pie to be vegan.

Enjoy
Aloha!

Indonesian inspired Coconut milk Banana bread

Once again I am not eating bananas fast enough, I had 5 big very ripe bananas that I just couldn't threw any more in the freezer since there were already a few bags of 5. I thought of making some Nonya kueh, kueh are cakes/ sweet snacks in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia region. These are the sweets I grew up with.  I remember my mother used to meet me at the airport when I used to pass through Singapore on my business trip. I used to plan my weekend home when I was in Asia. Mother would pick up a box of kueh. I could eat the whole box in the car from the airport to the hotel!!

As I was looking for a recipe I came across a banana bread with coconut milk recipe on the web. I decide to make some modification and add in some Nonya flavor to it. This is a great alternative to your traditional banana bread, very moist with a subtle coconut flavor. Reminded me of the banana coconut kueh made with rice flour with gula melaka (palm sugar). I wish I have some kaya, I may eat the whole loaf! Gula melaka is basically the same as gula jawa. You will be able to find the sugar in Asian stores that carry Indonesia products. If you are in Minneapolis, you can find it at United Noodle.

Somedays I do miss my childhood Island home of Singapore... guess I need to make plan to go home soon.

Coconut milk Banana Bread
5 very ripe banana
250ml (1 small can of coconut milk)
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup  Gula jawa or brown sugar, reserve 2 leaping teaspoon, set aside
3 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Direction
Preheat oven to 350*F. Spray or grease 2 9x5 loaf pans
Mash 5 ripe banana in a large bowl

Add coconut milk

Stir in eggs

Then oil

Add in 3/4 cup less 2 tsp sugar. Mix well

Add flour, baking powder, baking sode and salt. Fold in the dry ingredients till everything is moistened. It will be lumpy.

Divide the batter into the 2 prepared pan.

Sprinkle each loaf with a tsp of the reserved sugar

Bake for an hour, till a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center

Let stand for 10 min. Invert and ready to serve!

Wrap tightly and store in the fridge or freeze the 2nd loaf.

Make 2 9x5 loaves.
Enjoy
Aloha

Island comfort food - Butter Mochi

I am helping my yoga teaching with making a couple of lunches for her women's retreat this weekend. She also needed a dessert to compliment the India dinner on the 1st night. As usual, I made my Island rice pudding. I also thought of bringing some kind of bars. I decided to make butter mochi.

Butter mochi is actually a coconut rice cake made with butter. It is a very "Hawaiian" snack, combing coconut milk, Japanese Mochiko (rice flour) and of course butter! Butter mochi can be an acquired taste. My ex-husband didn't really care for the soft chewy texture of any rice cakes. Since I grew up in Asia, it is very similar to some of the Nonya sweets my Auntie #4 used to make. Whenever I was homesick, butter mochi is the comfort food I would go to.

Butter Mochi
1 box (16oz) Mochiko (Rice Flour)
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 stick butter (4 ozs) melted
1 15oz can of coconut milk
1 13oz can of evaporated milk

1/4 cup water
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla

1 cup Shredded unsweetened coconut for topping (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

Spray or butter a 9x13 pan, set aside

In a large bowl, combine sugar and eggs

Pour in the box of Mochiko

Add baking powder

Pour in the can of  coconut mlik

Add evaporated milk and water.

Blend in butter and vanilla

Pour the batter into the prepared pan

Sprinkle with shredded coconut. Bake at 350 for 60 mins

Check for doneness by inserting a toothpick in the center. If the toothpick pull out clean, it's done!

The bar will puff up when remove from the oven

Let it cool. 

Cut into bar size and serve!

Enjoy!

Aloha

Coconut poi pudding!!! Trust me, yes poi the comfort food.

Most of my non-Hawaiian friends think this is a very bad idea to ruin a good dessert by pairing poi with any thing while my Hawaiian ohana and friends like the idea.

I don't know what it is, I like poi from the very first time I tried it. I remembered tasting poi at my roommate Cori's grandma's house. I didn't think it was bad at all. It is a bit bland, but it goes well with saltiness of many of the Hawaiian dishes. To me, it's just another form of starch, like rice or potatoes. Plus I like taro, so why not poi too.

Poi was not readily available on the mainland, especially in the Frozen Tundra. With some convincing and much support from the Hawaiian community here, United Noodles now carries frozen poi. In order to make sure they continue to offer the products, I would put in my part and have a bag in my freezer all the time. I am giving Mr Wonderful some proper Islander introduction. I serve him poi with Kalua pork or Laulau. He would never complaint and ate it anyway. He said it was a bit tasteless, but he didn't mind the texture and thought it mixed well with the meat!

As I told you a few weeks ago, my sister had her annual party and I made Kalua pork. I also fixed up some poi to go with it. We didn't have that many Islanders at the party, we had some poi leftover. I took it home with me. I found the container in my freezer last night and I was in the mood for some dessert. Why not Poi Pudding. I know poi does not have a lot of flavor, I used Indonesia palm sugar (gula jawa) instead of regular brown sugar. It has a darker molasse-like flavor. It goes very well with coconut milk. It is commonly used to make syrup many of the dessert in Singapore.

Now, trust me this is good, kind of a cross between rice pudding and custard. This is very comforting on a chilly fall night. I saved some and Mr Wonderful is going to have another adverture dessert this week!

Coconut Poi pudding with palm sugar
1 cup frozen poi, defrosted.
1 cup coconut milk
1/4-1/3 cup granulated palm sugar (gula jawa)
Directions
Reserve 4 tbsp of coconut milk on the side
In a small sauce pan heat 1 cup of cold poi over low heat. Keep breaking up the chucks till the poi return to its paste like texture
Slowly add remaining coconut milk.
Stir continuously till the mixture become a custard-like
Add sugar, stir to dessolve. Add more sugar to taste.
To serve, spoon 1/2 cup of the pudding into a small bowl
Drizzle with 1 tbsp of coconut milk over the pudding, sprinkle with a dash of palm sugar
Serve warm
Serve 4

Enjoy!
Aloha 

Too much vegetable in "inventory"? Let's curry!

I was busy with canning plum sauce on the weekend and didn’t get a chance to work with the CSA share this week. There were some lovely small potatoes and purple green beans. Yum! 2 big bunches of thyme and basil came with the box too. There were more cabbage and broccoli. I love them both, but they are backing up on me. What to do, what to do.

I was thinking of Mother today, she had another episode of stomach ulcer and ended up in the hospital in Hong Kong. She splits her time between Singapore and Hong Kong these days. I then remember she sent me a few packages of curry powder before she left Singapore to Hong Kong. The weather also sudden turned cooler, it’s perfect time for a quick one-pot curry meal. The vegetable is beautiful, I am going to take adventure of this and make it vegan.

Vegan CSA Singaporean Curry

1 small broccoli. Cleaned remove the stem and separate the florets

1 small cabbage. Cleaned, remove the outer leaves.  Cut into 2” chunks.

1.5 cup of small potatoes, I am using a few yellow and 2 purple. Cut into bite size, make about a cup

Handful of purple green beans. Cleaned, remove the ends and cut into bite size, make about a cup. You can use any green beans here.

1 small sweet onion. Clean and cut into 1” chunks.

1 clove of garlic. Peel removed, smashed and roughly chopped

3-4 Tbsp good curry powder. I am using a mix from Singapore. I would recommend the Maharajah style curry powder from Penzey’s spice. I stopped making my own. Since there were a few spices in the mix, I ended up with a big batch and I didn’t use it fast enough.

1 ½ cup water

1 cup coconut milk

1 tbsp chopped thyme

1 tbsp of chopped basil.

Handful of basil leaves, stems removed. I would prefer Thai basil in this dish. I am using plane basil today since it is in my CSA.

Salt and pepper to taste

Olive oil

Directions:

Prepare all the vegetables

In a medium size pot, heat 3 Tbsp olive oil till hot.

Sauté garlic for about 1 min over medium high

Add Onion, continue to sauté till soften. Season with salt and pepper

Add potatoes to the pot, brown the potatoes and let it cook for about 3-4 mins.

Once the potatoes has some “color”, 

Stir in curry powder. It will appear to be very dry. Lower the heat to med and keep stirring to toast the curry powder and open up the fragrant.

Add the rest of the vegetable – cabbage, beans and broccoli. Blend the vegetable with curry mix.

Add water slowly; keep stirring to blend everything together.

Increase heat and bring the curry to a boil. Add thyme

Cover, lower heat to med and let it simmer for about 5 min.

Add coconut milk and chopped basil. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.

Cover again and let the curry simmer till the potatoes is fully cooked.

To serve, plate in a shallow bowl, top with a few basil leaves, as you like. 

Serve 4


Serve with naan bread or rice. I am having hapa rice. Hapa in Hawaiian means half. Hapa rice is nothing exciting; it’s just ½ brown and ½ white rice. Mix the leaves into the hot curry and the heat will wilt the basil. Keeping that "green" taste! Make sure you have some sauce on your rice! I love that!

Enjoy
Aloha