Javanese Banana and Bread Pudding

This one here is my Mom's favourite, and to be honest with you I hated it when I was little. The thing is when you live so far away from home you start missing those things that reminds you of home. I started craving for it a few weeks ago when I was talking on the phone with my Mom for our regular weekly catch up. So I thought I really just have to make it even when banana is so expensive.

Unlike traditional bread and butter pudding, this Javanese pudding actually uses coconut milk, so at the end it makes a different consistency. And if you find it looking a little bit like curdled coconut milk, don't worry, that's how it's supposed to be. I also use this 'soft butter bread' from Asian bakery, Bread Top, it's only $3.20, and it has a slight sweetness to it that works so well with the banana and coconut milk.

On my shopping list;

2 ripe bananas, cut into dice size.
1 pack 'soft butter bread'

From the pantry;

2 eggs, beaten.
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 cups coconut milk
1/2 cup sugar

And, let's start cooking;
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
2. Boil coconut milk on medium heat, and add in sugar, keep stirring.
3. Add in banana and cinnamon, cook for about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.
4. Tear bread and layer in a baking dish.
5. Add the eggs into coconut milk mixture. Pour the whole liquid into baking dish, let the bread soak up all the liquid for a few minutes.
6. Bake for 30 minutes or until set.

Yummm my apartment smells like home now :) It's sweet and very... Javanese, like very rich and sweet. Hope you like it.

It cost me $6.40 for the bananas (super expensive) and $3.20 for the bread. That make 4 serves, or $2.40 a serve, that's good enough to make me feel home.

Cinnamon Apple Cake

This is a slightly modified recipe from a book called "At My French Table" by Jane Webster. My best friends actually gave me this book for my 25th birthday :) Anyway it's a fine recipe called 'Normandy Apple Cake'. But instead of using freshly grated nutmeg, I used the traditional spice; cinnamon.

This cake is very moist, and I also love how it's not too sweet. It's perfect having this cake after a long day at work, and I love having it with tea. My housemate loves having it with ice cream. Yummm... beautiful cake always makes my day, especially when I don't have to spend a lot of money to make it.

In my shopping list;

2 or 3 granny smith or jonathan apples. Cored, peeled and roughly chopped

250gr unsalted butter

And from the pantry;

4 eggs, room temperature

1 tablespoon of brown sugar

1 cup caster sugar

2 cups self-raising flour

1 cup milk

around a teaspoon ground cinnamon

And this is how I make it;

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees

2. Cook apples in some water and brown sugar for 10 minutes, then drain and sprinkle with cinnamon.

3. In a big bowl, mix butter and caster sugar with electric mixer until combined.

4. Add eggs, one by one. Then sift in the flour and add milk. Beat again until combined and soft mixture is formed.

5. Add in half of the apple, and then pour mixture into cake pan, and top with remaining of the chopped apples.

6. Bake for 50 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature with fresh cream or...  ice cream. Or if you can't afford it, just dust it with icing sugar :p

Unfortunately my housemate threw out my shopping receipt, so I can't tell you exactly how much I spent to make this cake... I think it's about $10 and that makes 8 slices, so it's $1.25 per slice. A lot cheaper, and (I think) it's better than most cake you get from cafes. I'm gonna have the last slice now, yummm....

Lime and Ricotta Pudding

Yeah, I've been really busy doing other things... and It's sad to say that I haven't had any exciting and successful attempts on cheap good food, so I had nothing much to write lately. But I made this beautiful dessert about 2 weeks ago, and I really loved it. It's called Lime and Ricotta Pudding.

I got the recipe from this book I borrowed from the city library, it's called 'Cooking Desserts' from Murdoch Books publication. It's quite a beautiful book, great dessert recipes, and beautiful photos too. Have a look next time you go to city library.

As always, I loved grocery shopping, and this time I only had to buy;

1 large lime (you need the zest and 1/4 cup of the juice)
1 1/2 cup of good quality ricotta cheese

And everything else I got it from the pantry;

60 gram unsalted butter
1 1/2 cup of caster sugar
3 eggs, room temperature and separated
1/4 cup of self-raising flour
icing sugar

And here is the instruction;
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease a large ovenproof dish, about 1.5 litre capacity.
2. Then in a large bowl use electric mixer to beat the butter, caster sugar and half of the lemon zest for 30 seconds until combined. Add egg yolk one at a time. Mix until combined.
3. Gradually add ricotta and flour alternately, a spoon at a time, and mix until mixture is thick and smooth.
4. Stir in the remaining lime juice.
5. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then carefully fold into the ricotta mixture in 2 batches.
6. Pour the mixture into the dish, place in a roasting tin, and pour enough hot water into roasting tin until halfway up the sides of the dish.
7. Bake for 1 hour, then sift the icing sugar and sprinkle with lime zest...

I loved it and my housemate loved it, my friends loved it. It's just so moist and smooth, and I loved the subtle lime flavour mixed with ricotta cheese... Yummy...

This serves 4 big portions, or 6 diet serves hahaha. It only cost me $6 for 500gr of good ricotta cheese, and I didn't need to use all of that, and I can't even remember how much was the lime... Let's say $1, so that's $7 for 4 serves, it's not even $2 a serve... I totally loved it and would make it again in the future.