May 18, 2007
BA-na-na-NA!
What’s Beethoven’s favorite fruit or should I call it an herb? He even wrote a piece of music for it. Take a listen below. (Download may be a bit slow.)
Beethovan’s Symphony No 5. - I seriously think that Beethovan loved bananas :) don’t you?
Do you know that a banana plant is not a tree? Instead, it is called a pseudostem. Ok. You knew that?
How about: Bananas are considered as herbs. Oh you knew that too?
Well, I for one did not know that until someone mentioned it in Weekend Herb Blogging, so now I am also using bananas (copycat, kiss the rat, go home let your mother slap) as an entry to this week’s Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Rinku.
In Singapore and in some other Asian communities, a banana is a slang term used to describe an Asian person who is perceived as acting like a white person - yellow (skin) on the outside and white on the inside. It’s like “Look at that Chinese speaking with an American accent. He’s a banana.” I am not a banana. I still speak with a Singaporean accent.
In terms of nutritional composition of a banana, a banana contains 93% carbs, 3% fats and 4% protein. No wonder when I was on a weight loss program a few years back, my “spa lady” flipped when once, I told her I ate TWO bananas that day. “Noooooooo! You can only eat ONE!!!” she shrieked.
She will probably shriek even louder if I tell her I mixed THREE bananas with butter and sugar etc to make banana muffins. She’s definitely into “thin is beautiful” and wants all her clients to think the same.
Anyways, since I am out of her weight loss program (since working out in the gym or having a bout of stomach flu was definitely more effective), I made Banana Muffins. I had googled and looked at quite a number of different Banana Muffin recipes before deciding to try Wandering Chopsticks Banana Bread Recipe. Well, she used a loaf pan that’s why hers is called “Banana Bread” whereas I used a muffin tin, so I call them “Banana Muffins”. She also used yogurt, which I was kinda surprised (”oh, you can use yogurt in baking??”) but was pleased since I had yogurt leftover from making my chicken pies.
Ok. I know what’s in your mind right now. Where are the muffins? Well, since I like the top part of muffins only because they are cripsy, I decided to quarter my Banana Muffins into bite sized pieces after the initial baking, so that I could have more crispy bits. :)
I made a slight alteration to Wandering Chopstick’s recipe, based on the ingredients I had on hand and after some “consultation” with her since I am a baking idiot.
Ingredients (Makes approx 12 muffins):
- 5 tbsp salted butter (you can choose unsalted butter if you so wish)
- 155g (or 3/4 cup) white sugar
- 3 overripe bananas, mashed
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 2 eggs
- 200g (or 1 1/2 cups) multi-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup toasted walnuts, chopped
- 1/2 cup yogurt
Baking Method:
1. In a large bowl, cream butter, sugars, bananas and vanilla well. (I used a fork to do the mixing.)
2. Beat eggs by adding them in one at a time. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and toasted walnuts with butter/sugar/banana mixture. Add yogurt and gently fold in the yogurt. Do not overmix.
3. Put muffin cups into muffin tin. Transfer mixture into the muffin cups (till 80% full). Bake in a preheated oven at 325F for about 30 minutes or until browned.
These Banana Muffins are light and not as buttery as my Orange Muffins. The toasted walnuts provided a nutty texture and of course, keeping the bananas till they were blackened and overripe contributed to the sweetness and overall kick to these Banana Muffins.
Bite This!
More recipes:
Otak-Otak - Fish Cakes In Banana Leaves
The Rapper Cook’s Preview Into Her 2007 Menu
Peng Kuih (Glutinous Rice Cake)
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May 18th, 2007 at 11:51 pm
Haha! Lady, the “consulting” consisted of me telling you that white sugar could be substituted for brown sugar. :P
And I wouldn’t call someone a “banana” if they spoke English without an accent. I’d call someone a “banana” if they tried to pass themselves off as white, couldn’t speak their native language, has only white friends, etc. BTW, what’s the difference between a “banana” and a “twinkie”?
May 19th, 2007 at 7:27 am
The yogurt consultation as well… remember… er… you used yogurt? Really? You could? Oh! It makes the bread (and my chicken pie pastry) “light and fluffy”. Ahhh…
Twinkie? From wikipedia :) - “…slang used by some American Indians to refer to a European American, with little or no social or blood links to any tribe, who claims to be an American Indian”
May 19th, 2007 at 7:38 am
Ha! And also… why did my 2-egg banana muffins not rise as much as my 4-egg orange muffins? :P
Whoa. What? I’ve never heard that one. Europeans Americans aren’t yellow, they’re white. How can they be twinkies? White trying to be red, would be something else. Like white trying to be Asian is called an “egg.”
Actually, “banana” vs. “twinkie” refers to Asian-born vs. American-born Asian Americans. :P
May 19th, 2007 at 11:21 am
You only like the top part of the muffins? Hehe - have you ever seen that Seinfeld episode about muffin tops? Maybe you can just make the tops!
May 19th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
ooohh, they look really nice. Does it make it taste different with yoghurt instead of milk?
May 19th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Hey Chopsticks,
I think you read the “twinkie” meaning wrong. Wikipedia did not say anything about skin color when they mentioned “twinkie”. The “yellow” skin color was my own interpretation of “banana” referring to Asians acting like whites.
W&S:
I haven’t seen that Seinfeld episode, but I am guessing bake really thin layers so that everything is crispy? Hmm… then I will call that “baked banana tops” instead of muffins. Sounds weird tho!
Hi Anh,
I’ll need to direct your question to Wandering Chopsticks! Chopsticks, can u help here?
May 19th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
Yich,
Ah, I got this line from Wiki, which makes much more sense to me since they’re talking about the “artificialness” of twinkies.
In some Native American circles a “twinkie” is a person who believes in a sickeningly sweet and artificial version of American Indian religion(s), or claims to be Native American for fraudulent purposes.
As for yogurt in baking, as I said before, it lightens the batter to create a fluffier banana bread. That’s why my directions say to mix everything else first, and then only lightly add in the yogurt, and even more lightly add in the flour. Milk won’t create the same effect b/c it’s all liquid and not a thicker, lighter consistency. You can also substitute sour cream for the yogurt. Just make sure not to beat them too much, or you’ll essentially be putting in milk in your batter.
BTW, Seinfeld’s muffin top episode, Elaine said the muffins tops were the best part, so this guy heard her and opened a shop selling muffin tops. Except, he went about it all wrong and tried to bake muffin tops. The trick was to bake a whole muffin, and “pop” the top. But then he was left with a whole bunch of muffin bottoms that no one wanted…
I like the crunchy edge too, but only on brownies. :P
May 19th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
Hehe… one-hand Chopsticks to the rescue once again. Are you making brownies anytime soon? I like to eat my brownies with ice-cream.
May 19th, 2007 at 7:51 pm
Hehe. Are you looking for a brownie recipe? It’ll be a while since I had coupons and the store had baking mixes on sale, so I ended up buying a lot b/c they were only 50 cents each. But I like Wal-mart’s generic Good Value brand brownies for 97 cents a box. It’s really rich and chewy, and gives me a bigger crust, like an inch-thick of crust. And then I like to use my circular stoneware pan b/c it gives me a bigger crust when I bake too. I’m sure someone else’s perfect brownie is very different from my crusty outside, chewy inside, but that’s what I like! :)
May 20th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
I love banana bread. Nope, I didn’t know banana was a herb or that it didn’t grow on a tree.
May 21st, 2007 at 9:04 pm
They do sound very tasty. I like your saying about copying too, and also the information about people being called bananas. Most interesting.