The Chef's Favourites Series : Golden Sago Dessert with Banana and Coconut - A Guest Post by Wan

Thank you all for the sweet wishes and for joining me for the celebration of my 1st blog anniversary :). Now I present you all with The Chef's Favourites Series for the month of April.  As you all know, this is a monthly guest post series where I invite some of my blogger friends to share with us one of their favourite recipes . They will also answer some simple questions so that we can know more about them :). If you have missed the previous guest posts, do check them out here. 

The Chef for this month is Wan of Cooking Varieties. Wan is a wonderful blogger friend of mine who has an amazing space. She not only shares recipes, but also writes so many informative and useful posts about food and health. There will be lots of new and interesting things to learn in each of her posts....be it techniques or tips, they are all so well written. You can also see some food art or sometimes you can find some posts with good food jokes too :). The best part is that you can view so many guest posts which features different cuisines across the world. It's a pleasure to say that my Tandoori Soya recipe was also featured at her space which was my first guest post ever. Thank you again Wan for that wonderful opportunity :). Please do visit Wan's space for a variety of interesting posts and recipes.

Chef Wan is sharing with us a lovely recipe which is one of her favourites - Golden Sago Dessert with Banana and Coconut. What I liked about this recipe is the usage of banana leaf and coconut for making this sweet. We South Indians use banana leaf for making some sweet and other dishes rt. Since Wan is from Malaysia, using banana leaf and coconut was a little surprising for me..something similar to our cuisine rt :) Now let' all enjoy this yummy and healthy dessert :)

Thanks a lot Wan for this wonderful guest post :) Please accept the below award as a token of Thanks :)

Over to Chef Wan now........

About me...

I am Wan Maznah from Malaysia. I blog on food at Cooking Varieties. Up keeping to the name “varieties”, my blog is a composition of things culinary, including recipes, health benefits, food art, food jokes,  cooking techniques and tips. I have incorporated international recipes from international chefs/blogger chefs via guest posts. I would love to be a culinary artist with designer food that pleases both the palate and the eyes.

I also wish to express my gratitude and special thank you to Sobha for being my guest this year and for giving me this honourable opportunity to introduce my recipe, Golden Sago dessert. Thank you.

Favourite Recipe here @ Good Food

Many equally delicious looking foods, can't single out which one.

Favourite Cook Book

None.

Favourite Chef

My favorite chef is no celebrity, but is a very experienced one on classic and vintage Malay cuisine.

Favourite Spice

Cinnamon

Favourite Restaurant  

Alladin restaurant in Kuala Lumpur- I love the mutton beryani gam..yummy always.

Favourite Cuisine

Malay - One of the favourite Malaysian dish is Fishhead curry (red snapper fish) with eggplant, tomatoes and okra.

Favourite Food Show

None in particular, depends on the recipe.

Favourite Recipe

This golden sago-banana recipe is one of my favorite recipes because it is a genuine classic heritage, using traditional banana leaves, easy to prepare, no oil and at an affordable budget, yet authentic.

Golden Sago Dessert with Banana and Coconut Recipe :

Ingredients 

2 cups sago pearls
2 medium size sweet ripe bananas- minced (do not mash)
1 cup fresh grated coconut
3 tablespoon sugar
Banana leaves (about 20 pieces, cut into 11 cm width)
Permitted food coloring- orange

Preparation 

Here in Malaysia, you can buy banana leaves from the wet market. Banana leaves need to be softened or slightly wilted, so that it won’t tear off, when folded.  To do this, you can heat the leaf over your stove fire for a few seconds. Or u can put it under the hot sun for 30- 40 minutes.

You may substitute this with some other large non-poisonous leaves. The leaf texture should not be too soft. Cooking-varieties use leaves, to ensure that the sago cooks with excellent results and not soften and get ruined if it’s boiled directly in water. This is the intricate part of cooking sago, although the recipe is very simple to follow.

When that is done, cut the banana leaves into pieces, about 11 cm wide and set aside. Leave the length as it is.  Wash sago pearls and drain away water. Do not use strainer. The sago is wet enough to enable it to soften, and not soggy.

Using a mixing bowl, add in 5 tablespoon water, food colouring and 3 tablespoon sugar and stir until sugar dissolves. Add in sago pearls, banana and grated coconut. Mix well and ensure that the sugar and all ingredients are properly mixed.  Set aside for 15-20 minutes to allow the ingredients blend together and to let the sago soften a bit.

Boil water in a Steamer pot. While waiting for water to boil, start wrapping up the sago using banana leaves. Shape banana leaf into a cone, fill it up with sago and press down the sago using a spoon. Fold the top to close the cone. Place and arrange this cone directly onto the Steamer pan. Repeat this, until all sago has been wrapped up. Put pan on Steamer pot. Cover with lid and let it cook for about 15- 20 minutes- depending on your steamer size/layers of cones stacked, as in the case of a small-size steamer.

You can open up one cone and check- if sago has turned translucent color, then it is already cooked. Remove from steamer and leave to cool. When serving, do not remove the leaves. It looks more authentic.

My Cooking Tip / Technique or Favourite Quote

“Avoid loud and aggressive people, they are a vexation to the spirit" - anon

Celebrating 1st Blog Anniversary with Avocado Shrikhand :)

Hi all....I am Good Food and I am the birthday baby.......yes, I just turned 1 today :). Hurray !!   I like to thank all of you who have been a part of this journey with me. Hope you could find your destinations...I mean, a good food here :) I thoroughly enjoyed a year long journey with you all, I appreciate each one of you for stopping by and hope to see you all the coming year too :)

Friends...It's celebration time.....its my blog's first anniversary. Though I had saved a few recipes in my blog which was private initially, I made my lil space visible to all on this day, last year.  I can't believe that a year has passed by. Still I feel I am a novice in this blogosphere. I am not a cooking expert..but I am just a foodie, who loves to cook, learn, share and experiment.

I would like to initially thank my husband who has encouraged me right from the beginning.  Without his support, I could have never reached here. Then I would like to thank my lil naughty son, who made blogging as a challenge to me by making me busy all the time...I am happy I have won that challenge so far :). I would like to thank my mother who is a wonderful cook from whom I picked up the basics of cooking and my sister who is also a good cook , she gave me some lovely props too. Finally I would like to thank each one of you for your constant support, encouraging words and wishes. The best part is that blogging gave me many friends and a handful of close friends.  A big THANK YOU to all dear friends and readers out there.

Another great news on this lovely occasion is that I have won a $20 gift card as a giveaway prize from Sangeetha of San's Kitchen. This was really a surprise and I will cherish this as this is my first giveaway win ever. Thanx a lot Sangeetha for the lovely gift :)

To celebrate this special day, I am presenting yet another simple and yum recipe...Avocado Shrikhand...sounds interesting rt? I just love this fruit and I am trying to include avocado in different and interesting forms in our diet. This is the second time I am making this dessert.  Lovely green colour and yummilicious one  ...very simple to make...special  dessert for any special occasion :)

Dedicating this special post to my husband and my son :)

Serves 2-3

You need...

1 cup Hung / Greek Yoghurt (Refer Notes below)
1/2 cup Avocado (scooped out)
1/2 cup Sugar
2 tbsp Milk
1/2 tsp Cardamom powder
2 tbsp Almonds / Pistachios

To prepare...


Blend avocado, milk, sugar and cardamom powder into a smooth thick paste.

Mix thoroughly the yoghurt and avocado paste with a spoon in a bowl.

Add some nuts and mix (save some for garnishing).

Chill this for 2-3 hours.

Serve it with some nuts as topping. Enjoy the lovely Avocado Shrikhand.

Notes:

* It is best to prepare this fresh and enjoy the dessert at the earliest as green colour of the avocado might slowly fade off.

* How to prepare Hung yoghurt at home?


Put the regular yoghurt in a thin clean cloth, tie it tight and hang inside the refrigerator for few hours. Keep a bowl under it so as to collect all the water drained. After this process, you will get very thick creamy hung yoghurt.

You can also buy the Hung / Greek Yoghurt from store. I have used store brought Hung yoghurt here.

* What if you haven't used up the whole Avocado for making Shrikhand ?

Try one of these recipes : Avocado Milkshake or Eggless Avocado Cake or a lovely Mexican dip Guacamole :)

Sending this to the following events:

Kitchen Chronicles- Summer Splash hosted by Sangee, an event by Kalyani. 
I'm the Star by Rasi
Healthy Morsels event at Taste of Pearl City 
Fast Food, not Fat Food event hosted by Uma , an event by Priya 
ABC Series: Fruit Fiesta by Ramya
Beat the Heat at My Cook Book