Laksa lockdown 3

Going bananas

My Singaporean friend Felix Heng is a keen cook who also loves his desserts.

Try his recipe for steamed banana cake.

Kueh Harum Manis (steamed banana cake)

150g dark brown sugar or palm sugar

250ml water

250 g butter

180g sugar

3 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

330g plain flour

1 level tsp baking powder

1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda

¼ tsp salt

4 - 5 ripe bananas

kueh lompang (kueh kosui) plastic moulds or cups

Boil some water in a steamer.

Put brown sugar and water in a saucepan.

Cook over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and leave aside to cool down completely.

Strain sugar mixture.

Melt butter over low heat in another saucepan.

Remove from heat and leave aside to cool down completely.

In a bowl, sift flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt together.

Put sugar, eggs and vanilla essence in another bowl and beat until creamy.

Add flour mixture by the tablespoon and fold in well.

Then, add in melted butter and mix well, making sure there are no lumps.

Finally, add in the sugar/water mixture and mix thoroughly.

Grease the kuih lompang moulds with soft butter.

Using a tablespoon, add batter until almost half or three quarters full.

Slice bananas into 2cm slices and top each kuih with a banana slice.

Make sure water is boiling in the steamer and steam the kuih for about 20 minutes.

Remove from steamer and let it cool down for about 5 minutes.

Use a plastic knife and run round the sides of mould so the kuih comes out smoothly.

Note: If you don’t have the individual plastic moulds then just make one large cake by pouring all the batter into an 8” cake tin and steam for 20 mins.