Some Important Banana Facts

In order to learn about some important banana facts, we should first learn about the origin of this fantastic fruit.

• Bananas come from the Indo-Malaysian region; it slowly reached northern Australia.

• Common names for which people have used to refer to bananas are 'Banana', 'Plantain', 'Curro', 'Bananier Nain', and 'Canbur'.

• The most vital banana facts that will always remain true is that it consists of high vitamin contents and calorie enrichment.

• Banana plants are the world's fourth largest crop. It is grown typically in a hot, moist area. Ten months of hot temperature is needed to produce the fruit's flowers. Banana plants require protection from the wind, sunlight, and extreme temperatures.

• Other important banana facts: Banana plants grow from rhizomes in the ground. They grow from the middle of the stem after 10 to 15 months.

• Banana plants can grow up to nine feet in length and two feet in width. The leaves of banana plants come out from the centre of the stalk and stretch outwards. The inflorescence of the banana coming out from the middle of the plant first looks like a long, oval-shaped, purple-colored bud. From there, the flowers gradually appear.

• The first five to fifteen rows of bananas are female. These first females contain ovaries and grow quickly into groups of fruits, also called 'hands'. The number of hands that will grow will depend on the types and species of bananas.

• Bananas generally turn from dark green to red or yellow. The flavor of the fruit may be sweet or mild. Some bananas may have seeds and some may be seedless.

• Bananas requires generous warmth and would be best if grown alongside an asphalt or cement construction, such as a building or a walkway.

• Banana plants require protection from heavy wind and high temperatures. Support for the banana plant is required when the fruits are starting to appear.

• Banana plants grow in almost all types of soil, but a well-drained, rich soil is good. An acid soil is preferred with a pH between 6.5 and 5.5.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peter_J_Lee

Chili For Side Dish and Health

Chili as spicy fruit is used widely as a flavor cuisine around the world. Asia Food like Indian, Malaysian, Indonesian, Singaporean, Philippines, and Sri Lanka Food use a lot of chili at their daily cuisine and also as ingredient of "sambal" (chili sauce). Sambal is eaten as a condiment or as a side dish. Many types of sambal will vary in taste and spiciness. It can be very hot for the uninitiated.

Below are some popular sambal types in Indonesia:
1. Sambal Bajak (Badjak): Chili (or another kind of red pepper) fried with oil, garlic, trassi, candlenut and other condiments
2. Sambal belacan (the Malay style sambal): Chili is pounded together with toasted Shrimp paste (belacan) in a stone mortar.
3. Sambal Terasi, similar to sambal belacan but it has stronger flavor. It is made from red chili,oil, garlic, trassi, candlenuts and other condiments.
4. Sambal Mangga: shredded young mango is added to freshly ground Sambal Trassi, usually eat together with roasted seafood.
5. Sambal Balado (Minangkabau style Sambal): Green chili sauteed with oil, shallot, garlic, green tomato, lime/lemon juice, and salt.
6. Sambal Kecap Manis: dominant taste is sweet (in Indonesian language: sweet=manis, kecap=soy sauce)
7. Sambal Udang: Chili fried with oil, garlic and shrimps.

Chili plant is belonging to the Solanaceae family plant. Most often used of Chili plant species are include Capsicum Annuum, Capsicum Frutescens, Capsicum Chinense, Capsicum Pubescens, and Capsicum Baccatum. Chillies contain a chemical compound called Capsaicin (8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide). Beside Capsaicin, chili also contain many compounds which are similar to the capsaicin compound, called Capsaicinoids.

When eaten chili, Capsaicinoids compound is bonded with pain receptor in the mouth and throat causing hot taste. Receptor then will send a signal to the brain say that something spicy has been eaten. The brain will respond this signal by increasing heartbeat, transpiration, and release the endorfin hormone.

Red Chilies contain vitamin C in large numbers, also contain Carotene (pro-vitamin A). In the yellow and green chilies, vitamin C & Carotene are not too high.

Chili also has benefits for the body health, which are:

a. the experiment in the laboratory with the mice has shown that capsaicin able to kill cancer cells
b. from the latest research, it indicates that capsaicin is able to lose weight of obesity people.
c. in the experimental mice's pancreas suffering from diabetes, capsaicin is used to kill nerve cells , this allows the cells that produce insulin start to produce more insulin.
d. The process of cardiovascular risk can be slow down by the foods that contain chili.
e. Chili is considered capable of controlling the pollution in the food microbes.
f. Some research shows that capsaicin has an anti Ulcer protection benefit in the stomach infected by H. pylori bacteria.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Merry_I.

Chicken Laksa Recipe - Make Flavorsome Malaysian Curry Noodles at Home

Laksa is a Malaysian Curry served with noodles.

This recipe is for a chicken curry cooked with coconut milk, prawns, lemon grass, chilies and tofu. Sprinkled with crunchy bean sprouts and spring onions and served on top of noodles. The flavors in the laksa curry are amazing. This recipe is very easy to make once you have gathered the essential ingredients.

A Laksa recipe has a lot of ingredients in it. This recipe gives out a authentic laksa flavor, so try not to substitute or omit certain ingredients. If you haven't tried a laksa before, you must try this recipe. It is a great way to have chicken and noodles.

The ingredients for this laksa recipe are

* 750gms-1 Kg of chicken (on the bone cut into 12 pieces)

Blend together the following with little water

* 3 medium onions
* 4 Tbsp chopped ginger and garlic
* 3 Tbsp dry prawns
* 3 Tbsp roasted peanuts (unsalted)
* 2 fresh red chillies (These chilies are very hot, so use carefully).

Other ingredients are

* 3 Tbsp oil
* 1 Tsp turmeric powder
* 2 Tsp coriander powder
* 2 Tsp shrimp paste or dried shrimp powder
* 1 Tbsp sesame oil
* 3-4 stalks of crushed lemon grass (6 inches from root, not the leaves)
* 200ml coconut milk (ready made).
* 1 Tsp kashmiri red chili powder (it's not hot, it's just to enhance the color. You can use any other mild paprika for the color).
* 1 Tbsp lime or lemon juice
* 1 Tsp red wine vinegar
* 2 Tsp sugar
* 100gm tofu (bean curd-fried and cut into 1cm x 1 ½ inch pieces)
* 100gm bean sprouts
* 6-7 spring onions chopped
* Noodles 1 packet (any egg noodles)

Boil the chicken in 1 liter of water, till it is cooked. Remove the pieces from the water and reduce the water to about 750 ml. This will form the stock.

Heat the oil in a big pan and fry the blended paste. Add turmeric, coriander, shrimp paste, sesame oil, lemon grass and red chili powder. Fry till dry and the oil separates from the paste.

Add the chicken pieces, stir for a few minutes. Strain the stock into this.

Bring to a boil (don't worry if the chicken gets a bit overcooked, it should be that way).

Reduce the heat and add the coconut milk, lime juice, vinegar, sugar and some salt. Followed by the tofu.
Stir a little.The gravy should be almost watery (although the coconut milk will make it a little dense).

So if need be add a little hot water. Simmer some more.

Meanwhile, boil the noodles and strain. Save the strained water from the noodles in a bowl.

Put the bean sprouts in a strainer and pour this water on it.

To serve, put the noodles in a deep bowl. Top it with the chicken laksa and lots of gravy.

Sprinkle with the bean sprouts and spring onions. Eat it hot.

Enjoy the taste and flavor of this malaysian recipe.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Manila_Williams

Petai and Assorted Beans With Abalone Sauce Recipe

Parkia speciosa is also known as petai or sataw, is a famous bean in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Brunei. Some people also called it bitter bean because of its bitter taste. Petai tree normally grow wildly in the jungle and forest. The tree can commonly be found in South East Asia jungle and forest. Nowadays, due to commercialize reason, people start to cultivate it in orchards.

Research shows that petai contain high protein, fat, carbohydrate, calcium, phosphorus, Vitamin A, B1, B2 and C. The nutritious content of petai depends on its size and freshness. In Malay traditional medical treatment, they believe that petai is effective in remedying heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease and also children stomach worms. Some people may not like petai due to its strong smell. Petai contains certain amino acids that can produce a strong smell. We could sense whether someone has taken petai from the strong smell of his or her urine.

Petai can be taken raw, fried and pickled. Petai is also treated as viand (In Malays, it is called ulam) by some of its lovers. In Malaysia, the cooks usually like to fry petai with garlic, dried shrimp and chili peppers. In Thai, petai is used as a main ingredient in Thai Green Curry. In Indonesia, petai is not a strange name to those people who live in the mountainous regions of Java.

Sambal petai is one of the famous foods in Malaysia. It is also my favorite food. However, in this article, I would like to share with you the recipe of fried petai and assorted beans with abalone sauce.

Ingredients:
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 tablespoon garlic (chopped)
• 2 tablespoons dried shrimp (soaked)
• 100g petai beans
• 100g long beans (cut in 3cm length)
• 100g lady's fingers (sliced)
• 100g four-angle beans (sliced)
• 1 red chili (sliced)

Seasoning:
• 1 tablespoon of Abalone Sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste

Methods:
1) Heat up oil in wok and then put four-angle beans, long beans, petai beans and lady's fingers into wok.
2) Deep fry the assorted beans for 1 minute. Dish it up and put it aside.
3) Heat up 2 tablespoons oil. Sauté chopped garlic and dried shrimps until fragrant.
4) Add in the fried assorted bean (step 2) and stir fry until well mixed.
5) Serve hot.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ken_Abhisit

Malaysian Foods - LAKSA

Few types of Malaysian food are so typical as Laksa. According to the wikipedia, Laksa is a popular spicy noodle soup from Peranakan culture, which is a merger of Chinese and Malay elements found in Malaysia and Singapore. The name may originate from the Sanskrit word laksha (लक्ष), meaning "many" and referring to the soup's many ingredients; the word is also the origin of the Hindi term lakh.

Laksa is almost everywhere available. Basically there are two types of laksa: curry laksa (curry mee) and assam laksa. The curry laksa is served in a coconut curry soup while assam laksa refers to noodles served in a sour fish soup. The noodles used are thick though thin noodles (bee hoon) are used too.

Spicy or not? Laksa for sure is one of the more spicy dishes you will find in Malaysia. In general of all Malaysian food, I found the Malay laksa spicier then the Chinese laksa. The assam laksa, with it's sour fish has a distinct different taste then anything else with the exception maybe of the Tom Yam soups you find in Malaysia and Thailand. Curry Mee is usually less spicy though you may have to ask for no sambal if you don't like it too spicy.

Curry laksa or curry mee

Curry laksa, or simply laksa in Malaysian food is a coconut based curry soup. Ingredients usually include tofu, fish, prawn and cockles. In Malaysia some hawkers sell chicken laksa, leaving the prawns. Laksa is usually spice also because it is served with sambal chili paste.

The most famous laksa can be found in Penang, Air Itam

This kind of laksa is also known as curry mee in Penang while in other states people know it as curry laksa. The real difference is the kind of noodles used, thick white noodles in laksa mee while in curry mee they use the yellow noodles. Curry mee is one of my more favorite mee dishes and Mee Gerai Tzien Fatt in Sitiawan serves some of the very best curry mee in the surrounding of Pangkor and Lumut.

As I said, of all Malaysian food, laksa is almost everywhere available and it's very popular. There are a few varieties of laksa:

Laksa Penang

• Laksa lemak, also known as nyonya laksa, mostly know in Penang. This type of laksa is served in a thick coconut gravy. Laksa lemak is usually made with a fish-based gravy and is heavily influenced by Thai laksa
• Katong laksa is a variant of laksa lemak from the Katong area of Singapore. In Katong laksa, the noodles are normally cut up into smaller pieces so that the entire dish can be eaten with a spoon alone (that is, without chopsticks or a fork).
• Laksam, this kind of laksa can be found in Kelantan, not much in the Pangkor area. Malaysian food like this kind of laksa has white rice flour noodles in a white gravy of boiled fish and coconut milk.

Assam laksa

Assam laksa another Malaysian food based on fish soup. Recently I learned that assam is the Malay word for tamarind, a spice that creates the sour flavor in Malaysian food like laksa.

In a traditional assam laksa, fish like mackerel is used. Further you will find vegetables as onions, cucumber and lettuce plus fruit like pineapple. The noodles used are thick and white though thin white ones (vermicelli) are used sometimes. To make it even tastier, shrimp paste is added.

Assam laksa is very popular and is easy available at the beach of Nipah Bay or around the hawkers in the evening in Pangkor Town or Pasir Bogak. There are some varieties people make:

• Penang laksa, oe assam laksa
  This kind of laksa is most found in Penang. The use of lemon grass, mint, galangal and pineapples give it a very specific and spicy taste. The fish used can be mackerel. This, and not 'curry mee' is the usual 'laksa' one gets in Penang.
• Johor laksa,
  As the name suggest, this kind of laksa comes from Johor state, near Singapore. The difference with Penang laksa is the kind of fish used. It is served with shrimp paste too.
• Ipoh laksa, is a kind of laksa you find in and around Ipoh, 70 km from Lumut/Pangkor. This kind of laksa differs from Penang laksa only in taste as it is more sour then sweet.
• Kuala Kangsar Laksa,
  Very popular in the former royal city of Kuala Kangsar. It's made of rice flour (usually hand made). The soup is rather lighter than the common laksa taste
• Sarawak laksa
  East Malaysia, Borneo, the state of Sarawak has its own kind of laksa. Apart of the usual lemon grass, garlic and coconut milk, the soup is topped with bean sprouts and omelet slices. Chicken, prawn and fresh coriander plus lime can be found in this meal.
• Perlis and Kedah laksa is very similar to Penang laksa. The difference is the garnishing. This kind of laksa originate from the northern state Kedah (and can be found in Penang too). Boiled egg is in fact the main difference with Penang laksa though in some places eel can be added.