House of Annie

The Eye of the Cat

In the Bahasa Malaysia language, “mata” means “eyes” and “kuching” means “cat”. The fruit is called Cat’s Eyes because when you peel off the skin and expose the dark seed under the flesh, it looks like a cat’s eye.

Peeled Mata Kuching

Mata Kuching trees grow prolifically here in Sarawak and Sabah on Borneo. One of the explanations for how our city of Kuching got its name is that the city started along the banks of the river where many of these mata kuching trees were growing.

According to International Society for Horticultural Science, the mata kuching is actually a close relative of the longan (hence the similar smell and taste). There are 3 varieties of mata kuching fruit which have “warty” skins and a 4th variety which is smooth and most closely resembles the longan.

The yellow-skinned variety has skin which feels very bumpy on the outside, almost like a lychee. This fruit with a large seed pit and very little flesh. When I found out how little meat was on the “bone” of the fruit, I was put off and a little upset at paying so much for so little edible meat. I ended up tossing the rest.

A Second Eye

Our friend Mike recently gave us some mata kuching which he brought back from Sibu, a town about 6 hour’s drive away. These fruit were the same size, but greener in color, and less bumpy.

Mata Kuching from Sibu

They also had considerably more meat on them, and were sweeter than the Serian variety.

Peeled Mata Kuching from Sibu

These we finished eating in one sitting! ;-)

Aloha, Nate

This post was entered into the Weekend Herb Blogging roundup, hosted this week by Mele Cotte and organized by Haalo of Cook Almost Anything.

Hungry for more exotic fruits? Click below:

Fruits of Serian

Buah Tarap – Borneo’s Unique Tropical Fruit

Rambutans

Brian's Pink Pomelos

Irresistible

Now, most recipes that I’ve seen out there call for just a little butter and a small quantity of ripe bananas. But I just can’t resist adding more butter and really upping the quantity of ripe bananas. Maybe that’s why my banana bread turns out to have a more cake-like texture. Whatever it is, I have found that upping these ingredients don’t seem to affect the bread too much and it’s still wonderfully moist and delicious. The extra bananas seem to help to perfume the bread with that heady banana fragrance that makes you want to snatch it out of the oven as it is baking up!

The one key thing to any banana recipe (except banana cream pie where you want the bananas nice and pretty looking) is that you really, really need to wait till your bananas are overripe. Being in Malaysia, this happens more quickly than you think. I find that after just two days, my fresh bananas have become super ripe so I’ve been baking banana bread more often than I’d like. Thankfully, I have friends and neighbors to share this with. If you haven’t gotten a banana bread from me, never fear, you probably will in no time at all (as long as you live close by).

If you find yourself overrun with ripe bananas and cannot keep up, another trick is to peel the bananas, stick them in a freezer bag and freeze them. Then the next time you feel like baking banana bread, you won’t have to wait for your bananas to ripen. Just thaw the bag and mash the bananas and you’re good to go.

Alright, so here is my recipe for banana bread. Do give it a try the next time you have loads of overripe bananas sitting on your kitchen counter! Or if you just love banana bread, buy some bananas and let them get ripe on the counter (or try bargaining with your grocery store manager for the bananas that are already overripe in the store!).

Banana Nut Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C).
2. Cream sugar and butter till well mixed.
3. Add eggs and bananas. Blend well.

4. Add milk and vanilla essence and mix till well incorporated.
5. Stir in nuts and dry ingredients (you can sift the dry ingredients if you want but I normally don’t bother) and mix well.

6. Pour into loaf pan and bake for about 60-70 minutes till tester comes out clean. One trick I do is to use two slightly smaller loaf pans and bake up thinner loaves when I’m in a hurry (ie. can’t wait to take a bite into the warm, yummy bread). This way, the baking time will only be about 30-40 minutes.

Enjoy!

Cheers, Annie

This post was entered into the January edition of Sugar High Fridays, created by Jennifer, the Domestic Goddess and hosted by A Merrier World.

Hungry for more baked banana goodness? Click below:

Aunty Marlene's Banana Muffins Recipe

Recipe for Banana Cream Pie

Banana Nut Muffins Recipe on Rasa Malaysia

Ultimate Banana Bread Recipe Collection on Not Quite Nigella

Borneo Native

Buah tarap (also called Marang) is a fruit that is native to Borneo. They are related to breadfruit and jackfruit. I have seen it in season in December, around the same time as the durian season. The fruits are about the same size and shape as a durian. However, the spines of the tarap are soft and rubbery compared to the hard, thorny spines of the durian.

The fruit does not fall when it ripens – usually they are harvested green and allowed to ripen off the tree. As they ripen, the outer rind turns from green to brownish-yellow. It also gives off a distinctive odor, that I liken to the smell of burning tires. Maybe that’s why buah tarap’s scientific name is Artocarpus odoratissimus!

Contrary to the difficulties in opening fruits like durian or jackfruit, the buah tarap is very easy to open. As the above picture shows, you simply pry apart the rind, which cleanly separates from the inner fruit. The fruit arils are all nestled inside, attached loosely to the stem.

These arils are similar in shape to a jackfruit, but they are not sticky nor slippery. The flesh is a creamy white. You could pick them off the stem – they come off with a slight twist/tug – or you can use a fork to gently lift them off. Once you have one, just pop it in your mouth!

The fruit itself is soft and creamy. It tastes like the sweetest custard apple or soursop, but it is smooth, not grainy. And just a bare hint of tartness. The flesh is easily separated from the small seed with your teeth. The seeds (or biji) themselves are edible. You just wash them, dry them overnight, then roast them in the oven. They taste like roasted nuts!

The fruits are so yummy and so easy to eat, one person could devour it alone in no time. After our party finished off one buah tarap for dessert, Paul left us with one more green fruit to enjoy in the following days. And he had also brought a big bag of buah tampoi that we all also enjoyed. See? Talk about generosity!

The only downside was having to endure the burning tire smell in the house for a few days while the fruit ripened. But we got over it. ;-)

Aloha, Nate

I am entering this post into the 217th edition of Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted by Anna's Cool Finds, and administered by Haalo.

Hungry for more interesting fruits? Click below:

Fruits of Serian

Rambutans

Mangosteens

Pomelos