Simplest Banana bread ever

Today, we woke up to a dark and gloomy morning and found on the news channel that the morning sun had been driven away by the Thane cyclone …More rain, super speed winds and a chilly temperature have been prophesised to keep us indoors well till the new year arrives.

What a bummer…I am thinking as I see my plans for a long drive to the sunlit countryside crumble in the rain. Husband is refusing to come out of the cosy comforter and my heart is sinking for a trip that never took off and a dark dreary day that will have to be spent indoors staring the rain from the window sill.

Leaving my husband to be better lazy goose than I am, I pop into action and head straight to the kitchen from the bed. On a day like this nothing lifts the spirits better than a warm banana bread and a steaming cup of coffee served straight on the bed.

From the corner of my eye I can see two old bananas in the fruit basket, blackened, crying to be consumed or waiting to be trashed. As it happens these overripe bananas which appear to be beyond the state of consumption are going to be the star ingredients of my breakfast.

Here goes my tribute to CycloneThane(with prayers that it does not cause loss of life or any damage)

This is a no fuss recipe and I love it for its simplicity and the fact that bananas which have lost the visual appeal are put to best use allowing their wonderful fruity flavour to shine out.

Ingredients

1/2cup sugar-unlike other cake recipes you don’t have to powder it…less work!

½ cup mashed bananas-I prefer to use the bananas which appear to be goners and beyond use. However please don’t use the ones where fungus is visible on the fruit after peeling also. Two small bananas or one big one should suffice. Just peel the banana and mash it with the back of a fork. I like to leave chunks and not make it creamy .You can do it whichever way you prefer.

1 egg

½ cup oil-feel free to use healthy oils like canola or olive oil instead of the regular vegetable one

2/3 cup flour-again feel free to use whole wheat flour (regular atta)instead of the usual refined flour

1/3 cup curd-lends a nice moistness to the cake

1tsp vanilla essence

1tsp baking powder

¼ tsp baking soda

1/4tsp salt

1/4cup Chopped nuts, raisins

Here we go

1. Take a big bowl and whisk sugar into the mashed banana

2. Add the egg and whisk

3. Add curd and vanilla essence and whisk again

4. Sieve in the dry ingredients (flour+baking powder+soda+salt) together into the banana mix.

5. Fold in the dry mix with gentle upward moves and Do not vigorously mix with round movements. Do not worry about the small lumps as they give a fluffy texture to the cake on baking.

Note: If the mixture appears too fluidic, add one or two spoonfuls of flours as appropriate.

6. Add the nuts

7. Pour the mixture in a greased 4X8 baking dish

8. Bake in the preheated oven at 180 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until done. Cake is considered done when a fork inserted in the centre comes out clean.

The rain has paused already as I am admiring the gently rising light brown cake in the oven and brewing the coffee. The heavenly warm smells whiffing from the oven to the bedroom have already made my husband sit up in anticipation..

*Here in the pic I have added some grated dark choclate on top of the batter just before baking..It lends a wonderful choclaty twist to the banana cake!