Simple banana bread

Colleague: “Why do you leave these bananas out and not eat them?”
Me: “It’s for making delicious baked goods”
Colleague: “OIC! Bring some to work?”
Me: “Let’ see”

Once a upon a time, banana used to be my everyday fruit. Cyclone Larry came and destroyed 90% of $380 million worth of the banana crop in 2006. About 4000 jobs were lost and there was a serious shortage of bananas. Banana prices were at a high of about $17 a kg in some places! I stopped my banana habit and it never really returned even though banana prices are stabilised.

What remained from my banana love was the very humble banana bread. I love to layer it with loads of good quality butter and in my recent visit to Gnome, they served it with ricotta and honey. Delicious!

With all the packing, moving, holiday in Malaysia and then unpacking, I felt a little weird getting back into the kitchen and an unfamiliar oven. It’s like getting to know an old lover again. A little nervous. A little familiar. I chose to use this very simple banana bread recipe from Donna Hay to test run the oven and to familarise myself with where all the stuff is. On top of this, I had to pick different spots to take the photos. Is the light here too harsh or too dark or too much shadows. Lots of consideration but I promise to get better in the next coming weeks.

Before going into the oven. Sprinkle of Dulce sugar over the top

I used a smaller mould than what was suggested and placed the leftover banana mixture into little silicon muffin moulds. I bought these paper mould from Daiso in KL. Does anyone know where I can get more of these? It is so perfect for bringing baked goods to work. And there is no need for buttering or washing up after.

The banana bread is super light, moist and just enough of banana taste that it is not over powering for me. I’ve use Rice Bran oil instead of vegetable oil as suggested. And instead of having it with butter, Mister and I indulge it with home made Kaya from Kuantan. Amazing, amazing, amazing. If you can find good or decent kaya, please try this combination. No regrets!

Or do you have a favourite combination to share? Please do tell!

Recipe from Donna Hay. I tweaked the recipe a little with only 2 bananas but am posting the original recipe from Donna Hay. One thing to note is that I only used  40 minutes of baking time instead of 60? It might be due to the smaller amount of bread mixture or the paper mould that I was using? So I suggest checking it at 40 minutes and then every 5 minutes after or self gauge!