Baking the healthy way

Down foodpath

The only relation with food that I had while growing up was eating it. It took me four years after marriage to actually start cooking. I lived with my in-laws who took care of the food for those four years.

I would always help out in the kitchen and write down the recipes that my mother-in-law prepared. In order to keep a record of these recipes, I started a blog in 2009 called ‘Chitra’s Food Book’. And it was much later that I decided to try my hand at these dishes. My mother was also very supportive in sharing the traditional recipes with me.

One of the best things about my mother-in-law’s cooking is that she can make delicious dishes even with leftovers. And my mother makes a number of dishes that are well-balanced in taste. We have never complained about less salt or more spice. I am trying my best to follow both of their paths and become a good cook as well.

I enjoyed the process of cooking so much that I started reading cookbooks and referring to recipes online. I also started trying my hand at other dishes from Andhra Pradesh, North India and Karnataka. Once I got the hang of cooking, I started exploring the world of baking too.

My daughter loves my cakes so much that she insists I bake at home and not buy from the bakery. But I prefer cooking over baking. I find that there are limitations in baking, especially since I don’t use the regular ingredients to make the dish. As a beginner, I would often use ingredients like flour, white sugar, butter and condensed milk to make the sweet dish, but I realised that these weren’t good for one’s health. I started substituting these ingredients with healthy ones like whole wheat flour, oil and others.

I started recording my recipes on the blog to pass time and for my daughter’s future reference. Through this platform, I’ve become a lot more confident and feel very encouraged to try out more recipes.

The recipe that I’m sharing today is ‘Eggless banana bread’ which I thought was a fantastic way to use ripe bananas. It’s simple to make and tastes delicious as well. One can have it with a hot cup of tea or simply indulge in it while reading a book.”

Chitra Ganapathy
(As told to Anila Kurian)

Eggless banana bread
Recipe
Ingredients
*1 cup, 200ml
*All purpose flour, 1 cup
*Sugar or Brown S, 1/2 cup
(Use brown sugar)
*Baking powder, 1 tsp
*Baking soda, 1/2 tsp
*Cinnamon powder, 1/2 tsp
*Salt, a pinch
*Ripe bananas, 3
*Cooking oil, 1/4 cup
*Yogurt, 1/4 cup
*Vanilla essence, 1/2 tsp

Method
*In a wide bowl, mix the dry ingredients like ‘maida’, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon powder and a small pinch of salt. You can either sieve them or just mix well with a ladle.
*Take the banana, peel the skin and mash it well using your hands or back of a spoon. Set aside.
*In another bowl, mix the wet ingredients — cooking oil, yogurt, vanilla essence and mashed banana and mix well.
*To this mixture, add the ‘maida’ mix. Use a ladle and mix well thoroughly. The batter would be very thick, sticky and looks like a thick paste.
*Grease a baking pan with cooking oil generously. Pour the batter and spread it evenly. Stud in some walnuts or chocolate chips if you wish.
*Pre-heat an oven in convection mode at 180 degree celsius. Bake the bread for 30 minutes. The actual recipe called for 40 minutes baking time. But mine took just 30 minutes. So keep an eye after 25 minutes. Insert a toothpick or the back of a spoon to check the cake. If it comes out clean, it’s done else bake for another 5 minutes. Remove the bread from the oven and let it cool for 5 to 10 minutes. Loosen the sides of the bread using a sharp knife and invert the baking pan over a plate. The bread will come out easily. Make slices and serve it warm.

Note:
*You can replace ‘maida’ with wheat flour and sugar with brown sugar or honey.
*Adjust the quantity of sugar as per your taste. Check the sweetness of the batter before baking and add more sugar if needed.
*Cinnamon powder gives an awesome aroma to this bread. Do not skip it.
*Adding vanilla essence is optional.

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