Remember back in 2020 when people were obsessed with banana bread? Everyone had that one person they knew who kept trying to feed you, or get you to make banana bread. Well, surprisingly that wasn’t me in my family! That was my aunt. Not a conversation was had without the mention of banana bread and I’m finally honouring her by sharing her blender banana bread recipe albeit with a few changes!
Like most houses in Kerala we grow our own bananas. If you’ve grown bananas you’ll know that consuming an entire stem is no easy feat. So we’ve always got some overripe bananas sitting in our kitchen. My family enjoys banana bread so much that every time we have overripe bananas threatening to go to waste, my grandma will force me to make this some ‘banana cake’ as she calls it. But I don’t mind since it’s such an easy recipe.
The number of bananas a recipe calls for always stumps me. We get bananas of all shapes and sizes in Kerala so I’m never sure how many to use. Google tells me that a standard banana is about 126 grams so three standard bananas would be 378 grams. Going by weight ensures that I get fairly consistent results no matter the type of banana. Kitchen scales are always helpful and I would highly recommend the Wonderchef scale. The recipe also calls for ripe bananas so don’t rush them. Use bananas with a fair number of brown spots for best results.
EQUIPMENT
The hint’s in the name – Blender Banana Bread! So it’s no surprise that you need to have a great blender! My faithful Wonderchef Sumo Silverado Mixer Grinder is the true star of this recipe. The one thing I detest about making banana bread is mashing bananas. With this convenient recipe, all you have to do is dump the bananas, milk, oil and sugar into the blender jar and blitz. Thanks to the powerful 1000W motor, all it takes is 1 minute to get a smooth mix. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mix, fold and it’s ready for the oven. That’s how easy it is! I used the 1.5L wet grinding jar and the jar was large enough that the banana mix didn’t even hit the lid! Cleaning a mixer jar is always a headache but there’s two things you can do to make it easier. The first is to use a silicone spatula to empty the contents of the jar. This ensures that you get the most of the banana mixture for your bread. The second is to run the mixer with a little soap and water to clean those pesky hard to reach places. Voila, good as new!
Banana Breads typically cook for a long time at a low temperature. A long cook equals more power consumption, which is why I like the Wonderchef 19L OTG. It’s compact enough for lower power consumption but large enough to make a standard banana bread loaf. I was pleasantly surprised at how light the OTG was. I like to store my appliances in my cupboard to keep my counters clean and it was a breeze whipping the OTG in and out of my storage space.
There’s a reason why banana bread is so popular and I’ll bet it’s partly due to how customizable and forgiving the recipe is. You could add walnuts, pecans, chocolate chips, strawberries, oats, raisins, cranberries or even leave the loaf bare! Whatever your choice, you’ll definitely enjoy the final result. Serve with fresh berries, ice cream or for real banana lovers, fresh bananas!
RECIPE CARD
Makes: 6 Servings
Time: 1 hr 15 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder - 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
- 3 regular sized ripe bananas (378g)
- ½ cup oil
- ¼ cup milk
- ¾ cup sugar
- Mix ins
- 150 – 170 g chocolate bar or
- ½ cup chopped nuts
- ½ cup chopped raisins
Method:
- Preheat oven to 170c
- Grease and line a loaf pan.
- Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt into a bowl and set aside.
- Chop the chocolate into small chunks and set aside.
- In a blender jar, add the bananas, milk, oil and sugar and blend till you get a homogenous smoothie-like mixture. Transfer to a bowl.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and fold through with a spatula. Mix till you can still see several streaks of flour running through the batter.
- Add the chocolate, reserving a few chunks for the top, and fold through until evenly distributed, be careful not to over-mix.
- Add the batter to the lined loaf pan and smooth the top.
- Add the reserved chocolate to the top and transfer to the oven.
- Bake for 1 hr or until a knife comes out with a few crumbs rather than streaks of batter.*
Notes:
* If the top of your banana bread is browning too fast, you can cover it with foil and let it cook, removing the foil in the last ten minutes of cooking.
Author: Sneha Sundar is the creator of You Dim Sum, You Lose Some; a philosophy she adopts both in and out of the kitchen.
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