Plantain banana cake

Following my experiments at the weekend I had one more ripe plantain sitting in the cupboard just waiting to be used. It looked lonely and forlorn all on its own trying disguise itself to fit in with the bananas but not quite managing to pull it off!

I had planned to make a banana cake for some time and so I thought it could be an ideal way to use up my last plantain. This was going to be a little experimental since plantain is not quite the same as a banana but I felt confident enough that it would still do the trick. I was right…..

Recipe: Plantain banana cake

(fills one 20cm loaf tin )

Ingredients

60g rapadura (or agave syrup) and a pinch of stevia

1tsp flax and 1tbs hot water

200ml soy yoghurt

2tbs coconut butter/oil (any oil would work)

1 ripe plantain and 1 ripe banana well mashed (or 3-4 ripe bananas)

40g chopped dates

200g wholemeal and white spelt flour mix (or one or the other)

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

2-3 tbs poppy seeds or nuts

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg                                 

50g dark chocolate chunks (optional but more decadent!)

Method

Mix melted coconut butter with yoghurt, flax, sugars and stevia in a large bowl for a couple of minutes. Add the mashed banana/plantain and mix until well combined. Mix remaining ingredients together in a separate bowl then add to the wet ingredients. Once well combined, pour mixture into a greased and lined loaf tin and bake at 180C for approx. 50-60 minutes. Check with a toothpick to see when cooked and keep an eye out for top browning (if it looks as though it’s getting too brown loosely lay tin foil over the tin).

The plantain worked a treat! It’s difficult to know exactly how it would have turned out had I just used bananas but I have a feeling that the plantain gave the loaf a more starchy bready texture which worked really well to give a firmer structure to the loaf as a substantial ‘mid-morning snack’ which really helped to fend off the munchies until lunch! This was lovely swerved warm (to melt the choc chunks) with a little vegan butter or cream frosting…………….. Mmmmmmm.

Plantain experiments

I came across plantain entirely by accident whilst out shopping for something entirely different (no I didn’t find what I was looking for!) A new ethnic food market stall caught my attention and I had a little browse. So many random and exciting things, many of which I’d never even heard of gave rise to many new ideas in my mind. I’ll probably be going back there sometime soon!

I decided to play it safe and not get carried away on my first visit, after all that hadn’t been the reason I’d actually ventured into town. However, I couldn’t help but be seduced by plantain…..

I’d had plantain once before at a bbq where it was cut into thick diagonal slices and simply bbq’d until soft and the pale creamy yellow flesh had turned a deeper shade. It was delicious and I kept coming back for more.

A plantain looks like a ‘big banana’ but the starchy texture makes it more like a cross between a banana and a sweet potato. It can be used in sweet or savoury dishes and either in its green (unripe) or yellow/black (ripe) state. 

Once home, I did a little investigation to see what the options were, having never cooked it before I wanted to do it justice if I could! The most popular recipes seemed to be sweet dessert/brunch type snacks using ripe plantain, either grilled or fried with spices or syrup. An ideal opportunity for a Sunday brunch. So this morning, instead of the usual oats (as much as I love my oats- more on those later), I decided to surprise the boy with cinnamon fried plantain topped with peanut butter oat crumble (ok so I couldn’t quit the oats entirely!!)

Recipe: fried plantain with cinnamon crumble

Serves 2

Ingredients:

One large ripe plantain- sliced on the diagonal approx. 10mm thick

Generous sprinkling of ground cinnamon- approx.. 1 tsp for plantain

1 tbs oil (I use coconut)

2 large tbs soy yoghurt (or more)

For oat topping:

Approx. 50g oats

1 tbs peanut butter

1tsp agave syrup

½ tsp cinnamon

Method:

Heat oil in large frying pan until hot then carefully place strips of plantain covering the pan. Fry on either side for 3-4 minutes until golden yellow and beginning to crisp. Transfer to a side dish and without delay pour the oats into the pan and add the peanut butter, agave and spice. Stir briskly for approx. 2 minutes until the oats are toasted. Assemble the plantain on plates, add a dollop of soy yoghurt to the centre and top with the oat mixture and more yoghurt if prefered.

Mmmmmm…… perfect Sunday brunch!