Banana bread, sweet dukkah and yoghurt for brekkie @ home

The bananas we get in Oecusse are lovely and sweet, but you can only buy them by the massive bunch-load.  So, needless to say, we often have large numbers of them going soft at the same time.  If the childhood version of my friend Amanda lived here, there’d be no problem with this, because she used to be a big fan of liquid-ripe bananas.  But in lieu of a little Amanda, I make banana bread instead.  This recipe is adapted from a delicious. magazine version.

Banana Bread

1⅔ cups plain flour

1½ tsp baking powder

⅓ cup caster sugar

⅓ cup brown sugar

1 tsp grown cinnamon

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract (I used vanilla bean paste)

3 ripe bananas, mashed

Sift flour and baking power into a bowl.  Stir in sugars and cinnamon.  Add eggs, vanilla and banana and stir until well combined.  Pour into greased loaf pan and bake for about 45 minutes at 160˚C.

Too easy.

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Home-made yoghurt

I’ve been making my own yoghurt for the last year or so.  It’s a very satisfying thing to do when the supermarket is an overnight ferry’s journey away from your fridge.  The method for yoghurt is very simple, provided you have a starter-culture:  either a packet culture (such as “Easiyo”) or just some store-bought yoghurt at room temperature will do.  You will also need a thermos.

600mL milk – we only have access to powdered milk, which works fine.

1 or 2 Tbsp milk powder – this will result in a thicker, but fattier, yoghurt.  (I don’t skimp on the fat.)

1 Tbsp plain yoghurt at room temperature

First, get your thermos up to temperature by filling it with hot water. 

Put the milk in a heavy-based saucepan.  Stir in the extra milk powder, making sure it all dissolves.  Slowly bring the heat up, giving the milk an occasional stir.  Bring to the point where bubbles begin to surface on the edges, but do not boil.  Turn off the heat and then let the milk cool to body temperature (this can be tested with the inside of the wrist, like a baby’s bottle).  When the heat is just right, stir in the yoghurt.* 

Tip the hot water out of the thermos and pour in the milk. Screw on the lid and then leave, without disturbing, for at least 7 hours and up to 24 hours.

When you open the thermos, the yoghurt should have set.  If it is too runny, you can strain off some of the whey through a muslin-lined sieve (I use a clean chux which works just as well).

I like spreading the yoghurt onto a piece of toasted banana bread – I think of it as a poor man’s ricotta, but slightly more zingy.  We also get awesome local honey here, which is equally yummy drizzled on the yoghurt, sprinkled with sweet dukkah (recipe follows) or a handful of muesli.

* Note that if you do this too early (ie when the milk is still too hot), it will curdle.  If this happens, you can still continue the process, but at the end you’ll have cheese instead of yoghurt.  You’ll need to strain the whey from the curds, too.

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Sweet Dukkah

Adapted from delicious. magazine.

You can get creative with this concoction, using any type of nuts or seeds you like; hazelnuts and pistachios are particularly good.  I also added some shredded coconut to mine, which made it a bit tropical.

⅓ cup sesame seeds

2 Tbsp poppyseeds

⅔ cup toasted almonds, chopped

¼ cup pine nuts

¼ cup desiccated/shredded coconut

3 tsp ground cinnamon

Drizzle of olive oil

1 Tbsp honey

Combine all ingredients except oil and honey and spread onto a lined baking tray.  Drizzle with oil and toast at 200˚C for about 4 minutes.  Add the honey and stir.  Toast for another 5-7 minutes, until golden (be careful of over-toasting: it can happen fast).  Cool completely.  Pulse in a food processor, or grind in a mortar and pestle until roughly chopped.

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Now that’s a hearty breakfast.  : )