COCONUT WALNUT BANANA LOAF CAKE (GLUTEN-FREE)

Coconut Banana Loaf Cake as the name suggest is a perfect blend of tropical flavours. Using the coconut flour and coconut sugar adds that extra depth of flavours and keeping it away from those refined sugars and glutinous flours. Whether you are gluten intolerant or not this loaf cake is a winner for all.

It's such an easy to make one bowl recipe which requires no fancy equipments to make. Its those quintessential cakes which is made in minutes and just perfect for that holiday trips to take along while traveling miles driving down for your getaway. It's easily kept and stored without refrigeration for upto 2 days.

Do give this yummiest and healthy cake a try and I'm sure you're gonna love it and wont go back to your usual banana bread recipes.

PREP TIME: 15 minutes

BAKE TIME: 45 minutes

SERVES: 12 slices

INGREDIENTS

• 2 ripe bananas

• 2 eggs

• 3/4 cup coconut sugar

• 100g unsalted butter, melted

• 75ml sunflower oil

• 1 tsp vanilla essence

• 1/2 cup coconut flour

• 1/2 cup almond powder

• 3/4 cup gluten-free all purpose flour (I used Bob’s Mill brand)

• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1/3 cup walnuts, chopped

Equipment needed

• 8 X 4 inch loaf pan

METHOD

1. Line 8 x 4 inch loaf pan. Preheat oven to 180°C.

2. In a large bowl, mash bananas with the back of a fork, add eggs and vanilla. Lightly beat them with fork to mix with bananas.

3. Add sugar, butter and oil to the banana mixture. Mix them all together until combined.

4. Sift flours, salt, baking powder and baking soda together, add it to the wet mixture and fold in gently with the spatula until combined. Drop in the chopped walnuts and fold them in.

5. Pour the batter in prepared pan, top with some extra walnuts if you desire and bake for 40-45 minutes until the toothpick comes out clean.
   

COOK'S NOTES

• Ripe bananas work best for this recipe and is a perfect use of them in a cake.

• Coconut sugar adds the depth of flavour to the cake but if you can't get hold of that, you can replace it with soft brown sugar or jaggery powder (shakkar).

• Please note I used coconut flour not powder as many people think its the same but these two are entirely different. Coconut powder is also sometimes called or known as dessicated coconut.

• For the gluten-free all purpose flour I used the brand named Bob's Mill. If you are using another brand or a variant of gluten-free flour, the texture and taste of the cake might vary.

• All oven temperatures are different, keep an eye on the cake and check on it about 5 minutes before the completion of timer. Keep more or less time according to your oven temperatures. Mine was done in 45 minutes.

• Walnuts can be skipped or replaced with pecan nuts or dried fruits like apricots.

FRANKINCENSE PINNIES

Winters are already knocking on the door and the festive months have already started... My mum used to make gond atta pinnies each winter, and I wanted to renew this memory by putting my own little spin. Made Frankincense and Gond Atta pinnies packed with lots of dried fruits and nuts this Diwali merging the traditional Indian winter energy balls with an Omani touch.

These pinnies are delicious but packed with tons of health benefits as frankincense is anti-inflammatory and helps strengthen joints, as does the gond. Frankincense is basically a resin of boswellia tree which is very traditional and prominently used in Omani homes, not just for food but also used to provide a beautiful aroma throughout the house, or steeped into teas. The health benefits are endless as it improves your gut health, arthritis or even helps reverse the cancer in some cases. Instead of normal sugar I’ve used jaggery which is an unrefined sugar again perfect for your immunity and enhances blood supply...

These energy balls are perfect to make in big batches and store them in jars to consume through out winter...

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PREP TIME: 15minutes

MAKING TIME: 15 minutes

PASSIVE TIME: 30 minutes

TOTAL TIME: 1 hour

YIELDS: 16

INGREDIENTS

For Dates Layer

• 1/3 cup khus-khus (white poppy seeds)

• 100g gond, (edible gum) small pieces

• 10g frankincense gum (take fairly small pieces)

• 100g almonds

• 100g pistachios

• 1/2 cup dedicated coconut

• 20g watermelon seeds (magaj)

• 1/4 cup green raisins (kishmish)

• 1/3 cup desi ghee

• 2 1/2 cups atta

• 400g jaggery, soft and cut into pieces or jaggery powder

• 1/2 cup water

METHOD

1. In a heavy bottom wok or deep frypan, dry roast the khus-khus for 2 minutes on a medium low heat until fragrant and slightly golden. Remove from pan.

2. Heat a teaspoon of ghee in the same pan, keeping it on medium low heat. Add frankincense gum and fry for few seconds until it puffs up, remove from pan. Wipe the leftover ghee in pan.

3. Add 1 tbsp of ghee in pan, melt ghee on medium low flame, add half the quantity of edible gum and fry stirring constantly on medium low heat until it puffs up. Remove from pan.

4. Now melt another tablespoon of ghee in a pan and fry the remaining edible gum keeping the heat on medium low. Remove from pan.

5. Now melt a tablespoon of ghee in the same pan, still keeping the heat on medium low add almonds and fry for 2 minutes until slightly golden. Remove from pan.

6. Add half a tablespoon more to the pan if need be and fry cashews stirring constantly on medium low heat for just a minute. Take care not to over roast it. Cashews should slightly change its color and not brown. Remove from pan.

7. Now add raisins to the same pan and fry for few seconds and remove from pan. Add coconut and roast stirring constantly for 2 minutes until slightly golden in color. Remove from pan.

8. In the same pan roast watermelon seeds on medium low heat for a minute and remove.

9. Melt rest of the ghee in the same pan. Keeping the flame on medium low, add atta and roast it stirring constantly until the atta turns slightly golden. Take care not to burn the atta. It’s perfectly ok if you feel the atta is bit dry while roasting. Do not be tempted to add more ghee. Remove from the pan.

10. Wipe the pan, add jaggery and water, keeping the pan on medium high heat, let the jaggery melt. Once melted cook on medium heat for just couple of minutes until it forms one sting consistency. Do not over cook the jaggery as your pinnies will get hard if it’s over cooked. Remove from heat.

11. Meanwhile the jaggery is melting, grind the roasted khus-khus, remove in a large bowl. Coarsely grind roasted almonds and cashews and add it to the khus-khus bowl.

12. Grind the fried frankincense in mortar and pestle. Add it to the khus-khus bowl along with roasted atta, watermelon seeds, raisins and coconut. Mix them well.

13. Now pour the melted jaggery while it is still quite warm on to the atta mixture. Mix well with the spatula. Add edible gum and mix again. Now quickly shape them into round balls by firmly pressing it in your hands.

14. Cool them to room temperature and store it in an airtight jar.

COOK'S NOTES

• choosing the small pieces of frankincense is important as the larger pieces will not roast properly.

• Wiping the pan after roasting frankincense is important as it’s slightly bitter in taste and it will make the rest of the ingredients coated in that bitter flavour.

• Keeping the heat on medium low is important as nuts has the tendency to burn quickly.

• Take a great care when cooking jaggery syrup as overcooking the jaggery will make your pinnies tough.

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DATES ALMOND AND PISTACHIO CHOCOLATE BURFI

Diwali is all about celebrating, decorating your house, dressing up and of course, making and feasting on a lot of delicious food and traditional mithai (Indian sweets)! Instagram is stormed with Diwali mithai preparations as Diwali isn’t complete without the mithai... everyone is busy making and sharing pictures of their Diwali mithais. But for me, my family and I have been off sweets for a few months now and was wondering how I can create something healthier and share the Diwali festivities with my family without indulging in sugar and piling on too many calories.

I solved my predicament by creating this amazing Diwali burfi - a Dates Almond and Chocolate Pistachio burfi infused with rose water! It’s totally sugar free, but honest to goodness my family and I didn’t even miss the typical assortment of sweets that are laden with sugar! This was sooo delicious and absolutely melted in your mouth, popping a new patakha (firework) of flavour as you eat it! And somehow this totally different and healthy recipe perfectly encapsulates the warmth and the spirit of Diwali!

Indulge yourself this Diwali into something which is totally sugar-free, gluten-free and a vegan mithai which is much more healthier, nutritious and festive at the same time!! Happy Diwali!

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PREP TIME: 15minutes

MAKING TIME: 15 minutes

PASSIVE TIME: 30 minutes

TOTAL TIME: 1 hour

YIELDS: 16

INGREDIENTS

For Dates Layer

• 250g madjool dates, pitted

• 100g dark chocolate buttons or chopped chocolate bar

• 100g rolled oats or oats flour(coarse)

• 2-3 tbsp maple syrup (optional)

• 3 tbsp/ 50g almond butter

• 50g pistachios

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 1/2 tsp dalt

• 3 tsp rose water

For Almond Layer:

• 1 1/4 cup almond powder

• 3 1/2 tbsp maple syrup

• 1/2 tbsp almond milk

• 1/4 tsp almond essence

For Chocolate Layer:

• 150g dark chocolate buttons/ chopped block

• 3 tbsp virgin coconut oil

For Ganishing:

• 20 gm pistachios, roughly chopped

• Dried rose petals

Equipment needed:

• 8”x8” square baking pan about 2 inch high (I used the loose bottom pan)

METHOD

1. Soak dates in hot water for 10 minutes. Keep aside.

2. In a blender, coarsely grind the rolled oats. Keep aside.

3. Drain water from the dates, blend to a fine paste. Add ground oats, almond butter and salt; blend for a minute until just well combined. Now add chocolate buttons, vanilla and rose water and give a quick blend. You will see the chocolate slightly melting, which is good.

4. Transfer the mixture to a bowl. Now taste your mixture and if you find your mixture is not wet and sweet enough, add the maple syrup else you can skip it. Add pistachios and mix well.

5. For almond layer, sift the almond powder, add almond essence, maple syrup and mix with a spatula.

6. Now line the bottom and sides of pan with baking paper, pour the dates mixture at the bottom, spread evenly and press it gently with the help of spatula. Now pour the almond mixer on top and spread it evenly with the off set knife or a spatula. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

7. Just before removing from refrigerate, make the chocolate layer. Pour chocolate button and coconut oil in a heat-proof bowl, microwave it for 30 seconds, mix with rubber spatula and heat again for 20 seconds. Gently mix and heat for another 20 seconds until your chocolate is melted and glossy.

8. Now remove the pan from refrigerate, pour the melted chocolate on top, quickly spread it with offset knife and sprinkle the pistachios and rose petal on top. Let it set for 15 minutes in the refrigerator.

9. Push the set burfi out of the pan and cut it into slices.

10. If you are not using the loose bottom pan, slice it into 16 squares with the sharp knife and gently remove pieces from the pan. Serve at room temperature.

COOK'S NOTES

• Add the maple syrup to the dates layer only if you find your mixture is not soft and sweet enough.

• Maple syrup can be replaced with agave syrup as well.

• When you are spreading the chocolate you need to be swift in spreading else your chocolate will set and you will not be able to stick your garnish on top. As soon as you spread the chocolate quickly sprinkle the chopped pistachios and dried rosemary petals on top and let it set.

• I used loose bottom square pan, you can also make it in ordinary pan but make sure you line it with parchment paper to release it easily from the bottom and sides.

#diwali #festivalmithai #mithai #dateschocolateburfi #vegan #glutenfree #sugarfree #burfi #pistachioburfi #pistachio #rosepetal #almond #almondchocolateburfi #datesburfi