hawaij spiced rye banana bread
Hawaij Spiced Rye Banana Bread
So, a while ago, Molly Yeh - from the blog of the same name - introduced me to this awesome spice blend called Hawaij in one of her posts. It's essencially a mix of ground ginger, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg, which is supposed to go great with coffee. And surprise, surprise, it does. Anyway, I filled a little container with this mix and decided to use it for this recipe. It doesn’t give a particularly strong taste to the bread, it just gives that little note of spice in your mouth, like an aromatic aftertaste, which I really like. You could, by all means, add a little more or a little less, depending on your liking, but I do insist you to try it with coffee first, so you can have a little preview of its taste. Also, if you want to replace the rye flour, by all means, go ahead and do it! I just happen to like the taste.
Ingredients
- 3 ripe bananas, mashed + 1 whole, for the top
- 100 grams (1 cup) rye flour, or any other flour you’d like
- 70 grams (1/2 cup) plain flour
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons hawaij spice mix (recipe follows - check notes)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 200 grams (1 cup) brown sugar, loose
- 60 milliliters (1/4 cup) vegetable oil
- 60 milliliters (1/4 cup) whole milk + 1/2 teaspoon vinegar (leave this mixture for 10 minutes to curdle, or use the same amount of buttermilk or yoghurt)
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon cardamom
- 1/4 teaspoon each: cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg
Directions
- For the spice blend: just mix all the ingredients together and keep it in a airtight little container for-like-ever.
- For the bread: Preheat your oven to 180ºC/350ºF and grease very well a standard loaf pan, set aside. In your mixing bowl, mash your 3 bananas, then add the egg, oil, brown sugar and give it a whisk to combine. On top of it, sieve your flours, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, salt and the hawaij, give it a good whisk, add your milk (or yoghurt or buttermilk) and mix again. Pour the batter into your prepared pan. Slice the remaining banana in half and place both halves on top of the raw batter. Bake it for about 50 minutes to an hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (check on the 50 minutes mark). Leave it to cool for 15 minutes and enjoy with a good cup of coffee.
