Banana Bread

This is my mother's banana bread/banana cake recipe. It's the best one I've found, and the only banana bread I've known my girlfriend to eat and like. Here it's improved - animal fats removed, sugar reduced. Still damn delicious. Don't forget (like I did) to mash the bananas first.

I don't think I've actually given any baked-good recipes here yet, so let me explain a bit. I frequently use tahini (essentially sesame seed butter) as a butter or margarine replacer in baking. It's hard to find a good dairy-free margarine, and those that I've found generally have some trans fats in them. For those not up on nutritional wossname, trans fats are about the nutritional equivalent of a hydrogen bomb, worse even than saturated fats. Also, tahini has wonderful selection of micronutrients like calcium and potassium. I don't always replace the margarine entirely; sometimes I use a mixture of tahini and margarine. Tahini adds a nice nutty flavour to baked goods.

I like using flaxseed meal as an egg replacer. You can generally find it in supermarkets, or failing that, health food shops. If you can't find the meal, you can often find the whole flaxseeds, which are easily ground using a pepper grinder. Don't bother trying with a mortar and pestle or a food processor, no matter what others tell you. It is LIES and does not work. A clean pepper grinder works like a charm. Flaxseeds (also known as linseeds) are an excellent source of Omega-3 fatty acids – much better than fish oil capsules which are often rancid by the time you buy them in shops. Flaxseeds are also apparently high in manganese, which I know I always look for in a food.

To use flaxseed meal as an egg replacer in baked goods, use 1 tB per egg and 3 tB of water. Whisk together, or blitz in a food processor until it becomes more viscous.

I really get this perverse glee from making sweet foods as nutritionally packed as possible, while retaining stupid amounts of flavour. That's why I like cooking with tahini and flaxseed. The end.

Banana Bread

125g tahini
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup apple juice
2 tB flaxseed meal, blitzed with 6 tB of water
3 mashed bananas
1 tsp bicarb soda
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour

Set oven to 180°C.
Beat butter, sugar, flaxseed goo and bananas until smooth.
Mix in baking soda and flour.
Pour into loaf pan and bake for 40–45 minutes.