My baking escapades scores more in number than the sweets I have been making. I don't miss celebrating any festival and all our festivals are associated with some kind of sweet. And it gets done as part of it. So I go for baking to satisfy the sweet cravings. During our Palakkad trip, we had various sweets and savories. That's another reason which pushed me to bake, yesterday. I had a bottle of dates syrup and wanted to use in baking. I googled for a date loaf and found a suitable recipe at JoyOfBaking. I tweaked the original recipe a lot that my recipe may look entirely different from the original one. Anyways, I started with that recipe as the base and modified to suit the ingredients at hand and to make it egg less. Hence this Banana, Date and walnut loaf.
I replaced the nutmeg with cardamom to give an Indian flavor. Believe me the combo of banana, date and cardamom was outstanding. The aroma while it was baking filled the entire house. I couldn't wait to cool and slice. Before I was done with the slicing, I polished off two slices. It was so tempting that I was afraid I might finish off the whole loaf before my husband is back from office. My loaf tin is small, so I halved the original recipe. I felt the date syrup and banana would have been enough for the sweetness. The 1/4 cup of sugar did make it more sweet but not the cloyingly sweet kind. I liked it. But if you intend to serve along your evening tea/coffee, you may omit the sugar altogether or reduce it. In case you are using the dates, then the amount of sugar is required.
You need
Whole wheat flour -1 cup
Baking soda - 1/2 tspn
Baking powder - 1/2 tspn
Salt - a pinch
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tspn
Walnuts - 1/4 cup, toasted and chopped
Banana - 1, small
Date syrup - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Oil - 1/4 cup
Method
Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom powder and salt. Add the toasted and chopped walnuts. In a blender jar, take chopped bananas, sugar, and oil. Blend to make a homogeneous paste. Fold in the flour mixture into the wet mix. Stir to mix it completely. Transfer to a greased and dusted loaf tin and bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for 55 minutes or till tooth pick inserted comes out clean.
