The Purple Foodie

Doesn’t everyone just love a thick slice of banana bread?

And coupled with a glass of cold milk or a dollop of whipped cream, it makes for an offer that is hard to turn down.

But what if it has crystallised ginger and a good handful of chocolate chips thrown in? Yes. Just as I thought – you will sit up, take notice, and quickly bookmark this recipe.

Or you won’t. Crystallised ginger in banana bread? Uh, no way!

I would have been one of the folks in the second category if I were to try the recipe 6 months ago. Worse still, I’d skip the candied ginger all together (I didn’t know how easy it is to make!). But luckily for me, I not only made some really awesome crystallised ginger, but also had a delicious gingerale concentrate in the process. Just as soon as I began relishing candied ginger, I went back to the banana bread recipe in Molly Weizenberg’s book, A Homemade Life. Here, she extolled the goodness of banana bread with crystallised ginger and chocolate chips and said that, “the flavours of banana and chocolate get along so well, and the ginger makes it even better, cutting through its richness with its spicy heat.” I knew I had to make it.

Like most recipes that call for banana, this one too requires ripe bananas. But, I’m not a huge fan of a strong banana-ey fragrance in the bread and neither do I fancy using bananas that are dark, black, spotted and ugly. I always use bananas that are ready to be eaten. Also, once this is baked, you will be tempted to eat this straight out of the oven, but hang on, the banana bread tastes a lot better the next day. Just let the flavours play together overnight – you will taste the difference, I promise! Oh, and the best part is finding the pockets of melted chocolate as you take one bite after another.

Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips and Crystallised Ginger
Yield: 1 large loaf that serves 8
Adapted From: A Homemade Life

6 tbsp / 3 oz. / 90g. butter
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4th cup sugar
3/4th tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt (skip this if you’re using salted butter, like me)
3/4th cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/3rd – ½ cup crystallised ginger – chopped finely or into strips for a more recognisable bite.
2 large eggs
1 ½ cups mashed bananas (approx 3 large bananas)
1/4th cup yoghurt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9- by 5-inch loaf pan with butter or cooking spray, and set aside.
In a small bowl, melt the butter in the microwave or atop a double boiler. Set aside to cool.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Add the chocolate chips and crystallised ginger. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, lightly beat the eggs with a fork and add the mashed bananas, yoghurt, melted butter, and vanilla and mix well.
Pour the banana mixture into the dry ingredients and gently fold in the batter with a silicone spatula, incorporating all the dry ingredients until it looks like it has come together. It’s okay if it looks kinda lumpy.
Pour the batter into the loaf tin and bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
Let the banana bread cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to the cooling rack.
Cut yourself a slice, because you can hardly wait – and let the entire loaf cool completely.

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I love apples. As a kid, apples were my favourite fruit.

But, then when I grew up, apples stopped being seasonal. With their all year round availability (and multiple varieties at that), they suddenly weren’t something I pined for. Now with the apple season in full swing, I’m reminded of the local, seasonal apples I grew up eating – not the shiny, waxed, supermarket ones. I’m thinking of making a whole bunch of things to cherish their versatility; starting with apple chips.

Apple chips make a very fun, light snack. The first time I made these I had such a great time asking everyone to guess what it was (made sure they didn’t resemble apples). Nobody could guess! Besides being a light snack, they are awesome added to a granola mix and make stunning garnishes for desserts as well.

Apple Chips

2 gala or granny smith apples

2 tbsp sugar

½ tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp lemon juice

Water

Turn the oven on its lowest setting (80C/175F)
Fill a bowl with 1 cup cold water and the lemon.
Holding a mandoline over the bowl, slice the apples, letting them fall in the water immediately. This prevents premature browning of the apples.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat and place the apple slices on the sheet after shaking off the excess liquid off it.
Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar (this will make the apple slices brown though, so skip the cinnamon if you want them white).
Push it into the oven for 1.5-2 hours, until the apple slices are crisp. Try not to finish these in one go!

Update: If at the end of 2 hours, the chips are still soft, continue to bake them in the oven for another 1-2 hours. Depending on how large the slices are and how watery the apples are, it might just take a longer.

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