Banana Walnut Bread and The Mourning Oven

Dear Dad,

Yesterday we heard a loud thud in the backyard. We knew a bael (wood apple) had fallen from the tree. It was first of the season - ripe and sweet smelling. You would have loved it. The jamuns too, have turned purple and plump. Mogra has come up all over the garden and in the backyard. Mom decorated your portrait with the flowers and the fragrance wafted all over. The red Amaranth that you wanted us to plant has come up well.  Summer Coriander has also become lush.  Mangoes are beginning to ripen.

Recent showers have made Aloes fleshy and green. The football lilies are looking very beautiful. Rain lilies are popping up behind the hedge. We will surely collect their seeds and scatter them in other parts of the lawn exactly the way you used to do.

Wish you were with us to savour the beauty of the garden, the sweetness of the fruits and fragrance of the flowers!

Love knows no logic, understands no reasoning and abides by no concepts. My baking has a deep connection with my Dad. He loved to bake and I inherited his passion, myself falling in love with the art. My oven stopped working after he left us.  Thinking that it was a ten-year-old, over used fatigued machine that had outlived its functionality, we contemplated on getting a new one. For the last time the wires were checked, it was shrugged and shaken but it showed no life.

Almost a month later, a random attempt to toast bread took us by surprise. The timer began to tick and rods became fiery hot. It was working. My oven was mourning. Feelings are vibrations…..energies that exist in the universe and at some point in time, we experience events beyond our comprehension. My oven was mourning dad’s passing away.

This is the first bake after the break. Life is limping back to normalcy so is my oven.

A simple low-fat banana bread baked to salvage the overripe bananas was delicious.

Banana Walnut Bread

Ingredients

• 1 cup mashed bananas
• 1 teaspoon soda
• ½ cup yogurt
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ¾ cup organic palm sugar / brown sugar / white sugar (powdered)
• 1 large free range egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon honey
• ½ cup toasted walnuts
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Method

1. In a large bowl, mix together mashed bananas and yoghurt. Add baking soda.
2. In the meantime, whisk together last four ingredients in another bowl.
3. Grease and line one 8 inch x 4-inch loaf pan. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
4. To the banana mixture, add olive oil, vanilla extract, honey, egg, and sugar. Beat well till you get a smooth mixture.
5. Add dry ingredients in three shifts mixing till well incorporated. Do not over mix.
6. Fold in walnuts. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 40 – 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool on the rack.