Banana and almond meal muffins

Am I the only one who feels a frisson of excitement with fresh almond meal in the cupboard? On the weekend I had almond meal plus ripe bananas. I wondered if anyone had made almond meal muffins with banana? Of course they had!

Inside my pantry, there was no baking powder, so I decided to use 1 cup of self-raising flour and 1 cup of almond meal. We're not gluten-free in my home, so a combination of ingredients was fine. If you want gluten free, just use 2 cups almond meal and 2 teaspoons of baking powder.

Ingredients

Dry
1 cup almond meal
1 cup (fresh*) self-raising flour
1 teaspoon bicarb of soda (I didn't have baking powder
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 pinch of salt

Wet
2 eggs
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup macadamia nut oil
2 ripe bananas

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Use macadamia nut oil to grease a 12 medium muffin tin. Mix together dry ingredients well. Mix together wet ingredients. Add wet and dry ingredients and stir until combined. Dollop mixture into muffin tin evenly and cook for 20min at 180 degrees. Turn onto a cooling rack. I used a knife to help me free up the edges. I served them with a few slices of fresh banana and a sprinkle of almond meal.

Delicious!

Banana Walnut Choc Chip Muffins

Tonight I think I've cracked the ultimate banana muffin, filled with nommy chocolate chips and walnuts, modified from this recipe. I used dark brown sugar and buttermilk to add a little extra flavour and zing.

Dry Ingredients

2 cups self raising flour
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup choc-chips
1/4 cup walnuts

Wet Ingredients

100 grams butter, melted
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 over-ripe bananas

Preheat oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Grease 12 hole muffin tray or 1 x 6 hole Texas muffin pan.

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Whisk them together to ensure an even blend.

In a separate bowl, mash bananas with a fork and mix together with all other wet ingredients. Then add to the dry ingredients until just combined. Pour into muffin pan.

Bake 12-15 minutes.



These muffins fulfill the magic combination of being moist, containing fruit, nuts and rich flavours without being too dense or overwhelming.

Tandoori chicken with persimmon raita and beetroot chutney

Tonight after a bike ride to the Gap and back, we made tandoori chicken. Marinading this overnight is ideal, but you can make a dinner to rival any regular BBQ chook with only 1hr in preparation.


I added fresh cinnamon, cardamom seeds and cloves to this recipe


Mix tumeric, smoked paprika, ground coriander, garam masala


Mix yogurt, lemon juice, spices, garlic and ginger together and rub under the skin of the chicken. It's pretty messy, but don't worry too much. I stuffed a couple of half-lemons into the tummy. Put on the BBQ and obey these instructions.


I grew up with my grandma making banana, coriander, dessicated coconut and lime juice sambal (thank you Charmaine Solomon!). My grandma lived in Kuala Lumpur in the 1930s when my dad was very young. Our family has a long tradition of home-cooked curries.


Another classic of Charmaine is her raita. I made it tonight with julienned persimmon instead of cucumber. Add natural yogurt, lime juice, salt, a little grated ginger and garlic and coriander.


Pop cubes of beetroot and roughly sliced red onions in the oven at 180 degrees for 1/2 hour in some olive oil.


Inspired by Nigella's Beetroot chutney, I poured roasted beetroot and onion into a frypan and simmered with 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar, 1 tsp brown sugar, 1/4 tsp salt, grated ginger, chopped garlic, garam masala, one mandarin's worth of juice for 10mins. Serve with mandarin segments and coriander tossed through. The mandarin really gives a complimentary flavour to the beetroot.


Serve beetroot, persimmon, chicken and banana over rice and eat!


A light, delicate variety of flavours all working together to honour the hard work of Brissy farmers.