It is the eve of Merdeka and Malaysia is shrouded with yucky haze. We've whipped out our air purifiers and there is a high chance we will be hiding at home or mall crawling.
So then I'm hit with this dilemma that is breakfast, because there is no way we're heading out to our favorite kopitiam in this weather. I spied some ripe bananas about to go off and I have some rolled oats in the fridge so I decided to try this recipe I pinned from Pinterest
It is a vegan oatmeal banana bread. Not that I'm vegan, but I have some suspicion that my younger daughter might be allergic to eggs. This recipe is egg free, nut free and dairy free: perfect if your kids are allergic to any of those.
You Will Need
4 overripe banana, small size (3" long) [which was all I had left]
3/4 cup Honey
1 1/2 cup Rolled Oats
1 cup wheat flour (recipe calls for whole wheat but I only had wheat flour)
2 tbsp. Ground Flax Seed
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup Virgin Coconut Oil
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. ground cinnamon (I skipped this since I generally dislike cinnamon)
Optional toppings:
- 1 small banana, sliced
- 2 tbsp: jumbo oats to sprinkle on top
- 2 tbsp. brown rice syrup or maple syrup
The original recipe is super easy and asks that you chuck everything in the food processor and blitz for 30 seconds. I was lazy to lug Thermy out, so I did everything by hand, plus I like my rolled oats chunky.
#1 Preheat your oven to 180 C
#2 Mash your bananas
#3 Oats, Flaxseed, honey goes in
#4 Whisk in baking soda together with the flour
#5 Flour in
#6 VCO in and mix everything together
#7 Add in vanilla extract and mix well
#8 Prepare a rectangle loaf tin 23 cm x 13 cm (9" x 5") covered with baking paper
# 9 Bake
Bake at 180 C for 45-55 minutes or until a chopstick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean. You may need to protect the top of the bread with a piece of foil during the last 15 minutes of baking to avoid the banana slices to burn. This is only if you've decorated the top of your cake as per the optional toppings above. I ran out of banana so I opt for semi sweet chocolate chips instead.
#10 Leave to cool down slightly and then transfer to a cooling rack.
I almost half regretted not following the recipe exactly and doing everything in a processor, but the result surprised me. The rolled oats remained intact and provided some texture to the bread. It turned out almost like a cross between a granola and a banana bread - quite refreshing from the boring old banana bread.
But if you had done the bread batter in a processor, your cross cut result would look more like this instead and more bread like:
No matter! The kids tucked in still and they were getting all the goodness rolled oats had to offer. Give this recipe a try and here's to wishing Happy 59th Merdeka Day Malaysia and happy holidays everyone!