cavolo nero friendships & banana bread community
cooking classes, organic market gardens, my new favourite dal and finding peace in nailing the plant-based banana bread
The star of this week’s newsletter is unquestionably the recipe for the sun-drenched slice of banana bread ecstasy pictured above.
I’m not shy to admit that I’ve never been the biggest fan of banana bread. They can sometimes be dry, sometimes stodgy, and often a little underwhelming on the flavour front. Then the arrival of Covid-19 lockdowns brought with it a new wave of 21st century banana bread hoopla that really took the banana bread craze a little too far. Sorry if I’m offending any steadfast banana bread lovers.
But it’s undoubtedly a crowd-pleasing staple that’s worth having a good recipe for in your baking repertoire. As we all have times when we remember that tired-looking bunch of freckled brown bananas are in fact still sitting there in the corner of the kitchen, and are in desperate need of our love and affection.
Through Eating Who I Want to Be I’m trying to be more planet-conscious this year by eating a more plant-based diet - and for a number of years I’ve been trying to perfect my own plant-based banana bread recipe… which has been a harder task to master than I had initially thought. But after a number of attempts and tweaking I’ve finally landed on my perfect banana bread. Soft, moist-yet-fluffy, big banana flavour, neatly spiced with cardamom and a little cinnamon, then made that little bit special with a magical miso & cardamom crumble topping. Because this recipe is so dear to my heart, I’m sharing it with paid subscribers only ~ if there’s a week to join this subscription, this week is the one!
When I think of banana bread now, I do think back to the Covid-19 pandemic, and remember how much community spirit this fostered with the sharing of kai. Whether it be that supplies were scarce or your neighbour couldn’t get to the supermarket, food and ingredients were shared, and it brought some of our food habits back to the home cooked, homegrown and locally-produced sphere that we should be trying to eat within. We were back to the times of Give me some sugar, I am your neighbour (yes I will find any excuse to remind you of this legendary music video).
It’s been incredible to see how rapidly our society has since regressed back to a culture of on-demand convenience-led eating, and the collectivism which was beginning to shine through again has faded. I’ve spoken about this in previous newsletters, but again I challenge you to think about how you might be able to take a more collectivist approach in your own individual food systems: the aspects of your eating that you have greater control over within our wider food systems. Here’s a couple of ideas of how you might consider bringing greater collectivism into your day-to-day eating:
look into what crop swaps might be happening in your local community, and consider what you might be able to share and gain through this vital system
consider baking something for your neighbours this week ~ especially those who you haven’t met yet ~ food is a neutral way to introduce yourself and improve your sense of community by meeting those in your street
make your next meet-up with friends based around exploring more of your local food systems and network ~ whether it’s touring local gardens, a trip to the farmer’s market to cook from, foraging or fishing together, or even a food-hop of eating different dishes from local restaurants to spread your support for local hospitality
On this note, the past fortnight I have had some rare opportunities to hit my value of Connecting with Community as part of my pursuit in Eating Who I Want to Be. Last weekend I was up in Hawke’s Bay for the annual FAWC! (Food & Wine Classic) festival, where I was invited to run two 14-person hands-on cooking workshops at the beautiful Farmhouse Kitchen ~ a commercial purpose-built cooking school run by the enigmatic, joyful and highly-skilled Pauline, just south of Havelock North, Hawke’s Bay. In each 4 hour class we cooked 6 dishes from my cookbook, Good Vibes, with a focus on seasonal vegetable-forward cooking, connection through food and an emphasis on knockout flavours. It was honestly the most fun I’ve had all year, made so by the incredibly diverse collection of home cooks and food enthusiasts who came to the workshops and shared their own food stories. Proof that there’s truly no better way to connect with strangers than through cooking together.
Speaking of making friends through food, this past week I got to hang out with one of my mates who just so happens to also own one of the leading organic market gardens in the wider Ōtepoti area. Set in the hills above Pūrākaunui, picturesquely overlooking the expansive Pacific Ocean below, Vern Paddock Project, owned by Skye Macfarlane & Jed Tweedie, is an example of dedicated no-till small-scale organic farming fuelled by a strong foundation of environmentally and locally-minded values that promote an integrated food systems approach to eating well. Our country is in the midst of a growing food crisis, and it’s growers like Jed & Skye that are a critical part of the solution. Working in union with the land to produce sustainably-minded produce for the local community (they supply their relatively affordable produce to local restaurants, cafes and supermarkets, and also herbs to businesses like Wild Dispensary).
As always, I encourage you to shift your eating framework to supporting these local producers wherever possible ~ and if you get the opportunity, talk to your local growers or go and see the incredibly hard yakka that goes into this important mahi. I took a quick snap of me holding a bouquet of their produce - this is the kind of bouquet I want to walk up the aisle to!! This bouquet was the inspiration for this week’s recipe for Beetroot dal with lime cavolo nero.
Cooking from Good Vibes: Other than making my go-to Vegan hot cross buns, this week I made a version of the Tricolour kofta with special curry sauce ~ this is a great recipe for using up whatever veg you have around. The recipe in the book uses grated parsnip, carrot & zucchini for the kofta, but this week I used some leftover beetroot, pumpkin & zucchini that was looking sad in the fridge. I had a friend come to visit on Wednesday, one of my fellow EatNZ Kaitaki, and after a dinner catch-up we ended the night of kai with some of my Salted chocolate, hazelnut & muscovado cookies. I like to keep some pre-rolled balls of this cookie dough in the freezer at all times, ready for cookie dreams at a moment’s notice ~ straight from freezer to oven and 15 minutes to heaven.
Much love,
Alby xx
Beetroot dal with lime cavolo nero
There’s something undeniably comforting about dal. It is often unassuming in its appearance - in fact I remember the first time I had dal as a teenager when babysitting, and initially feeling very Oliver Twist when presented with it. But dal is a deceptive fellow; it may look simple but it has layers of complex deliciousness within. Dal refers to any dried, split pulse that can be cooked without soaking, making it an ideal fuss-free vegan meal. I like my dal slightly creamy and relatively thick, and I love the earthy warmth and sweetness the beetroot lends.
Hands-on Time: 50 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
serves 4-5 as a main
Cost Estimate: $18.50 (about $4 per serve) ~ $12 without the lime cavolo nero
Ingredients
Beetroot dal
300g dried brown lentils
1 tbsp coriander seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp black mustard seeds
2 tbsp coconut oil
2 brown onions, thinly sliced
1 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
20 curry leaves
finely grated zest of 1 lime
300g beetroot, peeled and coarsely grated
1 tsp ground turmeric
¾ tsp ground hot chilli (adjust as desired)
½ tsp ground cinnamon
250ml vegetable stock
400ml can coconut milk
1 ½ tsp sea salt
juice of 1 lime
plant-based or regular yoghurt, to serve
Lime cavolo nero
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp black mustard seeds
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
10 curry leaves
finely grated zest of 1 lime
1 small green chilli, thinly sliced
200g cavolo nero
juice of 1 lime
Method
For the dal, place the lentils in a sieve and rinse with cold water until the water runs clear. Transfer to a bowl and cover with cold water until needed. Place a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the coriander, cumin and black mustard seeds and toast for a couple of minutes until fragrant and starting to pop. Transfer to a mortar and pestle and grind to a rough powder. Return the saucepan over medium heat with the coconut oil. Once melted, add the onion and sauté for 8 minutes until softened. Add the ginger, garlic, curry leaves and lime zest. Cook for 2 minutes, tossing through the onions. Add the grated beetroot, turmeric, cinnamon, chilli and the ground toasted spices you prepared earlier. Cook for a further 2 minutes, mixing with the onion to gently fry. Drain the lentils and add to the pan with the stock, 200ml of the coconut milk, salt and 600ml water. Stir to combine and bring to the boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are soft and the dal has reduced and thickened. Stir the lime juice and remaining 200ml coconut milk into the lentils. Simmer uncovered for a further 5 minutes or until your dal reaches your desired thickness. Remove from the heat and season to taste with extra salt if needed.
When the dal is almost ready, make the lime cavolo nero. Take your cavolo nero and strip the leaves from the stalks. Chop the stalks into small 1cm pieces and roughly tear the leaves. Place the coconut oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the chopped cavolo nero stalks, black mustard seeds, garlic, curry leaves, lime zest and chilli. Sauté for 4 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the torn cavolo nero leaves, toss through and cook for a further 4 minutes, until the leaves are nicely wilted. Squeeze over the lime juice and remove from the heat.
Serve the dal warm in bowls, topped with a dollop of yoghurt and the warm lime cavolo nero.
Alby’s Advice:
The lime cavolo nero adds some zing and texture to make it a more hearty meal ~ you could easily use kale, silverbeet or any hardy green as a substitute.
Miso & cardamom crumble banana bread
WARNING: this may be the best banana bread you’ve ever had, proceed with caution.
After a few years of recipe testing mostly acceptable but sometimes sub-par plant-based banana breads, I’ve finally cracked it! The trick here is instead of using plant-based milk in the batter (which tends to give the loaf a more squishy rather than fluffy texture), a larger quantity of mashed banana than your typical banana bread is used, which give it the perfect moistness, structure and crumb.
What then elevates this bread from great to legendary is the miso & cardamom crumble topping. It brings the most moreish spice and saltiness. The crumble will have some crunch on the day of baking which is my favourite time to eat it, but even as the crumble softens in the following days the taste is undeniably good.
Hands-on Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes (+ cooling time)
makes one regular loaf
Cost Estimate: $6.80
Ingredients
450g mashed ripe banana flesh (from about 4 very ripe bananas)
150g soft brown sugar
100ml canola oil
1 tbsp Shiro (white) miso paste
275g plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Miso & cardamom crumble
50g plain flour
40g soft brown sugar
1 tsp ground cardamom
50g solid coconut oil
½ tbsp Shiro (white) miso paste
Method
Preheat the oven to 150°C fan-forced (or 170°C conventional). Grease with oil and line a regular 900g loaf tin (ie 23cm x 12cm x 7cm) with baking paper. Ensure there is a little baking paper overhanging the edges of the tin, so that the cake is easily lifted out of the tin once baked.
For the banana bread batter, in a large bowl, whisk together the mashed banana, brown sugar, oil and miso paste until well combined. Ensure that the miso paste is evenly mixed through. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cardamom and cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and fold together until a smooth uniform batter is reached; set aside.
To make the crumble, place the flour, brown sugar and cardamom in a medium bowl and whisk together to combine. Add the coconut oil and miso paste. Using your hands, rub the coconut oil and miso paste into the dry ingredients until well combined and forming soft clumps of crumble mixture.
To assemble, spoon the batter into the lined loaf tin, spreading out evenly and smoothing the top with the back of a spoon. Scatter the crumble mixture evenly over the top of the batter. Bake for about 60-70 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the loaf comes out clean. Check the loaf at about 40-45 minutes and if you’re happy with the brownness of the crumble, cover the top with tinfoil for the remainder of baking time - you want the crumble to be deeply browned but not burnt.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 20 minutes before lifting from the tin. Place on a wire rack and cool fully at room temperature before slicing.
Alby’s Advice:
feel free to mix up the bread with whichever spices you’re vibing on the day.
if you’re feeling luxe - slice thick, toast, and serve with whipped maple butter.