Bolu Korma Pisang (Dates and Banana Bread)

My family back home has this tradition of eating dates (korma) only on Ramadhan (fasting month). I think most of families in Indonesia has the same habit. Dates are only popular during this month in Indonesia. Due to this tradition, dates become a nostalgic dried fruit for me (yeah, I can be melancholic). 

Here where I live now, I can find dates anytime of the year at the grocery, but somehow it just doesn't taste as special as if its eaten during Ramadhan. Last Ramadhan I found this type of awesome dates, its called the Medjool dates. Its huge, soft, and delicately sweet. I fell in love with this dates on the first bite. My teeth just sank into its gloriously sticky flesh that tastes like caramel and honey. I must warn you, they are dangerously addictive. This heavenly dried fruit does comes with a price tag tho. Its the priciest dates variety at my grocery store, but its worth every penny. 

There are a lot of ways of eating dates. My favorite is eating it just like that so I can savour its flavor (nah, actually I am just lazy). You can also chop it small and put it in salad, couscous, rice, cakes, breads, etc. Today I make a bread out of it mixed with banana. This recipe does not require any sugar (the dates are sweet enough already) or eggs. So I think its pretty healthy  (I guess?? well if you follow my previous recipes, you know that I don't really count calories or fat, I count only what is easy to do). This is another fool-proof kind of recipe we all love, yay!

Ingredients:

250 ml (1 cup) pitted dates ( I used Medjool dates)

250 ml (1 cup) of water

2 very ripe bananas, mashed with egg beater or fork

65 ml (1/4 cup) sunflower oil, you can use any oil to cook as long as it doesn't have a strong smell

1 tsp vanilla essence

500 ml (two cup) flour

10 ml (2 tsp) baking powder

85 ml (1/3 cup) chopped walnut (optional but strongly recommended)

2/3 cup dark chocolate chips (optional)

2 ml (1/2 tsp) cinnamon powder

2 ml (1/2 tsp) nutmeg powder

Cooking steps:

1. Put 1 cup of pitted dates and 1 cup of water on a pan and bring to boil. Once it boils, mash it gently with an egg beater and turn of the stove. Let it sit for 5 minutes,
2. Once the dates cool down, add the mashed banana, add oil and vanilla essence, mix thoroughly, 
3. Add the rest of the ingredients, mix gently and thoroughly, try not to crush the chocolate chips and the walnut (if you use any),
4. Turn the oven to 350 F  (180 C), meanwhile grease your baking pan with a bit of oil and pour the batter in,
5. Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean,
6. Remove the bread from the oven and let it cool completely on a rack,
7. Slice and serve. Snow the slice bread with confectioner sugar for presentation.

PS: the texture of this bread is a bit moist, its like between a muffin and a banana bread. It grows a bit while cooking but not too much that it will overflow your pan as long as you fill only 3/4 part of the pan.