banana chai bread

[SweetDreams]

hello everyone,
i wold like to share a recipe i tried a few days back and found very interesting.....

A low-fat banana bread flavored with chai. Chai is a spicy Indian tea, which should be available in many supermarkets.

BANANA CHAI BREAD

INGREDIENTS
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup lowfat cream cheese
2 eggs
3/4 cup mashed bananas
1/4 cup brewed chai tea

DIRECTIONS
1. In a medium bowl mix together flour, baking powder, and salt.
2. In a separate bowl mix sugar, cream cheese, and eggs until light and fluffy. Mix mashed bananas and Chai into cream cheese mixture. Add flour mixture and mix until smooth.
3. Pour mixture into a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan.
4. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F(175 degrees C) oven for 60 minutes. Cool on rack. Remove from pan after 10 minutes.

[nancya]

This sounds really interesting. My grocery store has several different kinds of chai. Do you use a special kind or flavor, with sugar or without???

[LotusCakeStudio]

Oh wow. I've been making this stuff for years. I used to make my banana bread with some added cinnamon for a little spice. Then I noticed how Celestial's Seasoning's Bengal Spice has all the spices in there that compliment the banana flavor and make bananas easier to digest, (according to Ayurvedic medicine anyway). So I through a packet of that stuff in with my dry ingredients and yummy! It's a vegan recipe and all I do is change the flour around and I also use it for a cake recipe and it just got requested for a wedding cake I have in Oct.

I've played around a lot with different flavored teas and gotten great results. About 2 or 3 years agos, I read that Celestial Seasoning's has a book out called "Cooking with Tea" and I wanted to get it, but no store seemed to have it. Even now, I just checked Amazon and they're out of it, but they did list another book which also had recipes using teas.

[Kimmie]

Nancya,

No need to shop for Chai tea. Here's a good recipe for Masala Chai

Serves 2

1 pint water
A 1 inch stick of cinnamon
8 cardamom pods
8 whole cloves
6 fl. oz milk
6 teaspoons sugar (or to taste)
3 teaspoons any unperfumed, loose black tea

Put the water in a saucepan. Add the cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves and bring to a boil. Cover, turn heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the milk and sugar and bring to a simmer again. Throw in the tea leaves, cover, and turn off the heat. After 2 minutes, strain the tea into two cups and serve immediately.



Note for Lotus: Have you been on Celestial Seasonings' website? Just click here

[ August 21, 2001: Message edited by: Kimmie ]

[m brown]

oohhhh, what a great combo!

[Svadhisthana]

Sweet Dreams,
Thank you sooo much. Banana bread and chai are two of my favorite things. I will try this recipe soon.