Tea breads are one of the easiest things to bake and there are dozens of recipes online. What makes this jasmine tea loaf a little bit different is an unripe banana and lots of extremely strong green tea.
The resulting loaf is sweet, slightly sticky and fragrant. It’s also fat free.
Using a less ripe banana (not green, but not yet freckled) means that the flavours of the green tea, lemon and allspice are not overwhelmed by banana flavour.
The recipe uses both brewed green jasmine tea and a large spoonful of ground tea. Other green tea will work, but jasmine has a distinct floral flavour that gives this loaf its character.
Tea loaves are particularly satisfying cakes to make because (for very little effort) they rise well, hold their height and slice cleanly.
Jasmine tea loaf…
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp jasmine tea leaves
- 280 g raisins
- 140 g light muscovado sugar
- 200 g unripe banana (one and a half to two medium bananas)
- 260 g self-raising flour
- zest of a small lemon
- 1 tsp ground allspice
method
- Make tea with three tablespoons of the jasmine tea leaves and 280ml boiling water. Allow it to steep for a few minutes before straining through a sieve (try to press out as much liquid out of the leaves as possible).
- In a large bowl, soak the raisins in the tea and lemon zest for at least four hours, or overnight if possible.
- Set the oven to 170°C/340°F and line or oil a standard 2 lb loaf tin.
- Using a coffee grinder or small processor, grind the remaining spoonful of jasmine tea to powder, then blend or mash thoroughly with the banana. (It will produce a peculiar green sludge that doesn’t really look as if it has a place in a nice fruit loaf!)
- Stir the banana mixture and the sugar into the soaked raisins until well combined.
- Sift the flour and spice into the raisin mixture and fold to combine. It will be thick, but if it feels unworkable you could add another spoonful of water or tea.
- Transfer to the loaf tin and smooth the top a little.
- Bake for around 1 hour and fifteen minutes, when an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Allow to cool before removing from the tin and slicing.
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