Ask a Chef reveals the secrets of those superb dishes you ate in cafes and restaurants and wanted to try yourself.
Photo by Gregor Richardson.
Good Oil's date loaf
Ingredients
2 cups chopped dates
1 cup water
2 tsp baking soda
100g butter
2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
4 mashed bananas
2 cups grated carrot
2 cups walnuts
2½ cups flour
1½ cups bran
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp mixed spice
Method
Add dates and water to pot and bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
Add baking soda and set aside to cool.
Cream butter and sugar, add vanilla essence, beat. Then add eggs one at a time, beating in between.
Put mashed bananas, grated carrot, walnuts, flour, bran, baking powder and mixed spice in a bowl.
Add creamed mixture and date mixture.
Stir to combine.Pour into a lined loaf tin.
Bake 170degC for about 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean.
Recipe provided by A Good Oil, George St, Dunedin.
Recipe requested by Janet Stewart, of Dunedin.
If you have enjoyed a dish in an Otago cafe or restaurant and would like the recipe, write to Ask a Chef, Features, Otago Daily Times, PO Box 181, Dunedin, fax 474-7422, or email odt.features@odt.co.nz, including your name, address and a daytime telephone number, and we will request it.
