In the part of the world where I live,coffee and cafés form a big part of lives of people.So much so that when the other day I mentioned in front of my neighbour that I like to start my day with a cup of tea, masala chai precisely,he smirked saying how can I have such a spicy thing in the morning and that too daily. As for him, if at all he drinks masala chai..its only on his mountaineering treks when his nose is runny.But,I am conditioned to having tea all my life.. first thing in the morning since the time I became adult enough to consume tea. Picking up a cup of overly sweet, overly milky and overly spicy chai from the chaivalla[tea vendor]in front of Mother Dairy booth near to my house was the best way to start my day long journey on Delhi’s roads.Oh, not to mention that used to be my second cup of caffeine in the morning with many more to follow 
When I see people here drinking bitter coffee,it astonishes me.However I loooove the smell of roasted coffee beans…so much so that I sometimes change my normal way to walk past by a Starbucks…just to sniff to good mood What astonishes me more is that here, the coffee is as bitter as it can be and the tea is as light a brew as it can be.This makes me appreciate that the conditioning of our taste buds starts right from the childhood with the kind of food we eat and the beverage we drink..this is what is called an acquired taste per say!
Not that I don’t like coffee but I still find it difficult to gather the courage to drink a neat black coffee in cafés out here,the one which suits my hard ..easy to please Indian palate is a 2 sugar /3 creamer deal and that too not in the morning, it’s often the evening beverage. There’s no point for guessing that I mostly go to cafés here to binge on the baked goodies and the aromatherapy from the coffee smell
I live on Sunset Road in Vegas.The Sunset Road has three “Sunrise” cafés, two out of those are vying for the original spot for sometime now,the third one serves decent stuff.Now, we go to the third cafe occasionally, which is at least twice in a week! P goes for the hazelnut coffee, I go for the baked goodies by Mama Ann who runs the cafe along with her rock star son having treated hair and pierced eyebrows.She has some magic in her hands,every scone or cookie or muffin in her cafe tastes divine.Mama Ann comes up with one unusual flavor every week and that’s the special for that week. A few months back I ate this banana & date pudding in her café and since then I had the taste lingering in my mind…okay on the tongue!So much so that I was willing to especially buy bananas to make this
I wanted to make muffins but the problem is that P is not a big fan of muffins or cupcakes..so I had to think of some other way to recreate the magic of this combo.The attempt to forage the recipe from Mama Ann was futile and I had to go in for my own hit & trial versions to come up with some decent looking stuff. After repeated searches on the internet I found this absolutely amazing banana & date pudding recipe from this beautiful blog,which I adapted.
Now, a very typical scene in my kitchen being ..that always…I mean always without fail .. I fall short of something or the other whenever I am tooo excited to try out a thing…So atleast I had bananas & dates ..thank GOD for that …but I fell short of flour.Given the lazy & stubborn kinda female I am, neither did I want to go to grocery store a mile away to buy flour, nor did I want to give up on the baking!!! Finally, I settled for a mix of semolina and whatever little flour I had.But if you are not like me, I m sure you ll plan ahead and make everything available a night before atleast…but did I tell you that the semolina thing did wonders to the texture…so even if you are lame like me..its kinda okay!Just to save some calories, I totally dumped the luring butterscotch sauce in the original recipe, and settled for a drizzle of honey mixed with cinnamon!Below it goes:
What I need : [Recipe makes two nos 5" ramekins ]
- 3/4 cup dates, pitted and chopped
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 ripe bananas,chopped
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 5 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
- 2 eggs ,room temperature
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup semolina flour
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- handful of chopped walnuts [or almonds]
- 4 tbsp honey mixed with 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon [for drizzle]
- Whipped cream /vanilla ice cream to serve along
How I did it :
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease the ramekins thoroughly.
- In a small pan, bring the water to a boil, once boiling add the chopped dates and let cook for 2-3 minutes.Remove from heat, add the baking soda and set aside ro cool.
- Cream the butter and sugar thoroughly.To this add the eggs, one at a time and vanilla.Mix well.
- Add in the flours into the butter mix gently and combine well but gently.
- Fold in the chopped walnuts.
- Tansfer the batter to the greased ramekins and spread evenly.
- Bake at 350 F for 20-22 minutes [Mine took 20 mins] till spongy to touch and browned on surface.You can use a skewer to test in the centre if it comes out clean.
- Take out from the oven and let rest on a cooling rack to cool completely before topping with cream and honey.
Enjoy!
Sending this to Monthly Mingle at Deeba’s Blog, originally started by Meeta of WFLH!!!
Banana date pudding looks fabulous Tanvi, I love to have a bite.
Love your post, and now you make me want to eat at Mama Ann’s too. How nice that you explored how to make this pudding, and came up with these beauties. Well done indeed … they look YUM! Thank you for baking for the Mingle.
I would love to have this pudding with vanilla ice-cream.Looks superb
Deepa
Hamaree Rasoi
u live in vegas??? how much fun is that:)
I love sticky date pudding so much…
Sounds great, love all the ingredients you’ve used, looks delicious…
This looks absolutely lovely! What a delicious combination of flavors!
This looks like a rock star too, though I personally dont like banana-base desserts!
Looks so yummy pudding..nice combo of ingredients..
same here Tanvi…cant think of anything other than my hot cup of tea to start the day. coffee is definitely a evening drink with something like this pudding to go with. great looking pudding and very well presented.
Yum yum! I love the thought of combining dates and bananas, and I’ve been seeing a lot of dates at the market lately. The pudding look delicious…
Yumm!!would love to grab a bowl of pudding rite now…very tempting..
Hi Tanvi…..pudding looks tempting…I know i’m gonna love this pudding…love khajoor
yummm, that looks delicious, would be a hit with hubby as he loves bananas and dates so this is the perfect combination
It looks wonderful!
Whether a tea or a coffee drinker (I’m both) I venture to guess that this fabulous pudding tastes delicious with a hot cup of either.
These puddings go great with either coffee or tea. I don’t drink coffee either. But I would love to have these cuties with a cup of hot chocolate.
wow love this and the pictures are awesome your a talent for sure would love it if you would consider guest posting on chow and chatter one day
Rebecca
First you had me craving masala chai (late at night) then your story of Mama Ann made me laugh. But the recipe looks delish.
Hey Tanvi, Thanks for your sweet comments. Nope, Patel’s is a nationwide chain now!
. I’ve never been to NJ (don’t want to either), but I know who can really help you—Divya of Sound horn please—she lives in that area and is a really fun person. write to me , and i’ll put the two of you in touch.
gdbinvt[at]gmail[dot]com
Loved your adorable blue vase! and the banana/date pudding looks “sinfully” good!!!I have three bananas just crying to be pudding-ified, but I have a feeling “breadified” will have to do this time!
XO,
G
This pudding is a delightful sweet treat! I have never tried banana and dates together, and it sounds very delicious!
I can never stand black coffee, if am standing nearing brewing coffee machining i will soon and fall he he banana date pudding looks awesome love the flower used for food styling
you cook well, pictures are very good, but am afraid you talk way too much!! and the english is sooo tough to understand… its like you are constantly thinking in Hindi and translating it into english! if u’d only talk a bit less… it would be a pleasure to read your blog!
so true:D
Niharika & Sanaa,
Thanks both of you for the feedback & comments. I have few things to say regarding what both of you feel about blog & writing.
This blog is my personal space to compile my thoughts from day today life & childhood, stories from my mom’s kitchen as well as love for cooking & photography.There are many people who come here for more than just food & recipes.If there are few readers who are looking only for pictures or recipes,then a blog is probably not the right place to look out for,maybe food magazines or cookbooks. Having said that, it is very well reader’s free will to skip/ignore whatever part they do not like about the posts and read what they like.
Thanks
Tanvi
Banana and date looks lovely n am very tempted… drizzle is nice too….
I love coffee flavour… it’s all over my blog
Cheers,
The Variable, Crazy Over Desserts – Nachiketa
Catch me on facebook @ Crazy Over Desserts
can i made this dish in a microwave????if so??? then how much time required to cook this delicious recipe…tell me asap paleeeeeeeeeeeez:)
Sanaa,
I havent tried this recipe via microwave. I cant say how much time it will take or how the texture or taste will come out.
Thanks