Plantain Cranberry Bread

This is one of those recipes that you can taste in your mind but translating it to reality is a challenge. I came up with this as I wanted something for Thanksgiving that was not made with Pumpkin! We do not celebrate Thanksgiving where I'm from but if we did, I guess this could be called Plantain Thanksgiving Bread. I can't call it Harvest Bread as the ingredients I have used, grow year round in the Caribbean. I therefore settled on Plantain Cranberry Bread as that would bridge the Caribbean-American gap. I also used American Sweet Potato or Sweet Yam as it's sometimes called. I did not use the Caribbean sweet potato or Boniato as it is more starchy, and has a different taste and texture to the American variety. It is a tedious recipe to make because of so many ingredients but it's well worth the effort......very "Moreish" as we say in the Caribbean!

·          INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup bread flour

½ cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground coriander

½ teaspoon nutmeg

⅛ teaspoon allspice

1 tsp grated fresh ginger root

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 cup yogurt

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

½ cup oil

1 Chayote squash, peeled, seed removed, and finely grated (I would imagine that 1/2 cup of grated zucchini could be used as a substitute)

2 tablespoons molasses

3/4 cup grated raw, American sweet potato

3/4 cup "turn" plantain ("turn" means that the plantain is firm with yellow skin, not soft and ripe with blackened skin), peeled and shredded(if you are not familiar with how to peel it, there are many sources on the Internet that show you how to do it)

½ cup chopped dried cranberries

Juice and zest of one lemon

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Grease a loaf pan, and line the bottom with parchment paper, Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg and allspice.

3.In another bowl, mix together well, the shredded plantain, grated chayote, ginger root, lemon juice and zest, chopped cranberries, grated sweet potato, and yogurt.  To shred the Plantain, use the coarse shredder (larger holes), and use the smaller holes to grate the other ingredients)

Grater

Shredded "turn" Plantain

4.In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, dark brown sugar, oil, and molasses.

5. Add the sweet potato and plantain mixture to the wet ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until fully incorporated.

3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, and mix together until just combined. Do not over mix.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the edges are golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then allow it to cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before slicing.