Li-Yun has moved from being vegetarian to vegan and I learnt fast that this is a whole new ball game. Mostly it’s butter that I have to be aware of not using. Her only concession is to occasionally eat the eggs that we get from Julie, our ‘Egg Lady’ in Pennybatch . And so, with this compromise, we were able to make banana bread for an impromptu tea.

I used what was to hand and looked through Anna Jones’s ‘A Modern Way to Eat’. My banana bread owes homage to hers.

To make one small loaf:

125g plain flour

100g ground almonds

125g light brown caster sugar

50g poppy seeds

A pinch of salt

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp ground cinnamon

2 eggs

2 tbsp natural yoghurt (or plain soya yoghurt)

Zest and juice of i lemon

2 bananas

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp treacle (I used Madeiran treacle but honey or maple could be substituted)

Icing:

1 tbsp tahini paste

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tbsp icing sugar

Mix all the dry ingredients in a large basin. Blend all the liquid ingredients and then add the bananas and blend briefly,  keeping the bananas in small chunks.

Gradually add the liquid ingredients to the dry and mix lightly to combine. Spoon into a greased and lined loaf tin and bake at 180°C for about 35 minutes or until the bread is firm to the touch.

To make the icing combine the tahini paste with the icing sugar and enough lemon juice to the consistency of icing you require.