As with my previous post, I’d like to start this one off by providing a bit of context around my inclusion of a “Food” category on this blog.

I chose this category in part because my mom has always been an amazing cook and there are many recipes of hers that are so yummy that they should be shared. Perhaps we might consider them “lessons” that everyone’s palates and stomachs can benefit from 🙂 But more importantly, cooking for the family was — similar to what I discussed in the Vines on the Wall post — a way of my mom showing her love for us, and that’s really the significance behind this section.

My mom has never been particularly passionate about cooking, but it did mean so much to her to cook for the family and ensure we were well taken of. She always appreciated feedback on her cooking, be it good or bad, because she wanted for us to enjoy it and feedback helped her to know how she could better achieve this, or if she had achieved this (yes, always yes).

Recently I too have taken up cooking for the family, and I can now uniquely appreciate how my mom would have felt in expressing love to our family through her cooking. Like her, I’m finding that I don’t necessarily have a deep love for cooking itself, but it is deeply gratifying to provide for and take care of the family through cooking for them. I feel so privileged to be able to do this now on my mom’s behalf. I also have an even greater appreciation of my mom’s cooking in understanding the deep love that it represented.

Unfortunately I never really asked my mom to teach me how to cook — I always figured I could learn from her down the line, when it became a necessity. And my mom has never been one to use many written recipes — no, she’s far too creative and experimental for this. Even though cooking has never been a passion of hers, she certainly has always had a flair for it as well as the natural instinct of a great chef.

But because I didn’t have her teach me, and because she seldom used written recipes, it’s been a interesting challenge for me to try to learn how to cook her style of food. It’s been meaningful to me to try to cook she dishes she did, and to try to get them as close in flavor as possible. And even though I didn’t learn many specific recipes from her, I have realized that I’ve unconsciously picked up a lot of cooking habits and practices from her over the years, which has been a strong foundation on which to start.

So: please note that as I share recipes in this section going forward, most will be my take on my mom’s recipes, and many are still a work in progress. (Fear not though, I promise everything is edible.)

All this said, the first recipe I’d like to share is one of the very few that my mom did in fact copy down many years ago — and that recipe is for banana bread.

Banana bread is something that my mom used to make when I was younger, and then in my early teens she showed me how to make it and I took over. It’s a snack that she, Nikhil, and I always enjoyed together (my dad and Sanam were not fans). I can remember at least one instance of me making it, then coming up to my parents’ room and giving my mom a piece in bed, because I had baked it late in the evening and she and my dad were already sitting in bed. It’s one of those special foods that brought us together, because we would so enjoy sharing it with each other and taking in the wonderful aroma it spread into the house.

It’s a simple recipe, but a really nice one and one that is dear to my heart. I’ve included it below, along with step-by-step photos (again courtesy of my star photographer, Kayla). Feel free to give it a try if you’re interested — I assure you it won’t disappoint.

Ingredients

1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ cup sour cream or yogurt (depending on how healthy you want to be; I usually use yogurt and the taste is just as great)
2-3 ripe bananas
1 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Melt butter until soft; cream together sugar and melted butter with spoon.

   

3. Add eggs, baking soda, and sour cream/yogurt; stir into mixture.

   

4. Using fork, mash bananas until soft.

   

5. Add bananas to mixture along with flour and vanilla. Stir well so no large lumps remain.

   

6. Grease loaf pan (or suitable pan). Spoon mixture into pan; spread evenly.

   

7. Bake for 50-55 minutes, until golden brown. Note: If you used three bananas, you may have to cook for a few minutes longer.

   

8. Yum yum — time to enjoy!