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Profound Plantain Bread Muffins

These wheat-free, dairy-free, sugar-free and fat-free muffins are overflowing with gut-loving resistant starch.

Heck to ALL the yeahs!

Your gut bugs are going to love you for this!

These muffins are:

  • Light and fluffy
  • Soft (and foodgasm-inducing comforting)
  • Spongy (food-porn at it’s finest)
  • Vegan (hells to the yeah)
  • Full of colon-cell fuelling Resistant Starch (happy poo, happy you)
  • Dense in dietary fibre (did I mention happy poo, happy you?)
  • De-bloody-licious
  • The perfect vehicle for your fave nut butter (because ‘nut butter on life’ is my motto … so much so that I wrote a book about it!)
  • Easy to Make – and rises without sinking (Yasss!!!!)

The recipe is basically a nutritional, gastronomical miracle.

The main players:

  • Plaintain: Mr Banana’s chubby, starchy cousin (see image above – that is NOT a banana!) is full of resistant starch, a groovy nutritional innovation that resists digestion in the small intestine, instead travelling onward to our large intestine where it helps our colon cells on their quest to manufacture hero-worshipped dumps. Plantains are available at Asian Grocers where they are sold in their green state (the plantain shown above had been in my fruit bowl for several days). In a pinch, you can sub the 2 plantains for 2 slightly green bananas (or 2 cups of roughly chopped butternut pumpkin or sweet potato).
  • Green banana flour: exactly what it sounds like; green bananas (that are naturally floury and starchy) ground to a powder. It is a beaut binder here and offers a slightly sweet (non-banana) flavour. Banana flour is ALSO loaded with resistant starch. Happy poos for days.
  • Wheat-free oats: Wheat-free oats aren’t gluten-free (they contain a protein called avenin which is part of the gluten family) but are grown away from wheat fields and processed on seperate equipment to other gluten-containing grains to minimise cross-contamination. Not all coeliacs reacts poorly to avenin the way they do to gliadin (the gluten found in wheat), so for the lucky ones who tolerate avenin, wheat-free oats are a baker’s dream, providing a light, fluffy, reliable consistency and mildly sweet flavour every time. They’re also rich in glutamine (fuel for the cells which line our digestive tracts) and beta-glucan – a fibre that helps regulate cholesterol levels.

The side-line helpers:

  • Apple Cider Vinegar + Aluminium-free bi-carb soda: this snazzy combo fizz when combined and aerate the batter, helping it to develop it’s signature ‘light ‘n’ fluffy’ vibes.
  • Pink Salt: totally optional, but helps bring out the subtle sweetness from the starchy main ingredients.
  • Water: Adds moisture without fat – not that I am against fat (let me make that very, VERY clear!!!) – so that we can slather on the nut (think peanut, macadamia or hazelnut) or seed (think tahini or sunflower) butter, hummus, or smashed avo upon serving, without overwhelming our precious gallbladder with an OTT quantity of fatty acids in the one go.

Ways to enjoy these muffins at each meal:

  • Brekkie: Use as a ‘scone’ by cutting in half and spreading each round with a dollop of thick coconut milk yoghurt and top with a handful of seasonal fresh (or thawed frozen) berries (for ‘jam and cream’ vibes) or simply with your fave nut butter to mimic English muffins with peanut butter (one of my absolute fave breakfasts as a kid)
  • Lunch: Halve muffin/roll and spread each halve with a generous layer of tahini. Enjoy beside a bowl of steamed broccoli ‘dressed’ with mashed avo, cumin, turmeric, fennel seeds, black pepper and pink salt.
  • Dinner: Halve muffin/roll and spread each halve with a generous layer of macadamia butter. Serve on the side of this creamy pumpkin soup. Recipe is as follows: Simmer 1 1/2 cups de-seeded pumpkin cubes in 3/4 cup water until soft and blend (both cooked pumpkin and the cooking water) with 3/4 cup non-dairy milk. I like the taste of Pure Harvest CocoQuench (not sponsored) in this soup recipe.
  • Snack/Dessert: Halve muffin/roll and spread each halve with a generous layer of a paste made from blending cashews, pecans and coconut oil in the food processor until smooth and creamy.

Profound Plaintain Bread Muffins

Makes 6

2 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup banana flour

2 medium plantains (or 2 large green bananas), peeled and chopped

1 cup water

1 teaspoon aluminium-free bicarb soda

1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

Pinch pink salt (optional)

Preheat a fan-forced oven to 170 degrees. Line a muffin tin with 6 muffin cases. I use biodegradable ones made by ‘If You Care’.

Add oats, flour, plantains (or green bananas), water and salt (if using) to a food processor or powerful blender. Blitz on high until smooth and creamy. Transfer to a mixing bowl.

Add bicarb and pour vinegar on top. Allow the powder/vinegar to fizz together before folding through the batter.

Divide mixture among muffin cases and bake for 30 minutes or until they have risen and are cooked through (check and make sure a skewer inserted into the muffin’s centre comes out clean).

These babies last for 5 days in the fridge in an airtight container or can be frozen for up to 3 months. But they are better fresh.

Notes:

  • This versatile recipe is also delicious made with a 50:50 combination of oats and buckwheat groats (just omit 1 cup of the rolled oats for 1 cup buckwheat groats). Buckwheat (despite it’s misleading name) is a gluten-free pseudo-grain [a seed that behaves more like a grain] that is rich in protein and has a mildly sweet and nutty flavour.
  • You may need a little more water than the recipe specifies depending on how ‘thirsty; your oats are. If your batter feels overly dry, add an extra 1/4 cup or so of water to achieve a thick puree consistency.