Mango Quick Bread

Here is a recipe derived from the book Sweet Hands Island Cooking from Trinidad and Tobago, by Ramin Ganeshram.  I made this bread this morning, although truthfully, I flubbed it a bit, left some out, and it still came out much better than I expected.  It's a really fun alternative to banana bread that is quick and easy to throw together.

This is the version of mango bread I made:                     Here is the official book version:

Ingredients                                                                    Ingredients
1 large ripe mango                                                        1 large ripe mango
1 t lemon juice                                                              1 t. fresh lime juice
1 t mango juice                                                             1 t water
2 C flour                                                                       2 C flour
3/4 C sugar                                                                  3/4 C sugar
1 T baking powder                                                        1 T baking powder
1/4 t cinnamon                                                              1/4 t cinnamon
1/8 t nutmeg                                                                 1/8 t nutmeg
1/2 t salt                                                                       1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking soda                                                          1/2 t baking soda
1 egg                                                                            1 egg
2 t oil                                                                            2 T canola oil
                                                                                    1 C (3 oz) chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Grease 9 X 5 loaf pan.
Puree the mango, with lime juice and water.
Move to large bowl, blend in egg and oil.
In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking soda and powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg, and sugar.
Add dry mixture to wet mixture in large bowl. Stir/blend just until combined.
Stir in nuts.
Spread into pan and bake for 40 minutes.

Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove to finished cooling.

Makes one loaf.

Notes on my version:
The changes I made to this recipe were to omit the nuts--seems like a whole cup would be far too many for this loaf of bread.  Used mango juice (had on hand to make popsicles) instead of water, used lemon juice instead of lime (had on hand), and reduced the oil.  I also didn't bother to puree the mango, just sliced it and chopped it small, then took the hand mixer to it.






I made a mistake when mixing this bread together.  I forgot to add the oil until the very end, oops, it wasn't easy to incorporate, but I did my best (actually I didn't try very hard).  The dough was thick and difficult to spread, I was very skeptical.  I had intended to add some coconut in place of the nuts for fun texture, but didn't want to use the coconut on a loaf that would end up a flop.  Next time I will use some coconut, because this bread came out great!

The crust was soft, the bread was dense, like a banana bread but the great mango flavor does come through nicely with just a hint of spice in the background.  A very nice change of pace!  Surprising considering how I flubbed the recipe...