Beth Morey, Writer + Artist

I love muffins. But then, you already knew that. All the same, I enjoy a good muffin and am hard-pressed to turn them down. I also enjoy coming up with new and interesting muffin concoctions in the kitchen.

So the other night, as sleep eluded me, my mind naturally wandered to the muffin conundrum at hand. I had two old bananas that were quickly fading from usefulness, even for baking purposes. I needed to make a pre-digestion home for them -- but in what form? In what combination?

And then it hit me. Raisins go well with bananas...and they also taste good with curry powder. Why not try a more spiced muffin? I was very excited and put my idea to the test the next day, adapting a recipe for multigrain muffins from the Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home cookbook.

Indian Banana Muffins

2 egg whites, lightly beaten
1/4 cup applesauce
1 cup lowfat soy milk
1/2 cup oats (you can also use quick-cooking oats, but I prefer whole oats)

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

1 mashed super-ripe banana
1/2 cup raisins
1 tsp Indian curry powder (add more curry powder for a stronger spicy tang)
pinch of cinnamon


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Stir the dry ingredients together. (Leave the banana, raisins, curry, and cinnamon for later.) In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Mix well. Combine the two bowls and stir. As the batter smooths, mix in the banana, followed by the raisins, curry powder, and cinnamon. Stir until smooth. Scoop the batter into a greased muffin tin (I used canola oil cooking spray). Bake for 20 minutes, adding approximately 5 minutes if you are using a six-muffin tin. The muffins should be tall and golden, and a fork stabbed into a sacrificial muffin should come out mostly clean (it will probably have a bit of "gook" on it from the banana). Cool and remove muffins. Makes 6-12 muffins, depending on your tin of choice. Devour while warm!

Nutritional content per muffin from the original Moosewood recipe (not my adaptation!): 146 cal., 5.8 g protein, 18 g carb., 171 mg sodium, 18 mg cholesterol.