1 1/4 cups of spelt flour or plain flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of salt

120g roasted pecans

220 g pitted dates, roughly chopped

1 cup of castor sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup light olive oil

3 very large bananas - mashed

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

pumpkin seeds

1. Pre heat the oven to 180 deg C. Butter a large loaf tin and dust it with flour.

2. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and salt into a medium- sized bowl. Return the husks from the spelt flour to the mix once sifted. Add the roasted nuts and toss them about so they’re thoroughly coated in the flour mixture.

3. Put the sugar, eggs and oil into another bowl and whisk them together for 1-2 minutes or until they’re light and creamy. Add the mashed banana and vanilla extract and whisk them in for another 30 seconds or until the mixture is relatively smooth. (There will still lumps of banana in it).

4. Stir the dry ingredients into the banana mixture until they form a sloppy batter. Scrape this into the prepared tin and sprinkle some seeds on top.

5. Bake for about 1 hour or until the top of the loaf is springy and a fine skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool the loaf in the tin on a wire rack for 10 minutes, before turning it out onto the rack to cool completely.

6. Serve with a pot of Green Green Tea.