Chocolate, tahini and banana bread

I love the subtly rich smokiness of tahini. This, for me, is the perfect, not-too-sweet, darkly chocolatey banana bread.

MAKES 10 SLICES PREP 10 MINS COOK 50 MINS

✱ 250g (approx 2 medium) very ripe or overripe bananas (skin-on weight)

✱ 60ml olive or vegetable oil

✱ 50g tahini, at room temperature

✱ 1 large egg, at room temperature

✱ 50g caster sugar

✱ 35g soft dark brown sugar

✱ 1tsp vanilla extract

✱ 60g plain flour

✱ 25g cocoa

✱ ½tsp bicarbonate of soda

✱ ¼tsp fine sea salt

✱ 100g dark chocolate chips

✱ 1½tsp sesame seeds, to sprinkle on top

1 Heat the oven to 170C/gas 3. Put a paper liner into a 450g loaf tin.

2 Peel the bananas and, either by hand or using an electric mixer, mash the bananas, then beat in the oil and tahini. Next beat in the egg, then the sugars and vanilla.

3 Whisk or fork together the flour, cocoa, bicarb and salt and slowly beat into the batter. When you can no longer see any specks of white, fold in the chocolate chips with a bendy spatula and scrape the runny batter into the loaf tin and sprinkle over the sesame seeds.

4 Cook for 45–50 minutes until risen and firm to the touch, or until a cake tester comes out almost clean; some chocolate chips will make it a little sticky in parts. And don’t worry about the cracks on the top. Let it cool completely in its tin on a wire rack and once it’s cold, slip it out of the tin and wrap it in baking parchment, then foil, and leave it for a day before slicing and eating. I understand if this is too much to ask; I confess I don’t always manage to wait. Per serving: 223 cals, 12g fat

(3g saturated), 24g carbohydrates

Cook, Eat, Repeat by Nigella Lawson is out now (£26, Chatto & Windus). Photography ©Jonathan Lovekin 2020