Hello and welcome to Okra Pantry my lovely friends! Today, we are baking a very special traditional Liberian pastry and dessert. I grew up on this delicious rice bread and now baking it for my family as well. My kids enjoyed this treat and the aroma in the house from the bananas, ginger and nutmeg flavors coming from the hot oven is mouth-watering. If you have read my “about me” section at the beginning of this blog, then you will remember that I learnt to cook and bake everything from my wonderful mother, Ma Lucretia, so enjoy!
Liberian Rice Bread is a local favorite, a rice-based banana bread with a moist, dense crumb that tastes of the ripe fruit and fresh ginger. Many recipes for this bread take a shortcut by using either rice flour or rice cereal. But if you do not have a rice flour or rice cereal, you can do the following to prepare the rice for baking: soaked whole rice, then finely ground in a mortar and pestle or faster with a food processor so that the bread bakes up properly, it’s important that the rice is ground to a very fine, almost powdery texture.
Then the rice powder/cereal is blended with mashed bananas, ginger, nutmeg, eggs, milk, sugar and oil for a quick and easy snack. It is delicious straight out of the oven, and it stays nice and moist for up to a week. Liberian Rice Bread is often served with tea or coffee, and we enjoyed it as the starter course for our Liberian meals or celebrations.
Liberian Rice Bread
Ingredients
- 1 box cream of rice
- 4 ripe bananas
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 cup milk
- 2 eggs
- 1½ cups water
- 2 tbsp fresh ginger paste/ginger powder
- ¾ cup vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375° and start preparing ingredients
- In a mixing bowl, add cream of rice cereal, salt, nutmeg, sugar and baking soda, set aside.
- In a blender, puree ripe bananas, freshly peeled ginger, and add few drops of water to smooth out the mixture.
- Add banana & ginger mixture, eggs, milk, water, oil and vanilla extract to the bowl of dry ingredients.
- Using a hand mixer or blender, mix all ingredients together evenly.
- Grease baking pan with non-sticking cooking spray or butter, pour rice bread batter in pan and bake for 50-60 minutes
- Rice Bread is ready when it is golden brown and test with a toothpick (when it comes out dry, bread is done).
- Turn off oven and allow bread to cool for 10 minutes
- Served Liberian Rice Bread with warm milk or your favorite beverage!
Video
Notes
- Don’t use underripe bananas. The fruit provides much of the sweetness and flavor in this bread, so be sure the bananas are well-ripened.
- Don’t slice the bread until it has fully cooled
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?
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Very good
Thanks Jenkins!
What size box of cream of rice do you use? I want to be sure I use the correct amount.
Thanks!
Hello Ashley, thanks for visiting Okra Pantry. I used a 14oz box of cream of rice. Please let me know if you need more info.