KUALA LUMPUR, June 20 -- Some recipes seem to come with conditions attached.

You know the sort. Only organic, free-range eggs. Mangoes that yield exactly the right amount when pressed gently with a thumb. The bananas must be blackened, their skins freckled beyond recognition.

Sometimes these instructions are useful. More often, they become reasons to postpone cooking altogether.

Trust me, I have been there.

Last weekend, I found myself craving banana bread. Not tomorrow, not after a few more days of waiting. I wanted banana bread that afternoon.

The problem was that my bananas were merely ripe.

Bright yellow. Sweet enough. Ready to eat.

But not the dramatically overripe specimens that most banana bread recipes insist upon.

For a m...