Banana Bread Pudding

Bread Pudding is well known in the English cuisine. Not so much "Banana" Bread Pudding but the concept is pretty much English! Traditionally Bread Pudding is accompanied with sour cream or toffee sauce. It goes well with honey, maple syrup or even ice cream.

Banana Bread Pudding

This is how I made mine. Inspiration to any banana bread pudding - browning bananas and stale bread. I am so lucky.. I had both the company of both this weekend :) Jokes apart, I guess Banana Bread may have emerged from the idea of avoiding food wastage and it is pretty excellent despite the deteriorating health of its prime two ingredients. This makes for a good breakfast meal or tea snack and would go well with a nice hot cup of tea.

There is a sense of satisfaction, in making this dish when you have slightly stale prime ingredients that almost always has no takers. This is what the wise mean by "Old is Gold". Caution: I think the Banana Bread Pudding can tickle your funny bone a lot in 4-6 hours after consumption :)

To make this delightful dessert/meal,

You need:

• 8 slices of a day old bread
• 3 large bananas (or in my case 2 large bananas and 3 plantains) Tip: use what you have available at home
• 1/4 cup cane sugar or 1/2 cup of honey (you can use regular sugar as well - in fact you can use half the quantity of sugar and half the quantity of honey as honey tastes good with bananas)
• 1 cup milk (of your choice)
• 2 tsp of powdered nutmeg
• 2 tsp of powdered cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I used cashewnuts)
• 1/2 cup of raisins
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips (optional)
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract or essence
• 1 tbsp rum (optional)
• Condiments (optional) - honey or maple syrup or sour cream or toffee sauce or ice cream, etc

Banana Bread Pudding just out of the oven

The make:

Cooking time: 30-35 minutes | Preparation time: 10 minutes | Serves 4 adults

1. Soak the bread in the milk and set aside for at least an hour. You can also leave it overnight.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar and/or honey and vanilla essence.
3. Top the bread mixture with the whisked egg mixture and add the powdered nutmeg and cinnamon and  mix well.
4. Next mash the bananas well and add it to the bread  mixture.
5. Add the chopped nuts and raisins.
6. Preheat the oven to 250◦C for at least 10 minutes. Grease a baking loaf tray or a pudding tray and carefully add the pudding mixture. Place an aluminium foil over the top to ensure even heat distribution (no need to tuck the foil at the sides of the tray)
7. Lower the heat to 200◦C and place the pudding tray in the center of the oven ensuring even heat. 
8. Allow to cook for at least 30 minutes. Use a skewer to check if the pudding is cooked well. 
9. Turn off the flame once cooked and allow the pudding tray to cool on the rack. 
10. Serve hot with your choice of condiments or as it is or with a hot cup of tea.

This makes for a nice dish on cold winter days. Enjoy! Bon Appetit!

 View from the side

Served up