Things you can do with old bananas!

Loan’s Banana Bread Pudding

Serves 6

1 kg Banana

1 Loaf of sandwich Bread                               Crust cut off

1 cup Sugar

1 Tin of Coconut Milk (400ml)

4 tblspn Melted Butter (unsalted)

3 Eggs

1 tspn Vanilla

4 tblspn Dark Rum

2 tblspn Plain Flour

Method

1. Pre heat oven at 170 degrees Celcius
2. Slice bananas diagonally, 2mm thick then sprinkle with half of the sugar and half of the rum.  After its been soaked for about half an hours, divide the total amount of bananas in half.
3. In a bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the flour, coconut milk and remaining half of the sugar and rum, vanilla and half the butter.
4. Soak the bread in the coconut mixture then mix half of the rum soaked banana through.
5. Butter a baking dish with the remaining melted butter.  Layer coconut soaked bread in the dish, followed by rum soaked bananas then bread and so on, finishing with a banana layer evenly across the top.
6. Cover with foil and bake for one hour.
7. Check for doneness using a wooden skewer. Poke the pudding with the skewer and if the skewer is dry, it means it’s done.
8. Best served warm with vanilla ice cream.

There are not a lot of desserts that I like to eat, I’m not a sweet tooth at all but one of my chefs, who has become like a second mother to me, taught me how to make this very simple and tasty banana bread pudding.  This recipe is so clever and extremely easy and the result is a steamy, moist pudding.  You can use up seconds really, day old bread and bananas that are close to being tossed in the bin.  It’s similar to the French bread and butter pudding but with a twist; in essence it’s using the same theory.  Give it a try and I’ll bet you that it won’t be the last time you cook this little gem of a dessert.  Serve it warm with vanilla ice cream or pack it in your lunch box for the next day, it makes a great substitute for banana bread.

Photo by Jun Pan