Vietnamese coconut bread and butter pudding

“A classic banana cake from Saigon inspired this bread and butter pudding recipe. It's light and not overly sweet.” Luke Nguyen, Luke Nguyen's United Kingdom

Credit: Alan Benson

• serves

  4

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  45 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 8 slices of stale bread, crust removed
• 3 eggs
• 2 tbsp sweetened condensed milk
• 1 vanilla pod, beans removed
• 425 ml coconut milk
• 3 ripe sweet finger bananas, peeled and diced
• ¼ cup sliced almonds
• ¼ cup unsweetened coconut flakes, toasted)

Soaking time 15 minutes

Instructions

Preheat oven to 190ºC and butter a baking dish.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, condensed milk and vanilla bean together. Slowly pour in the coconut milk and mix all ingredients together.

Slice the bread into triangle pieces, and line a small baking dish with a layer of bread. Overlap the bread on an angle, rather than flat. Scatter some of the diced banana, then layer with more bread.

Pour ⅔ of the coconut mixture over the top layer of bread and let it sit for 15 minutes to soak up the milk.

Pour the rest of the coconut mixture. For a soft, traditional pudding, pour the remaining coconut over the bread to ensure it is fully submerged. If you prefer your pudding to have a toasty, golden finish, skip this step. Sprinkle the top with the sliced almonds. 

Place the dish in a roasting pan or larger ovenproof dish and add enough boiling water to the roasting pan to reach ⅔ up the side of the dish.

Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle with toasted coconut flakes.

Photography by Alan Benson. Styling by Michelle Noerianto. Food preparation by Nick Banbury.

Luke Nguyen's United Kingdom starts Thursday 14 May 2015 at 8pm on SBS ONE and finishes 2 July 2015. Visit the Luke Nguyen's United Kingdom website to catch-up on episodes online, scroll through recipes or find out more about the show.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.