Spiced bread and butter pudding

You might think that

something as classic as
good old bread and butter
pudding cant be improved
on, but the addition of a few
aromatic spices and some
rich coconut milk
transforms this familiar dish
into something new and
wonderful.

Prep Time: Less than 30
mins
Cook Time: 10 to 30 mins
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients
4 egg yolks
400ml/14fl oz coconut milk
200ml/7fl oz milk
1 vanilla pod, split
1 tsp cardamom pods, seeds only
1 tsp ground cinnamon
100g/4oz muscovado sugar
8 white bread slices, crusts cut off
butter for spreading
50g/2oz demerara sugar
3 bananas
50g/2oz golden caster sugar
30g/1oz butter
1 orange, zest only
Instructions
1. Turn your oven on to 160C/300F/Gas 3 and butter an oven dish.
2. Begin by making the spiced custard. In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks together with the
coconut and normal milk. To this add the seeds scraped from a vanilla pod, the
cardamom seeds that have been ground in a mortar and pestle, cinnamon and
muscovado sugar. Whisk them altogether well and set aside while you tend to the bread.
3. Butter the slices and then cut them into triangles. I also prefer them crustless. Lay the
bread out in two overlapping lines and then pour over the fragrantly spiced custard. Put in
the oven for 30 minutes.
4. Meanwhile prepare the perfect banana accompaniment. Slice up the bananas and
caramelise them in a pan with the golden caster and butter. Just as they are becoming
sticky, grate over the zest of an orange.
5. Now check the bread pudding. It is ready to serve when you can notice a slight quiver in
the custard when shaken. Top with the bananas.