Banana and Coconut Bread and Butter Pudding

This modern twist on a classic pudding is based on a recipe card I picked up a while ago in Waitrose. The flavours of the coconut and banana in a rich custard are reminiscent of the desserts you can find in Thailand, where both of these ingredients feature heavily in both sweet and savoury cooking. It would be perfect as a hearty warming pudding on cold evenings, yet the lightness of the flavours make it a tasty treat for the summer months too.

It’s also a great way to use up leftover bread and past their best bananas.

You will need:

• 8 slices of sliced white bread (basics will be fine, and it doesn’t matter if it is stale as the custard makes the pudding soft and squidgy)
• Around 40g of margarine or softened butter
• 100g of demerara sugar
• 400ml can of coconut milk
• 200ml of milk (any type will work, skimmed, semi-skimmed or whole. The first time I made this I ran out of skimmed-milk so I topped up with soya milk, which worked brilliantly as well)
• 3 medium eggs
• 2-3 bananas (again these can be overripe, in fact if they are the pudding will be sweeter as the sugars will have developed)
• 50g desiccated coconut

What to do:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4.
2. Lightly butter (with the butter or margarine) each slice of bread, then cut each slice into two triangles.
3. Slice the bananas into thin slices.
4. Keep two tablespoons of the sugar to one side, then whisk the remaining sugar with the eggs until the mixture is foamy. Stir the coconut milk and other milk of your choice into the egg mixture. Whisk until all of the ingredients are blended.
5. Line the base of a large oven proof dish with a third of the bread slices. Top the bread with some of the banana slices. Repeat another two times.
6. Pour over the egg mixture and leave the pudding to soak for 10 minutes.
7. Scatter the remaining sugar and the coconut on top of the pudding. Bake in the oven for 40-45 until the custard has set and the top of the pudding has turned golden brown.
   
8. Leave it to cool for 10-20 minutes, then grab a spoon and a bowl, dish up a huge portion and tuck in.