Recipe for luxurious bread & butter pudding.

There are always opportunities to make bread & butter pudding in this household. Since it’s just the two of us, we almost always have more than half a loaf of near expiring bread in our kitchen.

Bread & butter pudding is easy to make and so delicious in spite of the minimal effort involved. I love it!

# – Luxurious bread & butter pudding.

I’ve posted a bread & butter pudding recipe before, but this is quite different. Like the title of this post, it’s a lot more luxurious and tastes rightly so ;)

The ingredients:

  • 300ml of milk
  • 1 vanilla pod (or 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence)
  • 40 grams of demerara sugar (or ordinary granulated sugar)
  • 8 slices of white bread
  • A handful of raisins
  • 50 grams of butter
  • 3 eggs
  • 150 ml of whipping cream
  • 3 tablespoon of apricot jam
  • A handful of sliced almonds
  • # – Throw in the sugar, vanilla seeds from as well its pod into a saucepan on medium heat. Pour the milk in.

    # – Stir until the mixture is almost boiling and the sugar has dissolved. Turn off the heat.

    # – Set the mixture aside to cool while you continue with other tasks.

    # – Cut the bread slices across into triangular shapes.

    # – Butter the bread. You can butter both front & back if you’re hardcore like that.

    # – Arrange the bread slices in a baking tin, like this.

    # – Then sprinkle a handful of raisins all over the bread slices.

    # – In the meantime, break the eggs into the whipping cream.

    # – Beat until combined.

    # – Then pour in the milk mixture prepared earlier into the egg mixture. Make sure the vanilla pod has been removed. Stir.

    # – Next, pour the mixture all over the bread. Set aside for 30 minutes to allow the bread to absorb all the milky, creamy goodness.

    # – Put the baking tin into a larger tin filled half way up with water and stick them into a preheated oven at 170 degrees celcius for 45 minutes or until set. You are essentially steaming and baking at the same time with this method.

    # – When done, brush apricot jam all over the crust to glaze.

    # – Then sprinkle a handful of almond slices all over the top.

    # – Stick it under the grill for 10 minutes to brown (top rack of oven, on grill mode).

    # – Luxurious bread & butter pudding, DONE!

    # – Serve with more whipping cream, ice cream or custard sauce.

    # – Yummy!

    Soft & creamy in the middle with a crispy, fruity crust. This recipe is enough for 4 but we hoovered everything up in a matter of minutes, just the two of us.

    What better way to make use of stale bread? Have fun baking!

    Recipe for Classic American Southern Creamed Chicken

    I have a recipe book called The Complete Southern Cookbook which I have been dying to use since I got it several months ago. I kept delaying its christening because we haven’t bought a deep fat fryer yet. I mean what’s the point of attempting any soul food if I don’t have no deep fat fryer!?

    But alas, our search for a deep fat fryer that’s not in puke beige plastic has not been successful. Couldn’t wait no more, so I poured through the book to find something that didn’t need deep frying. Classic Creamed Chicken. Perfect.

    # – Classic southern creamed chicken.

    The ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoon of butter
  • 1 can of button mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/4 cup of dry white wine
  • 500 grams of skinless chicken breasts, cut into large dice
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon of black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon of paprika
  • 1 can of cream of mushroom soup
  • 220 grams of sour cream (I substituted with yogurt though, healthier & cheaper :D)
  • # – First, open the can of cream of mushroom soup and pour into the sour cream (or yogurt in my case).

    # – Whisk until combined. Then, set aside.

    # – Melt the two tablespoon of butter in a large pan.

    # – Add the mushroom, onions and garlic into the butter and fry until fragrant.

    # – Pour in the diced chicken.

    # – Followed by the white wine.

    # – Add salt, black pepper and paprika. Stir well.

    # – Lastly, pour in the creamed of mushroom soup + yogurt mixture.

    # – Stir until combined and simmer for 5-6 minutes more.

    # – Classic southern creamed chicken, DONE! Serve with homemade cornbread or toasts if you want.

    Creamy, delicious and addictive. Definitely soul food! Will post up the recipe for homemade cornbread soon, it’s really easy to make and goes so well with the creamed chicken.

    Happy cooking!

    Thank you Future Music Festival Asia 2012!

    Future Music Festival Asia 2012 (FMFA2012) happened last Saturday. It was epic. By far, the best music festival I’ve ever been to in Malaysia. No competition.

    The sound system was amazing. The layout of stages was good. There were plenty of food, drinks and toilets. Having access to the VIP tent helped too (yay to air-conditioning).

    # – What I wore to FMFA2012. Bikini top from Koh Lipe, sheer sparkly top thrift-ed online, old shorts source unknown and trusty Converse.

    We wanted to go to FMFA2012 by hook and by crook primarily for Chase & Status, Pendulum and The Chemical Brothers. Most of all for Chase & Status.

    # – The hubs so happysauce!

    We arrived in time to catch Sneaky Sound System which was amazing.

    # – While waiting for Sneaky Sound System to set up, spotted this guy and his friends who had really cool back supports made out of paper.

    # – Sneaky Sound System hamming it up.

    The vocalist was powerful, entertaining and really into her performance. She was electric! Before FMFA2012, I had no idea who they are. They’ve made a new fan in me!

    After stalking them for a bit on Youtube, I also discovered they collaborated with Tiesto on one of his tracks in Kaleidescope which happens to be one of my favourites! Can’t believe I was totally unaware despite listening to the track almost every other day (#slowpoke).

    # – The video of the track. “I Will Be Here” by Tiesto and Sneaky Sound System.

    So happy that what I initially thought of as a filler performance ended being so awesome. Sneaky Sound System warmed us up nicely for Chase & Status.

    There was a bit of a conundrum at first. You see, Pendulum and Chase & Status were playing at the same time but at different stages (ya, FMFA2012 aiyo why the arrangement like that??).

    After a bit of thought, we chose to catch Chase & Status first because (1) Pendulum was playing for 2 hours, so by the time we finished with C&S we could still catch the 2nd half of Pendulum. (2) Chase & Status were playing live!!!! Like seriously, they had real drums for the drum in DnB!!!!!! And bass too WTF!

    And we were not disappointed at all. Not even remotely. Chase & Status blew my face away. I jumped and flailed my arms for a solid hour. Time, End Credits, Blind Faith, Let You Go and more were played. LOVED IT!!!

    # – Chase & Status. E P I C.

    They were epic. EPIC! I think back to the performance and still smile.

    # – Lost every semblance of grace at Chase & Status and loving it.

    After Chase & Status, we went to a different stage to catch Pendulum. It was PACKED!!

    As Chase & Status started pretty late, so we ended up only able to catch Pendulum’s finale. I mustered up the last of my strength to dance to “Watercolour” BECAUSE IT’S AWESOME.

    # – Video of “Watercolour” by Pendulum. Listen to it!

    # – Check out the sheer size of the crowd for Pendulum!

    # – Ah Lu, one of my bridesmaids <3

    After Pendulum, we checked out Tinie Tempah. Not so into him so we went to a quieter spot to sit our arses down, resting until The Chemical Brothers were up. Too old for this shit, NOT!

    # – With Sam. Aiyo, sweaty max :P

    # – My sparkly top made these stars on my leg.

    Finally, The Chemical Brothers played. But they were hidden behind a thick waft of smoke, great lights and didn’t even have their name on the stage? I was confused max. We couldn’t see them, all we saw was smoke & lights and the music was honestly err? and eh? for the first hour. We decided to bail then.

    That said, it was really okay. Honestly even if The Chemical Brothers were above average, I probably would not have energy to enjoy them. I gave my all at Chase & Status haha.

    All acts seemed to pale in comparison after C&S lol. I’m probably biased but that’s honestly how I felt.

    # – A lonely sad flamingo.

    Thank you Future Music Festival Asia 2012 for an incredibly amazing time. Please make this an annual thing. Please, please, please! My wishlist would be seeing The Prodigy and Skrillex next. And Chase & Status again PLEASE!