Bread Pudding for Nenek's Kenduri

This will be the last kenduri arwah for the year before the coming Ramadhan. This time it's at "B's" grandma's. Just a small gathering within "B's" family on his Mama'a side. Of course I made somethings to bring along. Kenduri was to start after maghrib (after dusk) thus I had plenty of time beforehand. I brough along Bread Pudding and Sujee. Sujee's me Papa's favourite and I had a french loaf in the fridge and why not make Bread Pudding out of it aites! Besides, the flour's at home had depleted to less than a cup full so... no baking of any cakes lah...

This time, I didn't scoured the internet for the Bread Pudding recipe but instead went through "Perempuan" magazines (made in Malaysia mags from me grandma) and found a rather easy to follow recipe. BINGO! So, after washing all the 2 weeks overdued baju-baja (laundries) and also my quilt, pillow cases, comforter and mattress protector, I set out for to bake my kueh. "B" as usual was already glued to his PC and whatnots gadgetries. I understand that there's already an 'invinsible' NO DISTURB sign in neon lighting at his door eventhough it's open wide. That's my "B" folks!

Ok... forget about "B" there. After I had all my laundries into the washer, I laid all the ingredients out. It took no more than an hour to do both the Bread Pudding as well as the Sujee. By 3.30pm I was enjoying my cup of chrysenthemum tea with the Bread Pudding cooling down , the Sujee packed in mini containers and the laundries out to dry. It was a sunny Sunday . I love you Mr Sun! I knew by the end of the evening, my laundries are gonna be crisp and dry and smell fresh. By 5pm, we set out for Mama-B's. See... no rush. I like!!! I had planned to drop by Phoon Huat to buy some bottles and assorted nuts for Hari Raya but it had for the day. Every Sunday it's open from 0900-1700. Jeeesh...! Ok, gotta forgo that.

Overall, the Kenduri was fine. Had Nasi Ambeng for the feast and it was good eventhough catered. Minus points went to the bergedel (potato patties). Nowadays, I seemed to see a lot of bergedels made from instant potato flour rather than pounding from real potatoes. The taste off and dry. No kick. Apart from that the sambal belachan was blended rather than pounded. I reckon for easy and fast method. Sigh... the means of technologies! Still, the whole meal was delicious to say. We even had some food packed home. Usually, I'd get the food packed in disposable containers but if it's at my Mama's, food are usually packed in metal tiffin carrier. Uber cool...! Since there's only 2 of us, we had the small tiffin carrier. "Kawaii...!" And of course, I can't resist a pic of it. In case there aren't any left for the next generation to see huh.

Ingredients for Bread Pudding
1 large french loaf
2.5 cups whole milk
2 cups evaporated milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup white choc chips (opt)
If don't have white choc chips, you can make do with 1 cup white sugar
a pinch of salt
vanilla essence
1 cup raisins
Method
Tear the french loaf into small pieces. Place the pieces in a large bowl. Pour in whole milk and let it soak for a while. In another bowl, beat eggs and sugar till rise. Then add in evaporated milk, salt and vanilla essence and mix well. Add in white choc chips and raisins. Pour the egg mixture into the bowl of bread and mix till all bread are soaked in. Prepare and grease a 9-inch baking tray and pour in the bread mixture. Bake at 120'C between 30-45 minutes or till when you insert a skewer and it comes out clean. Put a side and let to cool before cutting. I dusted icing sugar for presentation.

I don't have the exact measurements for this recipe as I poured more milk when the mixture got too thick and added in more sujee when it got too thin. But what is important IS that you should keep on stirring on a low fire and be really patient. In the end, I reckon I used half a litre of UHT whole milk and 200g sujee and 1 cup brown sugar. Still, I each time when I do this, I'd come up with a different measurement altogether. Besides, some may like a thick paste sujee and some like a thinner paste. To each his own. You decide!

Ingredients for Sujee
Samolina
UHT whole cream milk
brown or white sugar
grated cinnamon stick
grated nutmeg
Decorations - raisins, cashew nuts, sunflower seeds and spiced honey.
Spiced Honey - Dilute honey with a witsy-bit of hot water. Add in star anise, cardamom and cinnamon stick. Let it soak for a while and drizzle on top of the sujee. Optional though. Here's another Sujee recipe I made earlier.