After recovering from a bout with diarrhea last week, I had too much bananas left over. I didn’t know what to do with them. I can’t throw them away because that would be a waste. I can’t eat them because I am seriously sick of the taste. Then I thought making a dessert out of them would make them taste a little decent so I took out an old Yummy magazine with a recipe of banana cream pie. It seemed like an easy recipe. But being the lazy ass that I am, I decided I can make it even easier by using instant custard powder instead of making custard from scratch. 😛
It just so happened that I have a few boxes of Japanese pudding (purin) mixes on hand, which I got from Saizen some months ago. Purin are kind of like leche flan, which we Filipinos love dearly. But unlike the leche flan, purin mixes are readily available in boxes and sachet, which makes it really convenient for people with an insatiable sweet tooth (like me).
So, without further delay, let’s get cooking!
Cat’s banana caramal pudding pie
Ingredients:
Bananas, sliced into rounds – I used 2 Dole Cavendish bananas
1 cup Graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons brown sugar (lessen the amount if you like)
2-3 tablespoons melted butter
400 ml milk
1 box Caramel & Milk purin mix from Saizen – The one I got is from the brand House, but you can get any brand available. Just make sure the box says it makes 4 servings.
Procedure:
1. Prepare the crust by mixing the Graham crumbs, butter and brown sugar. Press into a pie plate.
2. Lay the sliced bananas on the crust and refrigerate while making the purin.
3. In a pan, combine the purin mix and 200ml milk over medium heat and dissolve well.
4. Once the mix has completely dissolved, turn the flame to low and heat for 1 minute.
5. Turn off heat, add the remaining 200ml of milk and stir to completely incorporate the milk.
6. Pour over bananas and crust and allow to cool in the refrigerator for an hour.
If you wish, you can garnish the pie with whipped cream and extra banana slices. For mine, I sprinkled almond slivers on top (just because I have them).
The result? Tasty! Not bad for an experiment. But it is practically fail-safe. 😀
Here are the variations I will try next time:
1. Instead of bananas, I think I am going to try this with peach and mangoes but I will use the purin mix that will hold its shape better (the one you can pop out from a pudding mold). This one has “nameraka” (meaning “soft”) on the box so this is meant to be poured in a nice pudding cup and eaten as is.
2. Try the suggested recipe on the box. After it hardens, scoop out the purin into a tall glass. Top with fresh fruits of your choice, then whipped cream and chocolate syrup. Garnish with mint leaves.
Enjoy! ^_^
