Banh Chuoi Nuong

(Vietnamese Baked Banana Bread/Pudding)

Growing up Mom always made this with left over bread and overly ripe bananas. I love it. I remember eating it for breakfast the big morning of the Whittier earthquake and how everybody was upset the food tank almost fell on mom but I was upset I lost my banh chuoi during the quake. LOL. (Selfish, fat kid...)

I have a lot of ripe bananas and we bought a bag of day-old bread at Lee's Sandwich for 50 cents. I called Mom and she told me how to do it over the phone. So of course, there are no measurements.

Ingredients:

• Day old French bread
• Milk
• Sugar
• Bananas, sliced length wise
• Butter

Directions:

1. Break the bread into small pieces (1/2 inch cubes or pieces)
2. Mix milk and very little sugar (since bananas are sweet) into the bread in a large bowl. Bread should be soaked with milk mixture.
3. Butter a pan and put a layer of the bread mixture in.
4. Layer bananas next. Sprinkle with sugar to caramelize.
5. Put a thin layer of bread on top of the banana later.
6. Lastly, pour melted butter over the top. Sprinkle with a little more sugar.
7. Bake at 350 degree for an hour.

Notes:

• Don't use too much milk and the cooking time should decrease. Just enough to soften the bread.
• Use salted butter