Mango and Pan de Sal Bread Pudding

I’ve wasted a lot of food in my lifetime.

As a kid, I would randomly open our refrigerator door, take out an egg, toss it at my little brother and yell, “Catch!!!”  He sucks at catching.  Good times.

There was that time in college where I was dared to drink a gallon of milk in less than an hour (yes, I was THAT guy).  I was able to drink the milk, but let’s just say it wasn’t in me for very long.

There were also a few half glasses of beer that I’ve had to leave behind at the bar. Mind you, I’ve never left a beer behind that I didn’t want to, or couldn’t, finish.  But there just always seems to be that one person in your group who just can’t let a man finish his beer at his own pace and has to leave the bar right that second.  I must befriend more patient designated drivers, or live within stumbling distance to a decent watering hole.

And from the time I was able to ingest solid foods until right this second, I’ve probably thrown away a metric ton of rice—much to my mother’s chagrin.  Even though my mom now lives a couple of hours away from me, I’m sure that whenever I scrape the uneaten rice off of my plate and into the trashcan she can feel it in her soul.  She then turns to my father and says, “I felt a great disturbance in the Force… as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.”  At least that’s how I picture it.

Anyways, all of this wastefulness was weighing on my mind when I was about to toss some stale Pan de Sal into the trash.  But then I didn’t want my mother to randomly keel over from another Force disturbance (or as she would say, Porce disstuurrrbance).  So I decided to hold onto the Pan de Sal and put it to further use in a bread pudding.  You read that right.  Bread pudding.

Pan de Sal is a traditional Filipino bread roll that, despite its name, is not salty at all.  You can find Pan de Sal at the Asian grocery store, your neighborhood Goldilocks, or any other Filipino bakery.

Pan de sal can be eaten anyway and any time you want, but my family usually eats it warm at breakfast time with a little butter inside or even some jelly.  And like any kind of bread, Pan de Sal can get stale if it isn’t eaten after a few days.  But there is no need to throw out your stale Pan de Sal.  Just cube it up and use it in your favorite bread pudding recipe.

There are a million and one recipes for bread pudding.  But the recipe I stole borrowed the most from was Elise's Bread Pudding Recipe.  Of course, I made a few changes here and there.  I have to say, I was pleased as pudding (HA!) with the results as my creation turned out to be creamy and custardy but not too sweet.

The recipe I concocted also makes use of rum-soaked dried mangoes in place of the raisins that are usually found in a traditional bread pudding (I hate raisins).  I just took some kitchen shears to the dried mango strips and cut them into little chunks before soaking them in rum overnight. If you can find them, use unsulfured dried mangoes.  And for an extra Pinoy touch, you can use Tanduay Rum for the soaking, but any rum will do.

Oh, and one last thing.  I used a vanilla bean in my recipe and in keeping with the “waste not want not” theme of this here post, I didn’t throw away the bean after I scraped the “seeds” out and soaked them in cream.  I just rinsed the used bean halves off, dried them on some paper towels, and stuck them in a small canister of sugar.  After a few days, the pods infuse the sugar with awesome vanilla-ness.  I usually use the vanilla sugar in my coffee, but it can be used in any recipe calling for regular sugar.

What’s up with it, Vanilla face?

Anyhoo, here is the recipe for my bread pudding.  It's very easy to make and will infuse your crib with an oh so glorious aroma.  It's best served right out of the oven, but it's also damn good the next day after a spin in the microwave.

Mango and Pan de Sal Bread Pudding

1 cup dried mango slices, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup dark rum
8 Pan de Sal rolls, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 8-9 cups)
1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
1 cup heavy cream
3 cups whole milk
4 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, plus more to taste

In a small bowl, combine the dried mango pieces and rum. Cover and let sit overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking pan and place Pan de Sal in the pan. Set aside.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the heavy cream with 1 cup of the milk.  Using a paring knife, scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the cream and milk mixture and add the bean pod as well. Stir to combine.  Heat until the mixture just begins to bubble, then remove from heat, cover, and let steep for 30 minutes.

After the vanilla mixture has steeped for 30 minutes, fish out the split vanilla bean.  Rinse and dry the vanilla bean and save for another use.

In a large bowl, combine the cream, milk, and vanilla mixture with the remaining 2 cups of milk, the eggs, sugar, nutmeg, and the mangoes and rum.  Whisk well to combine.  Pour the liquid mixture into the baking pan with the cubed Pan de Sal, making sure the mango pieces are evenly distributed.  Let this sit for 30 minutes, pressing down on the bread every few minutes.

Place the baking pan into the oven and let bake for 45-60 minutes.  The mixture will puff a bit and the edges will brown when the pudding is done.  Serve immediately with a dusting of powdered sugar if that's how you roll.

Stay tuned next week for a special Thanksgiving post that will be “stuffed” with more Pan de Sal.  Stuffed?  Hmmmmm…

Comments

[desie the maybahay]

what is it with Filipino Mums and throwing out rice?
i am an adult with two kids myself and i still can't look Mum in the eyes when i've thrown out food.

great idea for stale pan de sal. my English hubby would love this fusion of Filo and Brit for dessert:-)

[Jen Tan]

What a great recipe!!! =) Looks absolutely delish!

[Manggy]

That is excellent! Honestly, using only pan de sal for pudding never occurred to me. Maybe because we've never had all 8 rolls go stale :)

My favorite filling would be condensed milk. Because I am sick.

[Mila]

Yum! if you have leftover ensymada, it makes for a good substitute too.

Looking forward to seeing your recipe for pan de sal stuffing next week.

[oggi]

Dried mangoes and rum, that's brilliant! I'll make this soon, the hubby loves bread pudding AND rum.:D

[Julie]

Dang that looks good!!!!!! I haven't had pan de sal in many, many years! I may have to amend that during my Thanksgiving trip back to Cali. I think fresh mangos would work, too.

Right on with no wasting! Filipino moms everywhere are proud. Mine wouldn't let me waste. Leftovers become the next meal, and so on until it was all gone.

The vanilla face cracks me up.

[Julie]

Oh yeah! And the pan de sal--you can freeze it and just pull out a bun to thaw as needed. And do you really have to rinse the vanilla bean for the sugar? I've just thrown them in before. Eep!

[Katrina]

Great idea, as usual! I was wondering at first why your mangoes looked like that, till I learned they were dried mangoes. I agree with Julie -- fresh mangoes would also be delish. sort of like a cross between bread pudding and Crepe Samurai. Oh, and I think Christine of GypsySoul has a bread pudding recipe that uses mango jam. :-)

[Aimee]

I'm always up for bread pudding--and with rum-soaked mango? I'm in!

[TeddyKim]

A Star Wars and Borat reference in the same post? Excellent! Me and my homie Azamat just parked our slab outside.

btw, another great and delicious looking idea!

[Ed]

Well, maybe your mom isn't so crazy about the voices when you throw rice away :) - there's a Japanese belief that each grain of rice contains not one, but seven gods.

I read this in T. Corson's _The Zen of Fish_ - you should read this, if you haven't had the chance to yet.

[brilynn]

I'm still picturing a kitchen, (or your brother) covered in egg... ha!

I'm generally not a fan of bread pudding, but there are a few of them that I've admitted aren't half bad. My leftover bread generally goes to the birds.

[elmomonster]

Awesome lead-in. Almost had me choke on my drink. Especially this part:

"Porce disstuurrrbance"

[Pat]

I love mangoes and I love bread pudding! Always brings back memories of the time my hubby stuffed himself with Tuscan bread stew (he had two huge helpings), and two desserts--spotted dick (don't laugh, it's a genuine English dessert) and chocolate bread pudding. He couldn't go to bed till like 3 in the morning because he was so full!

[Just a Plane Ride Away]

Nice recipe--and living in the land of "Puds", we've tried some good ones here!

[Christine]

Ohh that looks good! And I love the idea of using stale pan de sal. This is a recipe similar to one I love and even featured on my site, it's my friend's moms and like yours there's mango in it but in the form of mango jam. Aside from adding wonderful flavor, tt helps to keep the pudding moist. And aww, vanilla face is too cute. :)

[dhanggit]

you never fail to amaze me Mr. Burnt Lumpia, you could be miles away from Philippines but your gourmet creation have always that "pinoy touch"..really admirable!!without insisting too much of course that this mango pudding pandesal looks stunningly delicious! with a hot salabat its perfect!! yummy

[Cynthia]

Your bread pudding looks moist and light, I bet it's the bread and oh yeah, your expert touch :)

Looking forward to the Thanksgiving post.

[jun.anteola]

the vanilla sugar is a lovely idea! thanks for sharing.

[Janice]

STUFFED?!
stuffing is EVIL!

hmm...now i know what to do with all my dad's leftover homemade pan de sal. he bought an industrial-sized mixer just for pan de sal! crazy, isn't it?

[veron]

Oh, yeh ,I've heard the wastefulness sermon before especially from my grandmother. But hey, anything with mango is sheer heaven! Great save with that pandesal!

[Burnt Lumpia]

Hi Desie. I don't know what it is either, but maybe it's because our mothers didn't have much when growing up.

Thanks Jen!

Hi Manggy, I actually had a bag of 12 rolls, so we ate 4 of them;)

Mila, ensaymada for bread pudding is an excellent idea! But although I would let pan de sal go stale, I don't see myself doing that with ensaymada--I would eat them all!

Oggi, the rum does a great job of softening the dried mangoes. It's a great combo!

Hi Julie. No matter what I do, I don't think my mother is very impressed;) And I rinse my vanilla bean because I'm paranoid that the milk on it would go rancid.

Hello Katrina. Yes, fresh mango would work, but I like the texture of the rum-soaked mangoes. They aren't mushy and are a nice contrast to the bread.

Aimee, thanks so much for visiting my blog!

Thanks TK! Very niiice!

Very interesting tidbit, Ed. I will have to take a look at that book. Thanks!

Hi Brilynn. My mother and brother were never very pleased with my egg tossing shenanigans.

Thanks por the compliment, Elmo;)

Spotted dick, Pat? Awesome.

Thanks Plane Ride! I'm glad my "Pud" looks good to you:)

Hi Christine. I googled your recipe and finally found it. It looks delicious!

Thanks very much, Dhanggit!

Thanks Cynthia, but I am far from being an expert;)

Hello Jun. Yes, vanilla sugar is a very easy thing to make and always nice to have on hand.

Spoken like a true GE fan Janice:)

Hi Veron. As annoying as it was to hear growing up, I'm glad I was taught not to waste.

[Coy]

Your site rocks, my man!

[lyssa]

its not tasty! my stomach hurts when i tasted it

it is a very stupid dish!

[camille c. samson]

its very ungreatfull dish
i think u must not try it
but thank u for the new taste ive tasted which is very yucky

[Burnt Lumpia]

Thank you very much, Coy! Visit often.

Lyssa and camille, I'm very sorry that you weren't pleased with my recipe, but not everyone enjoys bread pudding, so I take no offense to you calling my recipe "stupid" and "yucky". I appreciate your honesty. Everyone that I gave a taste to liked the flavors very much, though. And since the IP address from the both of you are one and the same, at least this terrible recipe was contained within one household;)

[Sophie]

We would like to feature this recipe on our blog. Please email [email protected] if interested. Thanks :)

[Anne Mendoza]

I just made this for my husband and he loves it! Do you mind if I post this recipe on my personal website? www.mendozamenagerie.com

[amancia]

i am going to try this soon, but wanted to ask......has anyone tried this in a different sized pan, like a bundt cake pan or something? i am half filipino and am trying to connect with that side thru the cooking (that mom never taught me!) and this is a fun place to help with that.