Savoury Bread Pudding Casserole

Chopped red chilies and red peppers add some 'oomph'
to an otherwise blah bread pudding casserole.
Photo: SG

Although I consider myself somewhat of a 'rice person', on some days it is simply too hot to eat rice, curry and Indian-style vegetable dishes. All I want is lots of water to drink and salads at every meal. Today was especially hot, so my mum took over lunch- we had multi-grain rice, with steamed spinach and sesame tofu as side dishes. And since it was my turn to cook dinner, I took the easy route: a one-dish meal.
Not the easiest, since it took two hours to prepare (one hour just for baking), but I liked that it was not messy and didn't involve spicy or 'heaty' foods.

The original recipe is from the Vegetarian Times, here's my take on it:



Savoury Bread Pudding Casserole (Serves 3-4)

Ingredients:

Half a stale baguette (cubed)

1 tbsp olive oil (for greasing dish)

4 medium-sized eggs (I only used 3 egg yolks)

1 3/4 cups milk 

1/2 tsp salt 

2 cups of spinach, steamed and chopped fine

1 cup of chopped soy sausages

1 large red pepper, chopped

1/2 red onion, chopped

1 red chilli, chopped (remove the seeds if you like)

2 cups of shredded vegetarian cheddar cheese

Black pepper to taste

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175 degree Celsius. Lightly oil bottom and sides of a 9x13 casserole dish.

2. Saute the onions, chili and sausages until the onions and chili are soft and the sausages cooked. Set aside.

2. Beat eggs until fluffy. Add milk, salt and pepper (I used just a pinch) and mix well.

3. Pour 1/2 of milk-egg mixture into dish, add 1/2 the amount of bread cubes and press them gently into the mixture.

4. Layer in 1/2 of the spinach, red pepper, cooked sausages, onions and chili. Sprinkle with 1 cup cheese.

5. Put in remaining bread cubes. Cover with the remaining vegetables and sausages.

6. Pour the last of the egg-milk mixture on top, soaking the bread and other ingredients.

7. Sprinkle on the last 1 cup of cheese on top.

8. Bake for 60-65 minutes. When done remove the dish from the oven, then let it cool for about 10 minutes before serving.