Berrylicious Bread Pudding

Dear Aunty E (CO'78),
Are you feeling so so stressed out lately? Maybe it's because you lack vitamin C.
No, don't take any of those supplements or vitamins in pills. Try this special pudding I made for you. Make it part of your weekend project. You can invite all the other aunties and uncles too. Jangan tamak, eh!
Its vibrant purplish-reddish-pinkish colour will surely perk you up. It's also a great relief on very very hot and humid days, especially when served with ice cream.
But first, go to the nearest supermarket and gather your supplies in the battletank. Here's the list:

1 brioche or challah bread weighing 600-700grams (we used normal white bread, still turned out fine)
1 1/2 cups sugar (we used brown)
1/3 cup water
3x 250g punnets strawberries
500grams raspberries (frozen will do)
450grams blueberries (frozen will do too)

It's easy to get fresh berries here, especially in summer.

Now, back in the kitchen, start preparing and cooking.

1. Wash and hull strawberries reserving 3-4 whole ones for decoration and cut into halves or quarters if they’re those big, hulking ones. Poach these in the water and sugar in a medium saucepan until starting to become soft for about 5 minutes. Then add raspberries and blueberries just leaving a handful of blueberries for decorating and cook for 2 minutes or so. Set aside to cool.

I just love strawberries....they are so yummy....

The berries poaching in the pot.

2. Take a ceramic or glass dish – do not grease, the pudding will slide out. Slice the crusts off the bread and cut it into 1cm thick slices. We cut ours into squares to fit the oblong pyrex dish we used so that they sit snugly and flat. Ladle over some of the sauce making sure not to leave any white pieces of bread as this will not look very good. Ladle over some fruit and then repeat with the bread, syrup and fruit until the top of the dish is reached. Cover with cling wrap and then place a plate and 3 cans on top to weigh it down. Make room in the fridge for this and place it in the fridge overnight or for 6 hours.

Layering of the bread at bottom of dish.

Almost at top of dish. Cut bread accordingly.

Our dish has a cover so we didn't use cling wrap but we still put some bottles on top while pudding stays overnight in fridge. Oh, this recipe quantity is enough to get two puddings as our dish is of medium size (1.5-liter).

3. When ready to serve, and you want to unmould this around about when you want to serve it, run a thin knife around the edge of the pudding to help ease it out. Unmould it onto the serving plate carefully, it should slip out despite any nervousness.

4. Decorate with extra berries and a sprig of mint and serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Ta-daaaa.... that's how the pudding looks before it was demolished by glutton Brad. Sorry about the limp mint leaves.

Slurrrpppp....burp... purrr....meow!