Soul Food Dish of the Day: Southern Banana Pudding

In today’s episode, Chef Nancie is creating her rendition of a Southern banana pudding.. that, but a lot lighter! You can eat 2 bowls of it and you don’t even know you’ve eaten 2 bowls! It definitely melts in your mouth.

PREP TIME
7 hours
TOTAL TIME
7 hours 15 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 1/2 cups cold water
• 1 (3.4 oz.) box vanilla instant pudding mix
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 4 cups sliced barely ripe bananas,
• 1 (12 oz.) box Nilla Wafers

Additional items:
Colander
Plastic wrap

INSTRUCTIONS

• In a large bowl, beat together the sweetened condensed milk and water until well combined – about 1 minute. Add the pudding mix and beat well – about 2 minutes. Cover and refrigerate for 3-4 hours or overnight. It is very important to allow the proper amount of time for the pudding mixture to set. It will be watery if you don’t let it set up long enough.
• In a large bowl, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the whipped cream into the pudding mixture until no streaks of pudding remain.
  Dessert can either be made in individual portions or in a large glass bowl with 4-5 quart capacity (a 9×13 baking dish also works).
• To assemble dessert, arrange 1/3 of the Nilla wafers covering the bottom, overlapping if necessary. Next, layer 1/3 of the bananas, and 1/3 of the pudding mixture. Repeat twice more, garnishing with additional wafers or wafer crumbs on the top layer. Cover tightly and allow to chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours – or up to 8 hours, no longer (because bananas will start to brown)