Homemade Banana Pudding from scratch

Banana milk

1. Place the milk in a saucepan. Slice the bananas into the milk.
2. Heat the milk and banana mix over medium heat, stirring occasionally to prevent the milk from burning.
3. Heat until the milk starts to steam or simmer. Do not let it come to a full boil.
4. Remove the milk from the heat and let it cool down slightly.
5. Transfer to the fridge and let the bananas infuse the milk for at least 4 hours, or up to 12 hours.
6. Strain the banana milk mixture, without pressing the banana pieces through the sieve. You only want the milk portion. To make sure you get all the milk, allow the strainer to sit over the milk for awhile to drain all of the milk. You should get 2 ½ cups of milk. If not, just top it with some milk to get 2 ½ cups.

Banana pastry cream

1. Place the 2 ½ cups banana milk in a saucepan. Heat until the milk mixture is steaming.
2. While the milk is heating, place the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, salt, cornstarch, and vanilla in a bowl. Whisk until you have a smooth mixture.
3. When the milk is heated, pour about 1 cup of the hot milk in a thin stream into the egg mixture, while constantly whisking the egg mixture. This is to temper the eggs.
4. The tempered egg mixture should now be at least warm. Gently pour it back into the remaining hot milk mixture in the saucepan while whisking the milk mixture constantly.
5. Return the banana milk custard mix back to the stove, and cook over medium or medium-low heat until thickened. Make sure to whisk frequently to prevent curdling, but also check if the mixture is coming to a boil.
6. When the mixture comes to a boil (bubbles break the surface), lower the heat of the stove and whisk for a further minute.
7. Remove the custard base from the heat and add the butter. Whisk it in until the butter is emulsified.
8. Place the custard in a bowl (or shallow dish) and cover the custard with plastic wrap. Make sure to press the plastic wrap onto the surface of the custard and cover the whole surface to prevent a skin from forming on top.
9. Allow the custard to chill in the fridge. A large, shallow dish will chill the pastry cream faster. This can take 4 hours (depending on the dish), or up to 8 hours.
10. Once the custard is chilled, remove it from the fridge and whisk it until smooth. Now the custard is ready to be mixed with the whipped cream.

Banana diplomat cream (pudding base)

1. When the custard is chilled, make the stabilized whipped cream.
2. Place the chilled whipping cream (heavy cream) in a chilled metal bowl (of your mixer).
3. Place the water in a small microwaveable bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin and stir it in. Allow the gelatin to bloom in the water for about 10 minutes.
4. Microwave the bloomed gelatin for about 10 - 20 seconds to dissolve the gelatin. But DO NOT let it boil.
5. Stir in about 1 tbsp of the chilled heavy cream to temper the gelatin mixture.
6. Start whisking the heavy cream and pour in the gelatin mixture. Make sure the gelatin isn’t poured directly onto the whisks, since this will cause the gelatin to set and forms clumps.
7. Whisk the heavy cream on high for a few seconds to incorporate the gelatin.
8. Once the gelatin is incorporated, lower the speed to medium high, and whisk the cream until it's just starting to form stiff peaks. Make sure to NOT let the heavy cream curdle / become grainy.
9. ALTERNATIVELY, Whisk in about ¼ cup of heavy cream with the vanilla pudding powder until mixed well into a smooth paste. Add this paste to the rest of the whipped cream and whisk to combine well. Then start whisking the heavy cream on medium high until the heavy cream just starts to form stiff peaks.
10. Fold in about ⅓ of the whipped cream into the banana flavored custard. Once mixed well, either fold the rest of the whipped cream into the custard, or fold the custard into the remaining whipped cream in the mixer bowl. Either way is fine. Now the pudding base is ready.

To assemble the banana pudding

1. Choose the dish you'll be serving the banana pudding in. I used an 8 - 9 inch trifle bowl here, but a large casserole dish (about 9 x 9 inch square or slightly rectangular) will work as well.
2. You can create as many layers as you like, depending on how thinly you spread the pudding base layer. Start with the pudding base, and have enough to top the dessert as the final layer.
3. Spread a layer of the banana pudding base at the bottom of your dish. Top it with a layer of Nilla wafers, followed by sliced bananas (about ½ cm thick). I like to slice the bananas only as I layer them, and not ahead of time (to prevent browning).
4. Break some Nilla wafers in half and layer them against the wall of the dish (IF you’re serving this in a glass container). This is optional and purely for aesthetics.
5. Spread a layer of the banana pudding base on top of the bananas. Make sure the bananas are completely covered with the pudding. Banana slices that are exposed to air will brown quickly.
6. Repeat the layers until you have used up all of the banana pudding base, while making sure the final layer on top is also the pudding.
7. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

To decorate

1. Top the pudding with whipped cream (optional). You can either pipe it along the edge or spread a layer of whipped cream on top.
2. Decorate with whole or crushed Nilla wafers.
3. You can also decorate with more banana slices, but make sure to do this just before serving (to prevent browning).