Crazy for you…

I have said it before that I am not really a fan of durian but if there is any and I am invited to help myself, I do not mind taking a few seeds. But I do know of people who really love the fruit like that night when we had dinner at the Sheraton Restaurant here. AFTER the dinner, as we were leaving, there was a lorry loaded with durians parked right outside…and believe it or not, even after a heavy full-course Chinese dinner, so many of them went over and bought some to eat on the spot! Now, if that is not crazy, what is?

As a matter of fact, the fruit is so famous or infamous, whichever you may wish to choose to describe it, that even National Geographic has come out with a feature on it…

I think I heard something that is not quite right on the video clip – the narrator said that Kuching is the capital of Malaysian Borneo when she should say that Kuching is the capital (of the state) of Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo…but I was so tickled by that lady who said that durian smells like somebody’s private parts. ROTFLMAO!

I do not quite care for the durian cake or dodol either – the most well-known being Tan Kim Hock’s from Malacca. I have seen visitors and tourists going out of their way to buy some to take home to give to their relatives and friends. But I do love the Thai durian-glutinous rice dessert and also those yummy desserts that I had recently in Kuala Lumpur.

On the home front, some make “samui” which is the flesh of the fruit mixed with lard and sagu’ (sago pellets). I do not fancy that either as I do not like the smell of lard in the thing and I do not like sagu’. However, should I happen to come across some unripe durians, I would love to buy them and cook a really sumptuous soup, sayur rebus (translation: boiled vegetables) style. You just take the flesh and boil in water into which you would have to add some belacan (dried prawn paste), ikan pusu/bilis (dried anchovies) and chilli and you can add salt and msg according to taste.

Then, there is the tempoyak or fermented durian…

Here, I have some freshly-made tempoyak that my sister’s colleague gave to her – a West Malaysian lady. She must have used very good durians which is essential if you want the best tempoyak. However, she added cili padi (bird’s eye chilli peppers) so it was too hot for my mum and I was only too happy to relieve them of the stuff.

You can use tempoyak as a dip for ikan bilis/pusu (dried anchovies)…

and eat it just like that…or you can use it in your cooking.

I cooked some absolutely delicious udang galah masak tempoyak (giant freshwater prawns cooked with fermented durian) once. Gosh! It was so delicious that one would definitely go for a second helping of rice. Come to think of it, I have not cooked that for a while now. Hmmm…I think I should do it one of these days! Yum! Yum! LOL!!!