Clusters of Durian - Note the difference in skin colour and shape. The ones in the foreground are the white-fleshed Durians while the ones in the background have an orange-flesh. They taste different to one another.

My deep and thorny love affair with Durians started when I was about 5 years old. That’s approximately a 20-year love affair that is still going strong. I was introduced to the Durian fruit by my family who have roots in the jungles and villages of Sabah, Borneo. As a young child, my father used to sleep in a small hut near my grandmother’s Durian trees with his cousins overnight to wait for the ripe Durians to fall to the ground. A dull thud on the jungle floor followed by the rustling of foliage usually indicates this.

Smaller in size and rounder in shape, the orange-fleshed Durian has a milder taste compared to the white-fleshed ones.

While growing up, I never got a chance to sleep under the Durian trees but I sure received generous helpings of the fruit whenever we visited granny in her village. My grandmother has countless Durian trees around her yard which always produces delicious Durians during the fruit season between July and November. However, I have seen Durians sold outside this season in different parts of Malaysia and Thailand.

The wonderful aroma of this white-fleshed Durian assaulted my senses in a beautiful way after it was split open. Mmmm...

A tropical fruit, the Durian is native to Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. In recent years, Thailand has become one of the biggest exporters of Durians in South East Asia even though the fruit is not native to their country. There are many variants of Durian – different sizes, flesh, colour, taste and texture. The three most common types of Durians are the yellow, white and orange-fleshed ones. I have tried a red-fleshed one in the past but this variant seems to be quite rare.

Otto is probably the only Mat Salleh I know who loves Durian! In fact, he loves Durian more than many of my Malaysian friends!

The Durian has a dense, solid and thorny outer-shell that splits open in sections (when you try hard enough with a cleaver or sharp tool). My theory is that the Durian protects itself with this intimidating ‘facade’ from preying animals and humans because its flesh tastes too good to be true and is worth the extra protection!

Unfortunately for the poor Durian, humans still managed to outsmart it. Years ago, I came across a fallen Durian in my granny’s yard with a dead squirrel wedged halfway into the fruit. The poor creature probably died trying to reach the tasty morsels of fruit within the thorns ala Get Rich or Die Tryin’!

The best way to crack open a Durian is with a heavy-based cleaver or Bucktool. It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Always have lots of old newspapers handy to avoid destroying your furniture!

So what is the big fuss about the Durian? There are two sides to this: You either love it with a passion, or hate it with a vengeance. People who love Durians will go out of their way to get their hands on them. One example for me was driving out to the local fruit markets on a muddy gravel road in a tropical storm- thunder, lighting and all – to satisfy my cravings for Durian.

As for people who don’t, they find the smell sickly sweet and unbearable, and the taste utterly revolting,  “like rotting onions”- as I recall someone telling me years ago. Needless to say, I was more than slightly offended. But hey, to each of their own! Durians are actually banned in a few hotels and public transport in Malaysia and Singapore due to the strong odour from the fruit! How rude!

Otto clearly enjoying the Durians very much. We bought these at a roadside stall in Sipitang, Sabah.

I was having a discussion with a friend the other day on why Durians have such a wide reputation for being a smelly and disgusting fruit. We concluded that Durians probably get alot of bad press from all the widespread negativity and the idea that this fruit is gross becomes ingrained in people’s psyche and therefore puts them off enjoying it fully.

Perhaps the new tactic is to market this fruit in a more positive light so that people may change their minds about it. I grew up without the bad press and actually appreciated the fruit for what it was, just by eating and enjoying it the way nature intended.

A healthy chunk of fruit - washed down with a can of cold Tiger beer!

Out of the three most common types of Durian (white, yellow and orange), I like the yellow variety the most. My personal description of the flavour will have to be ‘A rich, creamy and concentrated bitter-sweet Vanilla custard’. The flesh of the Durian is very sweet and intense, and the creamy texture of the fruit simply melts in your mouth.

There are usually about 4 to 5 pods in a single Durian and each pod may contain up to 6 pieces of fruit that are attached together, and the seeds are encased within the flesh of the fruit. Durians are dense and  depending on size, a whole Durian can weigh between 0.5kg up to even 8kg! Here is an example of a 5.2kg Durian my folks’ bought at their local Durian stall:

A Durian weighing in at an almost whopping 5.2 kilos! The coffee mug should be a good indicator of size and scale.

A Durian stall at the Jalan Alor night food markets in Kuala Lumpur. The quality of the fruits here were excellent!

Durians are usually sold out of minivans and trucks on makeshift roadside stalls, night markets and local produce markets. The only times I have ever seen Durians sold indoors in a supermarket or fruit shop is when the fruit pieces have been packaged or they are sold wholly frozen (not recommended!). The price of Durians vary – smaller fruits can cost from around RM4 per kilo and the bigger, higher grade Durians can cost up to RM50 a kilo from my experience at a Durian stall on Jalan Alor in Kuala Lumpur.

Durian Cheesecake from Secret Recipe Cafe in Kota Kinabalu. Gotta love the broken Ching-lish!

Most Durian eaters will notice that after they eat the fruit with their fingers, the smell of the fruit lingers on for days on end! There are two tricks to this: Wash your hands under a running tap while rubbing your fingers with a stainless steel object such as a spoon. Or, my all-time favourite, using a Durian husk, rub your fingers in the white part of the husk while rinsing under running water. This method works like magic and removes the smell completely!

One thing I have found from eating too much Durian in one sitting is that my body temperature goes up and I feel quite feverish. This usually happens after going through about 5 whole Durians! The trick is to have some cold water or Coconut juice handy to counteract this heaty problem.

A slice of heaven - Durian cheesecake. I could not taste any cheese - it tasted like 100% fresh Durian concentrate!

Besides eaten fresh, Durians are made into various types of delectable sweets such as ice cream, candies, sweet porridge and cakes. I was at a Secret Recipe Cafe in Kota Kinabalu a while back and I saw that they had a Durian Cheesecake on offer. How could I possibly pass up the opportunity to try this?

I ordered a slice and to be honest I couldn’t taste the cheese but it tasted as though the entire cake was made from fresh Durian concentrate together with a crushed biscotti crust! It was so sensational, I bought an entire cake to bring to a family dinner that same week! The whole cake cost around RM40, which was pretty reasonable for what it was.

The Durian cheesecake I tried at Secret Recipe was so good that I bought an entire cake for a family get-together that same week.

As far as fruits go, Durians will have to be on the top of my favourites list. If you are ever around in Malaysia during the fruiting season, be sure to head down to the local food markets to sample the king of fruits for yourself and prepare to be amazed…

Sandakan Curry house specialises in South Indian food with a Malaysian touch. Compared to North Indian food, the Southerners don’t actually use much cream at all in their cooking. Chilli also plays a vital role in South Indian cooking and can be very spicy compared to its creamy counterpart. Their specialty dish, I’m assuming, would be the Fish Head Curry that we ordered.

There isn’t much Indian food in East Malaysia as the majority of the Indian population resides in West Malaysia. The most common type of Indian food available in Sabah are the banana leaf and fish head curry set meals. There are also other curries that are available such as mutton and goat which is very popular amongst the locals, as well as rotis and naans.

We ordered the Fish Head Curry Set Lunch for two. Contrary to what many people say about fish head, depending on the size of the fish (duh!) the head is actually very fleshy and has some of the softest and best parts of flesh from the fish, The cheeks and eyes are one of my favourite parts! With this set lunch menu, you also get a choice of plain rice or Biryani, a selection of vegetables and other curries from their glass display cabinet and some papadams (deep fried crispy crackers with cumin seeds).

We went for the Biryani rice (rice cooked with cumin, cardamom, raisins and star anise) which also came with large chunks of chicken. The selection of veges we picked were cabbage with mustard seeds, garlic spinach and bitter gourd curry. Indian set lunches also come with some Dhal (lentil stew) and a spicy vegetable soup, which we also got. Instead of plates, the entire meal is served on a banana leaf which adds to the flavour, hence the name ‘Banana Leaf Set Lunch’ – An economical way to avoid excessive dishwashing later!

The verdict? Very tasty. The pot of fish head curry actually contained about 5 medium-sized fish heads, which is quite unusual. I’ve always seen them served as one whole big head! The curry sauce to this was very tangy as they had cooked it with lots of tomatoes and added okra as well. The Biryani was well seasoned with spices and wasn’t too salty or greasy. The veges tasted great too except they were slightly cold. We definitely got a lot of variety on our banana leaves that day! The entire meal set us back around RM55 with beverages included, which is approximately $20. Not bad! If you’re ever in Sandakan, drop by Sandakan Curry House to taste-test this meal for yourself.

When you arrive at this restaurant, you have to go out the back to pick out your own slice(s) of stingray! The stingray here is always fresh and is caught locally around the shores of coastal Sabah.

Kedai Kopi Chuan Hin is situated at a shop lot on the corner of Jalan Lintas and Luyang, in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah (a mouthful, no pun intended) and is a popular dining destination amongst the locals. My parents and I have been dining at this restaurant for nearly two decades, and their food never dissapoints. Chuan Hin usually only serves food during dinner time and they rarely open during the day.

The stingray is priced by weight – These two chunks cost around RM25 (approximately $12)

Chuan Hin has two main specialties: grilled stringray in banana leaf, and dumplings. These are two dishes that we always order when we eat there. They also serve a wide range of vegetable stir fries, noodles and grilled beef. The stingray is wrapped in a banana leaf and topped with a mild sambal, then grilled on an open fire to crispy perfection. To top it off, the stingray is drizzled with kasturi lime juice to maximise the flavour.

Grilled to perfection – stingray is one of my favourite fishes because of its soft, tender flesh and crispy skin when grilled. The texture is quite similar to a very tender piece of chicken and doesn’t have an overly strong fishy taste.

A meal for three to four people at Chuan Hin would cost around RM50-60 ($30) and is quite reasonable given the great quality of the food. The ambience at Chuan Hin is not something to write home about but the food certainly makes up for it. Chuan Hin probably does the best stingray in Kota Kinabalu and I highly recommend it!

Kasturi lime goes well with this fish as it brings out the flavour and also adds a tangy hit to enhance the sambal flavours.

Chuan Hin’s other specialty dish – Dumplings. Pictured are the fried garlic-chive dumplings. They also serve a minced pork version. You can choose from steamed or fried dumplings. I personally like the fried ones because they’re crispy on the outside!

A meal at Chuan Hin is not complete with their famous fried vermicelli dish. It’s a combination of vermicelli, fish cake, prawns, chicken, egg, bok choy and bean sprouts. We never order rice when we dine here – it seems that the vermicelli has replaced it!

Last but not least, some greens – A plate of stir fried Cakur Manis (Sauropus Androgynus) with Garlic. Cakur Manis is a rich and sweet leafy vegetable with a crunchy stalk that tastes a bit like spinach.

*BURP*

The man jumped on his bike and rode off to a local house to negotiate what kind of commission he’d get for leading four stupid westerners to the snake vendor. We followed through a dingy garage to arrive at the below scene.

Cobra ready to strike

So how much? For the low low price of $90 US we could eat the snake. Considering that almost every meal we’d had in Vietnam had cost less than a dollar we quickly left to find another restaurant / house. The fact that the characters in the garage looked like the shadiest men in all of Vietnam certainly didn’t help.

Our “good friend” on the motorbike rode off to find us another vendor. He lead us down a few dusty alleyways to a lavish mansion with some snake cages out the back. The man was friendly and the price quickly dropped to $35 US for all four of us to have a feast of snake with alcohol included. Expensive but what the hey, we agreed and the man went about selecting the unlucky snake.

Cobra's neck being broken

Out came two jars, two funnels, a knife and a doomed Cobra. The snake’s neck was broken, it’s heart was located and a cut was made.

The cut is made

At this stage we have no idea what is going on. Why are they collecting the blood? I guess we’ll find out later.

Draining the snake's blood

A close up of the blood being drained.

Draining the snake's blood 2

The heart is cut out and slips down to the bottom of a small glass. It is still beating rapidly for several minutes before it begins to slow to just a beat here and there.

The beating heart

The men make another cut further down the snake and begin to drain it’s dull green bile. It looks something like very strong green tea but smells like… snake bile I guess! At this stage we are led upstairs to the guest area and take a seat. A bottle of snake blood and another of snake bile are brought up to us by our host and the sounds & smells of cooking snake waft upwards from downstairs. Several shots are prepared, the first contains the snake’s heart along with a healthy splash of bile and some home made rice wine just to make the entire concoction that much more appetizing.

Shots of snake's blood with rice wine

By this stage we are all feeling a little queasy and the question is raised as to who is going to have the heart. I offer to be the guinea pig for this excursion and find very little in the way objections from my friends, one of whom has already gone outside for fresh air and fails to return until the meal is over.

Snake heart in rice wine with bile

Looks delicious doesn’t it? Our host explains that the locals drink snake blood to help them with “sexy lady boom boom”. Look out Viagra!

Yum!

Surprise, surprise, it tasted just like snake bile with rice wine with a raw heart in it. Luckily the off burning aftertaste of the rice wine saved me from more than a few seconds of suffering. We now proceed with shot after shot of rice wine with snake blood.

Shot of snake blood with rice wine

These were not too bad and definitely far superior to the snake bile. Our host quickly works out that we are not interested in any more bile shots and so begins to help himself, quickly becoming outrageously drunk.

Crispy snake meat

Our host’s wife enters with several dishes made from the unfortunate snake. The first being snake meat which has been battered with flour and sesame seeds and deep fried. Mmmmmm tastes like chicken yet with the consistency of mashed potato. We are all surprised and impressed, the crispy pieces of snake are quickly consumed.

Snake spring rolls

Snake spring rolls anyone? Very Yum. After dipping in the traditional Vietnamese vinegar sauce (often used with rice paper rolls) they were a real crowd pleaser.

Snake balls in rice wine

Our host now obtains a large bottle of something from the cupboard. The fluid within it is cloudy and has some mysterious “things” floating around the bottom. After some interesting sign language we understand that these “things” are indeed snake testicles and the liquid itself is rice wine. We were all quite amused until our host pours as each a shot. We took a bit of convincing but eventually caved in and downed our shots. The taste was foul and we all refused to touch our second shot, again leaving our host to enjoy the spoils.

Deep fried snake skin

Next we are served snake skin that has been deep fried to perfection. This was delicious, something like a cross between chicken skin and the crackling on roast pork. We all agreed it was the highlight of the meal and fought over the last few pieces.

Water Pipe

With the meal over and our shot glasses empty we move to a new room downstairs where our host has readied a home made water pipe. Despite having one of the better homes in Hanoi, his pipe is nothing more than a scaffolding tube with a tin can strapped to it. He shows us his favorite party trick which is to overload his already massive pipe with tobacco, spark up and inhale the entire lot then hold his breath for over a minute. When he breathes out all the smoke is gone. Wow. We begin to wonder if he drinks and smokes this with all of his snake guests and if so how he hasn’t died from multiple organ failure. We thank our host and leave him with his well earned US dollars, now it’s time to see if we can locate that restaurant that serves locusts…

The Betel Nut is from the Areca Palm, and is actually called an Areca Nut. I believe the leaves are called the ‘Betel’. But for some reason the name ‘Betel Nut’ just stuck with me while growing up. I remember the old village ladies always had a supply in their waist-pouches. They were terrifying creatures with yellow teeth – something which the Betel Nut does to you. As you chew, it excretes a bright-orange sap which, well, makes you look like the old village womenfolk – while giving you a head rush as though you’ve smoked 15 cigarettes in one sitting.

The Betel Nut ‘Kits’ are widely available at the local produce markets all over Sabah and this kit usually consists of the Betel leaves, a few grams of ground limestone chalk, tobacco and that other weird brown thing in the pictures which I cannot describe. These ingredients are then folded with the Betel leaf into a small parcel, placed under your gums and chewed slowly. Before you get excited, I can tell you now that the combination of ingredients does not taste great – a symphony of bitter musk and cat sweat will assault your senses in more ways than one.

The one thing that we all forgot to mention to Otto was that he actually needed to spit out the fluid remnants from the first chew – the result was a heavy head-rush, a sharp grip on my shoulder followed by left-footed stumbling on Otto’s part. The effect for first time users is quite similar to having lots of cigarettes in one hit – that ever-familiar head-rush a morning smoke gives you but tenfold. Needless to say, the oral contents were abruptly spat out in utter disgust followed by some incomprehensible muttering of sorts and cheers from the market crowd.

Spat out!

The funniest thing for me about this experience was that all the locals in the market dropped what they were doing and just stood and watched while Otto had a go at the Betel Nuts. Because Sipitang is quite a remote village, not many tourists actually venture out there. It must have been a field day for the locals to witness a Mat-Salleh trying Betel Nut at their local market. There was alot of giggling, wide-eyed staring and pure astonishment that day. Unfortunately for Otto, he suffered a bad headache after his experience and had to be carted home for a long nap in an air-conditioned room.