I belong to that demographic of Malaysians who turn up our noses at our Singaporean neighbours’ sad attempts to use durian in edgy ways, such as in a pizza, hot pot (ie. steamboat) or chee cheong fun (rice noodle rolls). It seems like a bit of a waste of good durian, which I prefer to eat straight and unencumbered by ingredients that effectively dilute its flavour.

Having said that, there’s Malaysian durian, which is expensive (at least here in Australia, especially the Musang King variety), and there’s Thai Mornthong durian which is readily available and affordable in frozen form. We durian snobs find frozen Mornthong durians to be pretty much inedible straight because they’re soggy when defrosted, and lack the intensity of flavour found in fresh Malaysian durians.

This makes them perfect for use in other recipes such as the durian smoothie I used to sell at my restaurant, or in ice cream, etc. Here’s another way you can use them up, ie. deep-fried à la jemput-jemput pisang/cekodok/kuih kodok (banana fritters). Original recipe is from https://www.kuali.com/recipe/durian-fritters-cekodok-durian/ with my tweaks –

(PS before you take me too seriously, I only make fun of Singaporeans because I like them, alright. Mainly because Lee Kuan Yew was a fellow Hakka :P)

Durian Fritters

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup self-raising flour
1 TBSP rice flour
½ tsp salt or to taste
100ml coconut cream
3-4 TBSP sugar
250g durian pulp

Oil for deep-frying

METHOD:

1. Combine all the ingredients except the durian pulp and mix well.
2. Mash the durian pulp, then fold into the rest of the batter.
3. Heat oil to 170’C, drop spoonfuls of the durian mix into the oil and fry until they turn a light golden brown colour, turning with a ladle to make sure they’re evenly cooked.
4. Remove and drain on paper towels before serving.

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