Durian durians and more durians

The flesh

The thorny fruit

Honestly, you either love durians to bits. Or hate it like its gonna kill you.

I fall within the I hate it category. And I am amaze that some folks can have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Its not as suggested by the following bannerat Donald's in SS2 but seriously my mum can have it for all 3 meals in a day.

However, there will be the days that the cravings for it come. It has nothing to do with the time of the month or being pregnant. Its just cravings. Amusing cravings that has my hubby smiling from ear to ear simply because if he attempts eating durians on his own or with Shalom our furkid, both will have to sleep in the living room. Yea, I hate the scent that much. It does kinda remind me of garbage.

But when the cravings come, its no biggie. Most days, I just have 1 pip /1 seed. The cravings are never great enough to call for 1 whole fruit. But at least for hubby and Shalom, it means they get to eat durians openly.

The recent cravings back to back was scary:P I ate some in Seremban on Wednesday and barely a week later, the cravings returned with a vengeance. I actually ate 8 seeds. Small matter to many but that is a super duper achievement as far as I am concerned. The last time I ate was some 8 months ago:P

I supposed the good company made the difference and the good grade too. See the different expressions when eating durian:

Min's finger licking good:D

Lilian looking quite pleased and savouring the 1st seed for the night.

Suherman is totally drawn into the whole explosion of wonderful texture and flavours.

Jo - I really can't make up what he was up to:P

Victor and his infamous かわい look

Jeff is all smiley despite having spent so many years in London

Belinda finds it absolutely divine!

Hubby was in heaven since he could officially eat durians that night.

There are far too many grades out there but I have been eating only the bitter and creamy ones. Never one with a sweet tooth, the bitter creamy ones are just superb. Yeah. Superb only the cravings hit me. LOL.

But some precautions when you eat:

• Don't mix it with alcohol. Different theories to it but some say it has something to do with getting yourself a stroke or a spike in your blood pressure.

• Wash your hands with the durian shell to remove the offending smell. I tried it and hmmm the smell went off and returned with a vengeance.

• Drink water or salt water out of the shell to reduce the heatiness. I normally just opt for cooling herbal tea or young green coconut. Actually I found the green coconut to be the most helpful:P

• Store leftover durians in the fridge. To prevent the smell from lingering in your fridge or car, place a piece of bread or charcoal in the fridge or car. When it comes to the car, I personally just open the doors and windows and sun the car:P

And a favourite left over dessert recipe which aids to remove the heatiness of the durian:

Green Bean with durian

• Ingredients - 200g green beans, Brown sugar (gula melaka) to taste, coconut milk, left over durian minus the seed, 1000ml of water (more or less depending on your preference for thick or light soupy finishing), pandan leaf and 100ml of coconut milk (optional unless you love the creamy milky feel similar to bubur cha cha).

• Method - (1) Wash the beans. (2) Soak the green beans in the water for 30 minutes to an hour. Then boil till soft. (3) Add the durians and pandan leaves. (4) Then add the brown sugar to taste. (5) Add coconut milk before serving. You may want to keep the coconut milk on the side so that one can opt to omit coconut milk or add more according to preference.

I know you can make durian puffs too. But I have not tried that yet. So will put that up when I have done so. Meanwhile enjoy the durian season:D

When will the next craving come? I seriously have no idea:P