May 26, 2006

A Discovery on an Old Favorite

I was sick last week and couldn't find the right food to make me feel better (I'm one of the lucky ones who NEVER loses appetite in any situation.). My best friend, Pia, unknowingly came to my rescue when she texted that she brought me durian from Davao.

Oh heaven.

I LOVE DURIAN. After saying a prayer of eternal gratitude for this gift and a side prayer for those who cannot eat this glorious fruit, I got my fork and savored the creamy silky pulp and almost shed a tear when I could no longer feel anything in my mouth save for the seed.

That got me thinking.

I remembered that in one of my provincial trips, the sales guy and moi stopped by one of the street vendors to buy peanuts. The vendor asked me to try the boiled langka (jackfruit) seed. I was bowled over and got hooked on it.

Now, the durian has been compared to the langka. The durian's seeds are as fat as the langka's. Both fruits have been found to smell offensive at one time or another. With these similarities in mind, I decide to boil the seed and see if it would yield a result as delicious as that one provincial trip. So boil I did till the liquid turned purple and I could no longer smell the scent of the durian. Now came the test.

I cracked the seed open. It was a bit mapakla (I guess the closest translation would be "tanning" like that of wine.). I continued to bite into the seed until I could finally taste the "meat".

This is how it looked like:

And the taste --- oh boy! Boiled langka seed, move over! How I wished I had sour cream and chives right at that moment! It felt like the softest baked potato in the world, with a more flavorful and meatier taste. I have learned my lesson and will only change one thing next time. I shall boil it just a bit longer so the whole seed is perfectly moist and tender to the last bite.

1 comment:

cheap & cheerful said...

durian = ewww. sorry, pam! =P