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Malaysia's twist on durian, the world’s foulest-smelling fruit
John Brunton, The Guardian
Sunday 2 October 201621.00 AEDT
I thought I had tried every weird and wonderful dish in the kaleidoscope of Malaysia’s multi-ethnic cuisine until I saw tempoyak on the menu of Lepau restaurant in Kuching, the waterside capital of the Malaysian state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo. Tempoyak is made from durian, a fruit people adore or abhor, and which has a fearsome reputation for its blancmange-like consistency and overpowering odour.
A tempoyak variant: asparagus stir-fried with fermented durian. Photograph: Alamy
Roselyn Lah, chef-owner of Lepau, tells me: “Tempoyak is the traditional method of using durian by the indigenous people of Sarawak. The fruit is left to ferment, becoming the perfect accompaniment to fish, chicken or prawns.”
For the ultimate sensory experience, Rosalyn recommends tempoyak with petaibeans. Served on a banana leaf, this is gooey yellowy-green tempoyak, topped with chilli-fried ikan bilis, tiny crispy anchovies, and utterly delicious petai beans, known as “stinky beans” for their effects the morning after.
Durians on sale in Sepang, Malaysia. Photograph: Tengku Bahar/AFP/Getty Images
It’s a dish for adventurous palates, but the combination of ingredients creates an incredible taste sensation. The big surprise is that fermented durian actually loses much of the ammonia smell that leads hotels and airports across Asia to ban it. The creamy tempoyak is sour, like a yoghurty mayonnaise, and perfectly complements the spicy anchovies and tangy, raw petai beans.
And tempoyak is just the tip of a renaissance in Kuching of the cuisine of Sarawak’s native tribes. Roselyn is from the Kayan tribe, but her menu features dishes from the Iban, Biduluh and Melanu people too, including weird and wonderful jungle vegetables: wild ferns called paku kobak and paku midin wild ferns, and star gooseberry leaves, cangkuk manis. But these fragile ingredients cannot be transported far, so foodies will have to journey to Kuching to discover the taste.
John Brunton, The Guardian
Sunday 2 October 201621.00 AEDT
Tempoyak with anchovies and chillies
I thought I had tried every weird and wonderful dish in the kaleidoscope of Malaysia’s multi-ethnic cuisine until I saw tempoyak on the menu of Lepau restaurant in Kuching, the waterside capital of the Malaysian state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo. Tempoyak is made from durian, a fruit people adore or abhor, and which has a fearsome reputation for its blancmange-like consistency and overpowering odour.
A tempoyak variant: asparagus stir-fried with fermented durian. Photograph: Alamy
Roselyn Lah, chef-owner of Lepau, tells me: “Tempoyak is the traditional method of using durian by the indigenous people of Sarawak. The fruit is left to ferment, becoming the perfect accompaniment to fish, chicken or prawns.”
For the ultimate sensory experience, Rosalyn recommends tempoyak with petaibeans. Served on a banana leaf, this is gooey yellowy-green tempoyak, topped with chilli-fried ikan bilis, tiny crispy anchovies, and utterly delicious petai beans, known as “stinky beans” for their effects the morning after.
Durians on sale in Sepang, Malaysia. Photograph: Tengku Bahar/AFP/Getty Images
It’s a dish for adventurous palates, but the combination of ingredients creates an incredible taste sensation. The big surprise is that fermented durian actually loses much of the ammonia smell that leads hotels and airports across Asia to ban it. The creamy tempoyak is sour, like a yoghurty mayonnaise, and perfectly complements the spicy anchovies and tangy, raw petai beans.
And tempoyak is just the tip of a renaissance in Kuching of the cuisine of Sarawak’s native tribes. Roselyn is from the Kayan tribe, but her menu features dishes from the Iban, Biduluh and Melanu people too, including weird and wonderful jungle vegetables: wild ferns called paku kobak and paku midin wild ferns, and star gooseberry leaves, cangkuk manis. But these fragile ingredients cannot be transported far, so foodies will have to journey to Kuching to discover the taste.
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