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Sunday, August 17, 2008

Penang Day 2: Durians

Ming wanted red prawn durians for dessert and so we went back to Penang Ah Teik Durian Stall at the corner of Lorong Susu and Burmah Rd.

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Ah Leik and his brothers remembered us and fussed around us, making us very welcome. Ah Leik opened a medium-sized red prawn durian (RM23/US$7 ) and a RM20/US$6 D24 durian with a little durian knife. Before opening a durian, he'd plunge his sharp little knife (looks like a pen knife) into the durian, pull out the knife and smell it. If it's good, he'd open it. I don't know how he kept at it because towards the end of eating three types of durians, my tongue and nose couldn't tell which durian was which.

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Ah Leik and his bros worked very fast. In the hour or more that we were there, at least half a dozen people came to doggie-bag his durians, each carrying away about 10 boxes!

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The D24 durian: bright yellow, soft-firm, thick-fleshed, creamy and strongly-flavored, sweet and slightly bitter.

The D24 was no match for the red prawn in terms of flavor and fleshiness. When the D24 debuted, durian lovers raved about its flavor (quite intense) and taste (creamy, sweet-bitter). But eat the red prawn durian and you know the Chinese saying "There's always a mountain higher."

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The red prawn durian: slight peach blush, firm and very very thick-fleshed, creamy, wonderfully flavored and 100% sweet.

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The Green Skin 15 durian: light-yellow color, mushy-soft, thick fleshed, strongly flavored and more bitter than the D24.

Turns out that there's an advantage to food blogging. I explained to Ah Teik why I was taking so many pictures (while my mom grabbed the chance and ate and ate before I could stop her) and he gave me the Green Skin 15 durian for free!

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Compare the size of the seeds of the D24 (or was it Green Skin 15?) and the red prawn durian. Don't pay for the seeds and shells!

I'm not so into durian dodol, a fudge-like confectionary (mashed durian flesh cooked with sugar until thick and then cooled and molded into long strips) but when Ah Leik said his durian dodol were freshly made without preservatives and they sell better than hot cakes, I bought 7 of them for RM8/US$2.50 each. Ah Leik threw in another as a gift. He asked me to come back again the next day, and promised me more discounts. I opened one of Ah Leik's durian dodol last Friday and it was the best dodol I have ever tasted. Ah Leik's durian dodol are highly flavored and creamy with just the right level of sweetness, and no bland aftertaste on my tongue after. If you want to give me something from Penang, please DO NOT give me a box of Him Heang cookies. I dislike them and give them to my maid or whoever wants them. I would love a couple of Ah Leik's durian dodol though.

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Mangosteens, Queen of Tropical Fruits, are very yummy especially if they are fresh and sweet.

After eating durians (King of Tropical Fruits), which heats up your body, you should eat mangosteens, which cools your body.

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Langsat, another yummy yum tropical fruit.

9 comments:

  1. gawsh!!!

    the durians look so damn nice leyy!!

    but what a pity. i have a phobia towards durians.. haizz...

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  2. wow, this is what i called
    " Ngao Lien Dong Fan sik"
    eat durian like eat rice ;p!
    I AM SO JELEX OK!

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  3. I was recently in Thailand and although we saw many durians, I just couldn't gather the courage to try one! I figured that was my only chance ... but then we saw durians in our local supermarket! Very surprising! Maybe I will give them a try one day... :)

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  4. Heaven HELP me!!!!!! I want those Durians!!!! I wanna go Penang!!!! again!!!

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  5. I often wonder - who was the first person to try some of these edibles. Who would actually look at a spiky Durian and say, "Wow!! that looks really good, lets try that." And after opening it, "Wow, that smells awful, lets eat it!!!" Same with other foods - are humans weird or what???

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  6. wow i miss mangosteen and langsat

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  7. redsept: phobia of the fruit or the taste? look, u can overcome it n live!

    denise: heh wo, sit dao soh

    katie: oh no, pls don't eat thai durians! all non-thais don't like thai durians bc the flavor isn't strong enough n tt's why those durians make it to overseas market--bc they don't have much flavor.eating thai durians is like eating a bland cheese compared to a tasty flavorful one. and thai durians have flesh tt's too 'solid' n starchy instead of creamy.

    gregwee: i've asked so many ppl here n none have eaten red prawn durian. poor us.

    tealady: they r likely:1) the same ppl who looked at molded cheese n said, "tt looks interesting, smells great, let's eat it. the worst it'll do is kill us!"
    2) very hungry ppl

    danny: u don't like durians??...!

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  8. tealady: 3) smells n fragrance r subjective??

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  9. the durian posts is killing me...i must stop coming here til the post is out of screen. hehehe..i love durian. still remember eating it with ck and another collegue squating by the roadside during one of our official trip. gosh must do it again.

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