Unusual Asian fruits, part 3

We continue our fruitopia (rather delayed with Christmas and all - happy new year!) by looking at a few more SE Asian fruits to taste and explore.
	Longan Other names: mata kucing (Bahasa). Appearance: small, translucent white flesh, covering a hard brown seed. The tough outer skin is papery, and covers a thin white membrane. Both peel off easily, like separating a hard boiled egg from it's shell. Texture: soft and juicy FTW.
Flavour and aroma: Very sweet, gentle tasting, like a kiss from the Easter bunny, filled with promises of warm sunshine and flowers. It tastes perfumed, similar to a lychee. Yummy rating: Grab a bag of these and chow down.

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Sapodilla Other names: ciku. Appearance: Like a kiwi fruit's gone bad, and turned brown (although a bit less hairy). Inside there are several very hard black seeds, approximately the size and shape of an olive pit, and golden brown flesh.

Texture: Squishy, very soft and rather grainy, like a badly made custard. Scoop it out with a spoon. Flavour and aroma: Really sweet (like diabetes sweet), but the flavour itself isn't great - it's a bit reminiscent of a musty pear, like a pear you found in the back of your nan's cupboard in a forgotten fruit-bowl. Maybe the batch I bought are just a bit over-ripe? Or maybe they're always like this? The perils of trying something for the first time - you have no basis for comparison. Yummy rating: Not really.

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Water apple Other names: jambu air (Bahasa), rose apple. Appearance: Like a bell pepper had sex with a cashew nut. Thin red skin, and a whitish inside (sometimes tinged a bit green or pink). There's a large seed in the middle. Texture: Crisp like a young cucumber, and very watery like a watermelon.

Flavour and aroma: I'd had these once before, years ago, and remembered them as being a little boring (not much flavour, and only slightly sweet). But this batch are far worse than I remember. They're not sweet at all, and indeed have a slightly bitter under taste that becomes noticeable as you eat closer to the seed. I'd have guessed these were a vegetable, not a fruit, from the taste, and a not very nice vegetable at that. Yummy rating: Like cucumber but without the cucumber flavour. These would probably be edible in a salad, covered with a strongly-flavoured dressing (I'm thinking rojak), but as a fruit - nope! These really are not nice.

Unusual Asian fruits, part 2

In my last post, I described a few fruits that I've discovered in my travels in SE Asia, and today I'm going to look at three more. You may be able to find some of these in larger towns or specialty shops in the west (Jackfruit, described last time, can sometimes be found in London's Asian markets). Have you tried any of these? Let me know what you thought in the comments.
	Sugar apple Other names: This fruit (Annona squamosa) is sometimes know as the sweetsop, and sometimes called the custard apple (not to be confused with a related fruit, Annona reticulata, which is also known as a custard apple). Appearance: Like a hand grenade kissed a pinecone. Then got ripe and quishy. Normally they're green, but some varietals are reddish or purple, which looks pretty but tastes pretty much the same. Inside, you'll find a large number of small, hard seeds (resembling large apple pips) covered in a layer of off-white goo. The goo is the stuff you eat. Texture: They claim the texture inside is like custard. It's not. If you were ever served custard with a grainy texture like this, you'd send it back. It's not unpleasant though. Expect to spend at least 20 minutes trying to eat a small one of these - you need to break or cut one open and scoop out the goo with a teaspoon, then in your mouth separate out the seeds so you can spit them out. Don't make any plans, as you're here for a while.
Flavour and aroma: Very sweet, but not a lot of flavour. I've tried to put my finger on what it tastes like, so I can explain it, but all I taste is sweetness. These are nicest served chilled from the fridge. Yummy rating: I'm starting to see why only certain tropical fruits, like oranges, mangos, and bananas, have become popular world-wide. These are nice enough, but just so much work.

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Winter date Other names: Winter jujube. These are the same fruits that, in their dried form, become the red Chinese dates used in soup. Huh. I'd always assumed those were some kind of plum, but obviously I was wrong. It's good to learn new things.

Appearance: They look like very small, brown apples. Each one is about the size of a small crab-apple or plum. The flesh is white inside, with a single small seed. Texture: Very crisp and firm, like an Asian pear. Definitely crisper than your typical apple, and the skin is very thin but still has some solidity under your teeth. Flavour and aroma: Under-ripe, these have a mild, slightly sweet taste. Fully ripe, they're sweeter but still have a very mild flavour. There's no noticeable texture change that I can see between under-ripe and fully ripe, so you'll only know by taste. Leave them too long, however, and they'll go squishy and start to smell slightly fermented. Yummy rating: These are okay, easy to snack on.

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Cempadak Appearance: They look like smaller jackfruits - a football sized horny green skin, with bright yellow fleshy interior, housing large seeds. Texture: The texture is softer and squishier than jackfruit, and each segment has some kind of tough membrane that doesn't break down under your teeth, so it feels like chewing on plastic wrap. I chewed my first bite for more than 2 minutes before I gave up and spat out the membrane. To eat it more easily, first cut or break off a segment and peel the flesh off the seed, then scrape your teeth along the fleshy side, like you would with an artichoke leaf. That way you can get the flesh into your mouth without the membrane.

Flavour and aroma: A cross between durian and jackfruit (described in my last post). Admittedly, if you haven't tried either that's not going to tell you much. Think really sweet, almost a lightly fermented taste. The aroma is similar to fruit salad with just a hint of sweat socks, and has a habit of hanging around (your whole kitchen will smell like the fruit for a couple of days after you've eaten it). Yummy rating: Frankly, I think both durian and jackfruit are nicer than cempadak, so I'd go for one of those in preference.

Unusual Asian fruits, part 1

I'm obsessed with fruit. I absolutely adore discovering new fruits to try, and when I'm on my travels, I always try and check out the local produce markets for unfamiliar fruits and veggies. Since I've been living in Singapore, I've managed to try quite a few new tastes and textures - have you tried any of these? Let me know what you thought in the comments.
	Jackfruit Other names: Trai mit (Vietnamese) Appearance: The plants produce huge, green knobbly pods, similar in appearance to an oversized durian (but with much less pronounced spikes). Picture a mutant American football, that's grown to many times it's original size, developed soft green spikes, and is now plotting world domination.
Inside, you'll find bright yellow fruit segments, each containing a large white seed (the seeds are edible once cooked, but cause terrible flatulence, so I wouldn't bother if I were you). Easiest bought as pre-prepared segments. Texture: Tender to the tooth, without being mushy or really soft. They can be firm and a little waxy if under-ripe. Texture wise, it feels like crossing a ripe apricot or peach with a grape (if that makes any sense at all). Flavour and aroma: Imagine a really stinky fruit, but made by Jesus. The fruit when ripe has a distinctive, very sweet taste, reminiscent of fruit salad, and a strong, almost-floral fragrance which will linger in your home or hotel room for days. Yummy rating: Yes, yes, yes!!! For more information about this fruit, including cultivation and how to prepare a whole fruit, I recommended this page on CloveGarden.

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Snake fruit Other names: salak Appearance: I hate to say it, but these look like snakeskin ballbags (sorry, mum!). The skin is thin and a little brittle, and easily breaks off, revealing firm off-white globes of crisp fresh, surrounding a large brown seed. Texture: Most of the time these are fairly crisp, but you do occasionally get one that's not ripe or over-ripe, in which case it will be a bit chalky or squishy. Flavour and aroma: Not a strong flavour or aroma, to be honest. A bit like an Asian pear, but not as peary. (I do realise how ridiculous these descriptions probably are, thanks). It's only a little sweet, but quite nice. Yummy rating: Not bad. I could happily munch through a few of these.

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Langsat Appearance: Unpeeled, these look like longans on steroids. The fruits vary from one to two inches in diameter, with a matt skin. Inside, it looks like a citrus fruit, with translucent lobes of flesh that easily split apart from each other. The lobes often contain a small, soft seed which tastes very bitter, like the seeds in citrus. (Spit those puppies out). Texture: Unlike citrus, the lobes aren't made of pulp but instead have a jelly-like texture, like those fruit jellies that appear in all the grocery shops for Christmas.

Flavour and aroma: Again, citrusy. Langsat taste almost exactly like a pomelo or mild grapefruit. Despite the similarities to citrus, langsat are actually a member of the mahogany family (thank you wikipedia!). Huh. Yummy rating: These are very nice, but a bit fiddly to peel and leave your hands quite sticky. The seeds are harder to remove than those of citrus, but you really don't want to eat them as they are quite gross, so you have to be careful biting into these to avoid any unpleasant surprises. Overall, I love the taste and texture, but they're so much faff! Update: I bought a second batch of these that appeared superficially larger, but had much thicker skins that came off more easily. This second batch had very few seeds, so was much easier to eat - if I could guarantee getting the varietal without all the seeds, these would easily move into my top 5 fruits.

Sambal squid

	I made this dish as part of a Malay feast for a friend of mine. It's very flavourful, although not the prettiest dish ever. The chilli and tomato sauce perfectly complements the tender squid, but would also work well with prawns or other seafood.

Mee goreng with leftovers

Right across Asia, leftover bits of meat and vegetables are turned into fried rice or fried noodles for the following day's breakfast or lunch. So what do you do when you have 4 spears of asparagus, 50g of fresh tofu, and one handful of beansprouts that had seen better days? Mee goreng to the rescue! Throw in a few peanuts for protein, a dash of lime juice and roasted chilli paste for flavour, and dig in!

Laksa Kelantan

	I'm honest with you, laksa Kelantan isn't my favourite type of laksa. I tried making it for the first time recently, including making my own laksam (wide, soft laksa noodles) – a disaster which I won't be attempting again any time soon! But I found overall the soup was a little bland.
It's got a bit of sourness from the tamarind, but doesn't have enough sourness to really fit as an asam laksa. It has a lot of coconut milk, but not the curry seasoning to really qualify as a curry laksa. I also found it rather hard to get the fish suitable minced by hand (next time, I'd probably use an immersion blender!), Overall, it was all a bit meh. But never try, you'll never know!

Laksa Lemak

You'll find variations of laksa all over Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia: some are based on minced fish, others include mixed shellfish. Some use thin rice noodles, others use thicker, or spaghetti-like noodles. All are delicious. Laksas fall into two main camps: curry laksa (like this recipe for Singapore laksa) that uses coconut milk, or asam (sour) laksa, using asam fruit or sometimes tamarind as a souring agent.

Laksa Lemak fits into the repretoire of Nyonya cuisine, and is common in the Melaka area. Lemak (meaning fat) refers to the coconut milk used in the preparation, adding a yummy richness. It's mildly spiced, aromatic, and very, very tasty!

Satay celup

Viscous tawny liquid bubbles slowly. It looks like mud; it smells like heaven. Peanuts, coriander, lemongrass and chillies. I was a few weeks into my solo trip around Asia, and this was my first experience of hotpot. A communal way of eating where skewers of food are cooked in boiling liquid at the table, hotpot is popular all over Asia, where family is the one constant in a rapidly changing economy, and eating “family-style” is the norm. But Melaka is the only place that uses peanut sauce as the cooking liquid: satay celup is a unique adaptation that fuses the culinary traditions of a diverse population into a mouth-watering whole. Seeing I'm alone, a local teacher invites me to join her table.

Curry mee

I think this is officially my new favourite noodle dish. It's very spicy, sweet with coconut milk and jaggery, and bursting with sweet prawns, meaty pork balls, and tender crisp vegetables. Don't let the number of ingredients put you off - once everything's assembled, it cooks quickly and easily, and results in a supremely satisfying bowl of spicy goodness.

Mee Siam (Thai-style Nonya soup noodles)

	This dish of soup noodles is found all over Malaysia, with a thousand different variations. What they all have in common is hint of sourness from the Tamarind, and a subtle Thai influence.

Tahu goreng (tofu salad with tangy peanut sauce)

A classic hawker dish, fried tofu salad is popular all over Malaysia and Singapore. The sauce varies from stall to stall, but sourness from tamarind should be one of the defining flavours, cutting through the blandness of the tofu. Even if you're not a tofu fan, give this dish a try - you might just be converted!

Malaysian lamb korma

	A traditional Indian korma is a creamy, aromatic dish, with a marked absence of any heat or chilli taste. It's nice - but it doesn't really paster muster in chilli-mad Malaysia. This Malay adaptation features chillies and coconut milk, and swaps almonds for peanuts, taking it a long way from its origins in Hyderabad. Viva la difference!

Stir fried water spinach

	Water spinach (or kangkung, to use its Malay name) is a hugely popular stir fry vegetable. This method of cooking results in a very flavourful dish, sure to tempt even the most jaded of green-veggie haters. You can find bunches of water spinach in Asian markets, but this dish is also excellent with ordinary garden spinach, so just use that if you don't have easy access to water spinach.

Hainanese chicken rice

	Hugely popular in Singapore, as well as much of Malaysia, chicken rice is true comfort food. Chicken is poached slowly until it is just cooked and still very tender, then served with rice cooked in the chicken fat and some of the poaching stock, and garnished with cucumber and chilli sauce. Finally, the stock is used to make a simple accompanying chicken soup.

Ayam rendang (chicken rendang)

This way of preparing chicken in coconut is popular all over Malaysia. If you wanted to be really authentic, you could serve it garnished with a few deep fried anchovies (ikan bilis), which the Malaysians love.

Malay chicken curry

With Malaysia's long history of immigration from India, it's not surprising that curry has become a very popular dish in Malaysia. This is a wet chicken curry, meaning it makes a lot of sauce. The coconut milk adds a hint of sweetness, and the peanut butter adds even more richness. Serve alongside bowls of rice and a vegetable side dish for a filling and yumtastic meal. This dish is also hugely popular served with roti canai (delicious oily and flaky flatbreads).

Most versions of this recipe (kari ayam) are simpler than mine and use curry powder, omiting the shrimp paste, kaffir lime leaves, peanut butter, lemongrass and turmeric. Sometimes cinnamon and star anise are also added. Malaysian curry powders (like Baba's brand) taste different than Indian ones, and can be hard to find in some places (you need a decent Asian grocery store). I've included a variation below, but don't be afraid to try different combinations until you find your favourite.

Mee rebus

Often, when it comes to street food, it's all about the noodle. Mee rebus is a popular hawker-stall dish in Malaysia and Singapore. Yellow noodles are served in a sweet gravy, made with mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes (or sometimes just regular potatoes). Garnished with fried tofu, hard boiled eggs, and various bits of greenery, it makes a tasty almost-veggie meal. To make it full veggie, just omit the shrimp paste.

Acar

Acar is a simple pickle; there are probably as many different versions of it as there are different grandmas. Use whichever vegetables you like or happen to have lying about the house, and serve alongside fried chicken (ayam goreng) or rice dishes.

Terung sambal

In my ongoing quest to make aubergine taste a bit less pants, I think I've found a winner. Enter terung sambal, or Malaysian spiced aubergine. This very simple recipe is essentially just fried or roasted aubergine, covered in oodles of tasty spice paste, thus obliterating the taste of the aubergine - result! If you want to enjoy (?) more of the natural flavour of the aubergine, just go a little easier with the spice paste.

Nasi kuning (yellow rice)

This rice is typically served on special occasions, normally shaped into a cone and served alongside various meat and vegetable dishes. The flavour is very light and delicate, so be sure you don't swamp the rice with sauces.