For many, Durian is considered the king of fruits, a specialty of Việt Nam renowned for its rich source of vitamins, its attractive fragrance and sweet taste, that those who are in love with this fruit can never forget.

Master chef Phạm Tuấn Hải said, as a durian lover, apart from enjoying it year round, he also uses it as an aromatic ingredient to cook many dishes such as grilled durian, sticky rice durian, ice-cream durian, porridges, crepes and more.

Hải also has recipes for grilled durian, durian juice and sugar-cane durian juice.

Durian sticky rice is so popular that almost all housewives in southern provinces know how to cook it for their family or to sell it in the markets or street pavements, said Hải.

Ingredients include a kilo of sticky rice, half a kilo of well-kneaded durian, coconut juice, sugar and salt. The taste of the dish will depend both on the skill of the cook and the selection of the fruit, so selecting barely ripe durian, quality sticky rice and special fragrant yellow sugar cane.

There are two sorts of sticky rice: Mung bean coated sticky rice (locally known as xôi vò) and green bean mixed with sticky rice durian (xôi đậu xanh).

It’s hard to describe how tasty and buttery the durian can be, a melt in the mouth taste that only an experienced durian lover can experience, said Hải.

Different from other cooks, a seller in HCM City Vũ Thị Hà does not knead the durian but uses original durian as topping separately, to be eaten with sticky rice and coconut juice.

“By doing it this way, many of my diners are very pleased. They say they can reduce or increase one of these ingredients according to their own preferences,” Hà said.

Durian sugarcane juice is a special favourite juice of the city and visitors to Sài Gòn (now HCM City), the deep sweet of juice mixed with the buttery fat of durian is a perfect option for a hot day.

It’s easy to make the juice. Grind the durian centre and put it into the sugarcane juice, top it with coconut threads and you will have an ideal refreshment, said Đặng Thu Lan.

Lan said this specialty is available in many southern localities including Củ Chi District in HCM City or Long Khánh City in Đồng Nai Province.

The foodie added that traders can adapt the drink to how the guests prefer the juice, with more of less ground durian within the sugarcane. He added that the flavour of durian mixed with milk and the sweet and cool of sugarcane juice, is not just refreshing, but its fragrance will linger long their mouth, said Lan.

Ryan Wester from Australia, who has been working in a University in Việt Nam, said at first he was very afraid of the durian smell. “I often have to go out or feel nauseous when my Vietnamese colleagues happily enjoyed the fruit.

Durian is considered King fruit and specialty of Việt Nam's southern region. Photo mytour.vn

“Then one day, a colleague encouraged me to try some. She was so surprised that I can eat it and then from that day on, l like it and I have now become an addict to it."

Apart from eating the fruit fresh, Ryan also likes durian porridge which is cooked with tapioca, minced durian and coconut juice, all mixed with steamed sticky rice.

“I enjoy the durian fragrant flavour, mixed with sticky rice and sometimes durian meat pieces in the porridge boom with a lovely strong flavour in my mouth. It’s a very good dessert,” said Ryan.

Traditional medicine researchers believe that durian can clean the blood system, reduce bad cholesterol and improve bone density. VNS