Durians... definitely on my 'AVOID' list!

I dislike durians... very very much. I have absolutely no idea why since my family loves them so much especially my brother, to such an extent that he was once nicknamed as the 'durian king'. Since young, I have always shun away from all kind of strong-smelling fruits and durians have to be on the top my list. You have no idea how much agony I would be in whenever my family brings back some durians, I would be locked up in my air-conditioned room and reusing to breathe in any of the 'polluted' air till it clears up.

So you could imagine my horror when my mum and sis-in-law suggested that I use a durian filling for my cream puffs. They must be kidding, I would be crazy to do that! Indeed... I am... I have no idea how I was persuaded by my mom to agree to that and that was the start of my nightmare.

It was a saturday morning, I was supposed to bake some cream puffs for my niece birthday party and my mum told me that she bought a couple of durians the night before and I could use the pulp as the filling later when I was done with the chocolate ones. Durians in the fridge... something tells me that the whole fridge would be reeking of the horrible smell. My mum saw the look on my face.

"Don't worry, I sealed the plastic container with a cling wrap, there would be no smell at all!"

I looked at her with untrusting eyes of mine and told her that we are not going anywhere near the durians till the very end, only when we have depleted the chocolate filling. She laughed and nodded her head.

Everything went well for the afternoon, many mini chocolate cream puffs were made, many... but I got a feeling that they still weren't enough for the party itself and I have to admit that quite a number were devoured by my mum and I before they had the chance to make it into the box! *giggled*

At last it was time for the durian filling, I opened the fridge and held the plastic container at an arm's length. Trust me, if I had an oxygen tank right at home, I would use it the very moment the cling wrap left the container. It was pungent... awww. But it was now or never, so I was determined to whip up the durian filling in a record time. The durian pulp was mixed with a little honey and cream till it was partially smooth but not losing all its texture. Double cream was gently whipped till soft peaks appeared and combined with  the durian pulp. All went well since I was getting used to the smell till an old habit of mine almost killed me...

Whenever any chocolate filling got onto my finger, I would lick it (all right I know that is disgusting...) but I can't resist tasting it... and guess what happen when the durian filling got onto my finger, I licked it too! And the very moment I did that, I gagged, air was knocked out of me, it has been ages since I have ate anything with durian in it. With the high concentration of durian pulp in the filling, it was as if I was eating the actual thing. Cups of water and soft drinks followed through but the taste was still lingering in my taste buds... will I ever be the same again?

Although it was a nightmare, but I was satisfied seeing how much my mum enjoyed the durian puffs, the little wrinkles that tweak at the sides of her eyes when she ate it with a smile.

The Puffs of Encouragement

Through the door of my room, I could hear the voices of my parents as they got ready to leave. They were heading to the doctor's first for my dad's check up and to the office where my mum had to go for a briefing for the upcoming new surveys. It was still early in the morning, around seven, I was still sleeping quite soundly in bed, wondering how I should spend my day today. Should I try to finish my book today or should I cook or bake something?

As I laze in bed thinking, time seems to run past me and it was almost 9 when I got up. I messaged my mum asking her to keep me updated of my dad's results. And within a minute, i got beeped, she told me no change. No change in the dad's blood glucose level, I thought it was good but my mum replied saying that my dad was disappointed as he was so sure that his blood glucose level would decrease but it seems that his new diet needed some time before the results can be seen.

I knew how disappointing it can be when you thought that something was bound to happen in a certain way but turn out the other way instead. So I messaged telling him not to be disappointed and continue working on his new diet, one day, we will see the difference. And I thought it would be a good idea to come up with something he enjoys eating since he has been curbing his appetite, something to encourage him before he goes back to his diet.

Hmmmm, my dad is definitely a fussy eater (now you know why I am one too), it would be tough to make something he really enjoys... oh! Curry Puffs!!! He loves them and I could make use of the puff pastry in my freezer. 

Well, as we most Asians know, curry puffs are snacks made of pastry puffs containing thicken curry chicken, potatoes and sometimes eggs. So I made a list of ingredients I needed to buy and ran to the market just opposite my block. 

Chicken drumsticks... check, coconut milk... check, potatoes... check... onions and shallots... check, why am I checking my list so carefully? That is because it irritates me to stop what I am doing just to get the missing ingredient and I have done that a few time and it is not fun every single time.

Peel and dice the potatoes, that is easy. De-bone the drumsticks and cut the meat into small pieces, I could have made things easier by getting breast meat instead but I have no love for breast meat since it dries too easily. De-boning can't be that tough I though... it wasn't tough but it took quite awhile before I managed to have my little pieces of chicken meat since I did remove all the skin and fats as well... healthy living... hah.

Brown the onions and shallots, add the curry powder and chili paste, before I could react, my hands poured the uncooked potatoes into the mixture. Oh no... I was supposed to boil them first... now it would take me ages to cook them with the paste... After nearly 45 minutes of simmering which means I had to keep adding water and watch over the fire to prevent the mixture from drying up, I finally had potatoes that was soft enough to be digested. In goes the chicken, 5 minutes later, the coconut milk too. Smells good!

I though the puff pastry would be able to hold its shape when the curry mixture was being place in it but I was so wrong. It tore and went out of shape horribly, so I had to make my puff into a pie... a curry pie. 

Although its not a puff, but the pie was good too. The puff pastry did not taste as good as I would like it to be but the curry mixture was heavenly, the tender chicken and soft potatoes were coated perfectly by the curry giving a creamy and moist texture, every mouthful had a tinge of  spiciness and wonderful aroma of the coconut milk. It was a good pie, good enough as a source of encouragement =)