> The durian is almost a cult item in SE Asia. It is a dangerous-looking
> creature, about the size of a football and covered with sharp
> strong spikes.
> They have in fact been used as weapons in some
> well-publicised cases here. You
> would not want to mistakenly bump into one.
My father used to manage export sales for an American chemical company.
He spend 8 months out of the year in the far east. During one of his
American stays, he lived with me for 2 weeks here in Philadelphia. We
went to an excellent ff Chinese restaurant in the area (Singapore, at
10th and Race if anyone is interested), and he got into a discussion
with the owner about durian. (They both pronounced it exactly as it
looks -- door-ee-en ). I think the woman bet him that he wouldn't eat
one, so we walked to the market around the corner and bought one. It was
already sliced and in some sort of plastic. He and the owner had some,
and then he brought it to my house.
I'll spare you the details, but I think the Indian spice incident that
was discussed here was in the same ballpark as my exposure to durian. My
father tried to freeze it for his next visit, but I threw it out the day
he left, and then scrubbed my freezer for weeks to get rid of the smell.
WAY GROSS.
He did try to get me to eat it. I acted like a 2 year old because I'm so
sensitive to smell. I think I touched it with my tongue. It sort of
tasted like apples and onions to me. Not appealing.
On to the other stuff...
Here's another McDougall MWL recipe that I thought was good, even though
it is definitely higher in sodium...
Onion Roasted Potatoes
2 pounds of red potatoes, cut into chunks
1/4 cup water
1 packet dry onion soup mix (he recommends Hains but just look for a low
sodium, ff kind)
Preheat oven to 400F. Mix ingredients. (I found it easier to mix the
soup into the water, and then pour that over the potatoes.) Make sure
the potatoes are well coated with soup. Place mixture into casserole
dish, and cover. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover,
and bake for 30 more minutes.
I liked baking them in a shallow dish because they got a little brown
around the edges, and it reminded me of stew potatoes from when I was a
kid. If the potatoes aren't cooking well after 30 minutes (maybe the
chunks are too big?) then add a little more water, replace the lid, and
cook a little longer. THEN take off the lid and bake for 30 minutes.
They are definitely good the next day.
Patti
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