Regular supermarkets did not have it. I made plans with my friend to go to a Korean store the next time she and her family went. Unfortunately, our schedules have both been busy and we haven’t been able to go. Work kept me from checking out Chinatown. By the time I left work, I was too tired to trek into Chinatown to find some durian.
And then, a friend and I traveled to Revere Beach on what was probably the hottest day in Boston so far this summer. Many other Bostonians had the same idea, and parking was hard to come by. I had just about given up on the prospect of parking, when I some how ended up on a street with a bunch of Cambodian stores with names like Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom, and beside these stores was an empty parking lot! I went into the store, found a container of frozen durian (packaged in a hard plastic container, shrink wrapped, and I later discovered that each piece of durian is wrapped in cellophane as well)! I went on to purchase a papaya and several mangoes ready to make myself tuk krolok when I got home!
I prepared the fruit, added condensed milk and several ice cubes to the blender and waited for the mixture to turn the perfect shade of orange. I poured myself a glass and was transported back to my recent trip to Cambodia:
“Have you ever had durian?” Wolverette asked me as we rode our bicycles past several fruit sellers with mounds of a brown spikey fruit I had never seen before.
“Only in a restaurant in Boston. It was a durian shake.” I replied.
“And did you like it?!” She asked excitedly and I tried to bring back the memory of the fruit from my encounter years ago when a friend let me try his durian shake.
“I did not dislike it. It was a strong taste, but I don’t know, it was fine.
Wolverette launched into a story of how she bought one when her friends from Wyoming had come to visit her in Siem Reap. “You should have seen their faces as we cut it open! They were wincing; it has a really pungent smell. I am not so sure they liked the flavor, but it was a good experience! You have to try fresh durian before you leave.”
“Okay!” I said thinking I might as well add it to the list of new fruits—mangosteens, rambutan, longan—I’ve tried since I came to visit my sister in Cambodia.
“We’ll take one with us to France’s tonight,” she said decidedly.
We did take a durian to France’s house that night, but we never cracked it open and tried the fruit, because we had stuffed ourselves on delicious French food and left no room for the fruit. We left it at France’s house, deciding it would be inappropriate to bring the fruit back to a guesthouse, where other guests might not be so keen on the smell.
Despite the fact that my first attempt to try a piece of fresh durian failed, by the end of my visit, I had an occasion to try the famous Cambodian street-side smoothie: tuk krolok.
Tuk krolok vendors are identifiable by the display of fresh fruit, an electric blender, condensed milk, and an ice grinder. The ice grinder is a hand-cranked wheeled instrument that shaves ice from a large block of ice that is kept in a near by cooler. After placing your order, the vendor grabs whatever fruit is available, which usually includes papaya, mango, and durian. Sometimes it might include other fruits as well. All of the fruit is chopped and thrown into the blender, along with a heaping amount of condensed milk and freshly ground ice. A few minutes later, the contents of the blender are poured into cups, if you are taking the drink with you, it might then be placed into a plastic bag filled with ice shavings to ensure that it remains cold until you can enjoy it.
In the remote village of Chiphat, electricity is turned on for only a few hours in the night. During our visit, one evening, Wolverette really wanted a fruit smoothie, so we wandered down the street, and came across a little shop with a blender. We took our seats and the little girl who was behind the counter called her parents to come out for what I suspect was the first order of the night. The thin Cambodian woman grabbed some fruit, started to chop it into small piece and threw it into the blender as her husband grabbed the large block of ice and created a mound of snow. The woman grabbed some of the ice shavings put them in the blender and then divided the mixture into several cups and handed one to Wolverette. The woman packed the remaining cups in ice and handed them over to some kids who had arrived on bikes. After handing her their money, they pedaled away with the drinks. More customers arrived, and she set to work making another batch. We suspected, she was probably the only woman in this village who owned a blender.
After a hot day of traveling and shopping at the Russian Market in Phnom Penh, we stumbled across a sweets vendor. They had an exquisite array of sweets, and a blender and fruit. This was actually the first place I tried tuk krolok. We ordered two glasses along with a few sweets made from lotus seeds and noodles. The light-orange fruit drink was handed to me and as I took my first sip, Wolverette watched to see if my face would show any signs of dislike. However, after a sip, I thought it was good—refreshing even. There was a strong flavor, that I recognized as durian, but it blended so well with the papaya and banana that was in the drink. I knew instantly, that this would be one of those things I would crave once I left Cambodia.
all events in this post took place between Jun 1, Jun 5, and July 17, 2011
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