Cempedak only bears fruit once a year and the season lasts for at least couple of months to 4 months sometimes, somewhere June to August alongside with the other tropical fruit friends, the durians, mangoesteens and rambutans. It is indeed a Malaysian favourite, be it for breakfast or even tea. This year, I had my fair share of cempedak as I have this uncle selling at the roadside right opposite my place. Best not to have too much of it as it’s kind of heaty.. and may cause phlegm and it’s a high sugar content fruit.
The price ranges from MYR 2 to 15 each. Depends on the “grade”. Cempedak pun ada grade/type. Well, it’s basically thick or thin flesh, and sweet or not sweet la.. bought this for MYR6 cause it has thick sweet flesh… another fruit of the same size costs only MYR2.00 cos it has thin flesh.
Cutting a cempedak open is not a difficult task, unlike the durian with lots of thorns and you need some strengths to pull it open. Best if your both hands are cover with plastic. You need to oil the knife so the the white sap will not stick to the knife, and it will be a hassle to clean up… some goes to your hands.. if the white sap sticks to your hand, it may take a while to go off and best way to remove it it by using cooking oil. anyways, slit the fruit vertically and with all your might, use both hands to pull it open.. and tadaaa…..
You will see golden shining cempedaks still attached to the core…
Have it all removed and kept in a container…. it can be eaten straight away… one medium fruit will have around 30 plus minus cempedak-s…
But Malaysian favourite are those dipped into flour batter, and deep fried to golden crunchy goodness… if you want to eat the seed, best to deep fried it under low fire so the seed will be cooked… the seed tastes a little like roasted chestnut, harder and not so sweet version… but not too much as it causes wind if your tummy… and the next thing you know.. you’ll be releasing lots of gas :P
Batter mixture are just plain flour with water and salt to taste… you may add some other flour like rice flour for extra crunchiness…
Look at that beautiful yellow colour… yummy…
And that’s the seed, I usually don’t eat them though…
Besides eating it plain of deep fried, some also uses it for making ice creams, cakes and muffins. Some may find the smell a little pungent though.. but to us.. it smells oh so yummy… you can even smell if your neighbour is frying them (vice versa), just like the durian!
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