Pining for Cempedak Goreng

Did you know that Wikipedia reports not have an English name for Cempedak? It simply describes Cempedak as: "the taste of the fruit is similar to the related Jackfruit and Breadfruit with a hint of Durian".

I previously mentioned about how crazy I was about Cempedak Goreng when I was preggers with Aiden. So during my last trip to Tesco for our weekly groceries, I was surprised to find cempedak (instead of the normal packed durians) displayed as their fresh fruit of the day. My first attempt to make cempedak goreng failed miserably when I tried to fry some using tepung goreng pisang, and since then I have never ever managed to muster the courage to try it again. But this time around, I had Bibik! Bibik to help me fry it (and Bibik to blame if it all fails!)...

So I told Bibik to pick one (see, suruh Bibik lagi, kalau tak manis can blame Bibik again *grin*) and the minute we got home, I told her to try and fry it. I wasn't hoping for much, especially since the cempedak came from Tesco. I mean, how often have we purchased fruits from hypermarkets only to be disappointed by their taste and texture? But Tesco sure did prove me wrong this time, because the cempedak was oh so sweet! As sweet as sugar!

Looks may be deceiving, but these were one of the best raw cempedaks I have ever tasted in my life.

Anyway, before I start rambling about how to make cempedak goreng, I hope none of you laugh at this post, because sincerely, I need to record this somewhere for future reference. Yerla, Bibik is going home soon. So must learn to make this myself. So if you know how to fry cempedak goreng, good for you. Enjoy the pictures instead!

Buah cempedak di luar pagar,

Ambil galah tolong jolokkan,

Saya budak baru belajar,

Kalau salah tolong tunjukkan!

Bibik used plain flour (not the self-raising ones as well). She insisted on sifting it first.

Pour in the water and mix it into a batter. If needed, add salt (we didn't even bother).

Meanwhile this boy was busy thinking on what bottle to pull out from the fridge. He does this all the time whenever he manages to unravel the kain used to tie the fridge doors together. (I so need to compose a blog post on how we babyproof the house against Aiden!)

Coat the cempedak in the batter.

Like this.

Heat some oil in the frying pan.

Deep fry in the hot oil until crispy and golden brown.

*Drool*

Bibik did a really great job. Not only Mummy enjoyed it, Aiden enjoyed munching on it as well. And that was all we had for dinner that night. I even had to quickly blow on one fried cempedak to cool it down because he insisted on holding one on his own while he watched cartoons on TV.