Rice porridge, durian charged

Swedes eat rice porridge, risgrynsgröt, for Christmas. In fact we even feed it to our Santa Clauses. A Santa who doesn’t get his gröt is sure to return and make trouble for you during the year ahead. We serve it with cinnamon and there is supposed to be a peeled almond mixed in with the glutinous substance. The person who gets the almond will be married within the year. But there was clearly something wrong with the almond aspect of the tradition. I got many almonds over the years before I got hitched.

This year we did a South-East Asian version of the meal. We boiled sticky rice with coconut milk and added durian. Durian is a tropical fruit famous for its weird prickly exterior and nauseating smell. I’ve relied on it in the past as a talisman, but now we actually ate some. It’s heavenly. Yes, indeed, heavenly. Me and Diane had second and third helpings. As it turns out it goes perfectly with the smallest glass of whiskey. In addition, Santa had brought a Jimmy Hendrix CD which we put on, and I swear the gröt had psychotropic properties.

Durian is reported in Southeast Asia to work as an aphrodisiac. Hence the popular saying “when the durians come down, the sarongs come off.” Durian, I’ve come to realize, is the real reason why many people in this part of the world have such satisfied smiles on their faces. Does it work? Well, let’s put it this way, gröt with durian is more reliable than gröt with almonds.