Kluwak ✦

Noix de kluwak

What it is

The raw kernel carries enough hydrogen cyanide to kill, and the same tree gives villagers a fish poison; the fix is to boil the seeds, then bury them in ash and banana leaves for about forty days, over which cream turns to black. What comes out is not a nut flavour at all but something between truffle, dark chocolate and wet earth.

In the kitchen

Buy them in the shell and shake: a nut that rattles has dried out and is spent. Crack it, scoop the black paste, and slacken it with a spoon of warm water or tamarind before it meets the spice paste, or it stays in lumps.

Goes with

Beef Lemongrass Galangal Shallot Tamarind paste Chili pepper Makrut lime leaf Coconut milk

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