Recipes: Durian Jello (Rau Cau Sau Rieng)

  

I first came across Rau Cau in Dak Mil, a small town in Vietnam’s Central Highlands. We’d been asked out to
a cup of coffee with a friendly local after spending the day visiting his durian and coffee plantation. I was really thirsty and hot, so I
ordered a coconut instead. When my coconut arrived on a clean white plate, I gratefully sank my straw in and tried to take a sip – of a trampoline-soft round
of jello, called Rau Cau in Vietnamese.

Unfortunately, I actually think Jello is kind of gross. When I was little, my dad ruined it for me by calling it “elephant snot.” Now whenever I see a shivering, half-opaque lump of white or yellow jello, elephant snot is all I see. Overshare? Hopefully, you can still enjoy jello!

Not wanting to be rude, I manned down a few bites. Our host told us that
they also make a Rau Cau out of durian. I looked it up online, and
found out that  Rau Cau is often served in multiple layers, like a cake.
The popular flavor combinations are coconut, mocha, durian, and pandan
leaves.

Here I’ve only provided the recipe for the Durian Rau Cau here. If you want to make the layered cake, simply follow the instructions at Pham Fatale.

Durian and coffee layers. Picture from socola.vn

Ingredients:

Recipe courtesy of Dinh Duong