It’s hard to be neutral about durian. When I started my recent series on how different countries eat durian, I knew that people tended to either be obsessed with durian or loathe it. And honestly, I have to say, up until this point I had been pretty on the fence about the fruit. Yet, this recipe is starting to give me hope.

Kue Pancong Durian Keju is a savory pancake dish from Indonesia. The recipe was submitted to me by Rudy from Jakarta in Indonesia who claims that these pancakes are one of the most impressive dishes in all of Jakarta. High praise indeed. Rudy loves to eat Kue Pancong Durian Keju for breakfast or a snack in the afternoon or even at midnight. Rudy’s sister even went so far as to serve Kue Pancong Durian Keju as the dessert at her wedding. So, there really is no bad time to eat this dish, it seems. With all this praise though, you can see why I was getting optimistic.

The pancakes themselves are made with rice flour, coconut milk, vanilla, and shredded coconut. The batter is mixed and then cooked just like you would any other pancake. You end up with a fluffy pancake that’s subtly sweet and chocked full of coconut flavor. Now, where does the dorian come in? Well, the pancakes are drizzled with a durian sauce that combines palm sugar, vanilla, ginger, pandan leaves, and fresh durian fruit. If you’re just starting out with durian, you can start with small amounts of the sauce and work your way up.

All together, I actually call Kue Pancong Durian Keju a win. The light and fluffiness of the pancake is a nice balance to the funky, unique taste of the durian sauce. As Rudy put it, durian “has character” and that definitely translates to the flavor of Kue Pancong Durian Keju.