Bay Damnaeb Tourain — Durian Sticky Rice

Kampot is so proud of its durian that the town built a giant concrete statue of one at its central roundabout, spikes and all — a monument to the creamy, celebrated fruit that grows in the orchards ringing the town. The trade has deep roots: durian and pepper were among the cash crops the French protectorate encouraged along the southern coast, and the orchards planted in those decades still fruit today. Bay damnaeb tourain — durian folded into coconut sticky rice — is what a durian-mad town does with the best of the harvest. In season the road into Kampot fills with pickup trucks selling the fruit by the boot-load, and every stall and home kitchen has its own way of turning it into the coast's richest sweet.

The dish is really two simple things done carefully and married warm. The sticky rice must be soaked long and steamed, never boiled, so the grains stay distinct and glossy before they drink a warm coconut-and-palm-sugar milk; rush the soak and you get chalky centres no coconut can rescue. The durian goes into a loose coconut custard — mashed, warmed, barely thickened — where its notorious perfume becomes the whole point rather than a shock, sweet and heady and custard-soft against the salted rice. Serve both warm, and serve small, because this is a full-stop of a dessert, decadent enough that half a plate ends a meal. If durian is not your fruit, this dish will not convert you — but on the Kampot coast, it is very nearly a civic duty to try.