Es Cendol

4.9 from 13 reviews

Author: Anita Jacobson

Categories: Dessert Vegetarian

Cuisines: Indonesian Malaysian

Ingredients: Bean Rice Vegetables

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 30 mins

Total Time: 45 mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• Pandan juice/extract
• 50-80 gram fresh/frozen pandan leaves
• 600 ml water
• Cendol
• 50 gram mung bean starch (Indonesian: tepung hun kwe)
• 50 gram cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon lye water (optional, but highly recommended)
• Dawet (if you don't want cendol, but want dawet instead)
• 120 gram rice flour (Indonesian: tepung beras)
• 30 gram tapioca starch (Indonesian: tepung sagu)
• 1 teaspoon lye water (optional, but highly recommended)
• Coconut milk
• 400 ml (1 can) coconut milk (Indonesian: santan)
• 2-3 pandan leaves, knotted
• a pinch of salt
• Palm sugar syrup
• 200 gram palm sugar (Indonesian: gula Jawa) (*)
• 200 ml water
• 2-3 pandan leaves, knotted
• a pinch of salt
• To serve
• crushed/shaved ice

Instructions

• Pandan juice/extract
  1. Wash and drain pandan leaves, then cut them into tiny strips with a pair of sciccors.
  2. Place pandan leaves and water in a blender. Puree until the leaves becomes very finely shredded. The time will depend on the motor of your blender. It took about 30 seconds to 1 minute in my Ninja blender.
  3. Strain over a fine-mesh strainer to get 600 ml pandan juice/extract.
• Cendol (or Dawet)
  1. Fill a soup pot with ice cold drinking cold water (and optionally, with some ice cubes). Place a steamer basket over the soup pot. Set aside.
  2. Place pandan juice/extract and all the ingredients for cendol (or dawet if that's what you are making) in a sauce pot and stir until well mixed.
  3. Turn on the heat to medium, cook and stir at all time until it bubbles vigorously and thickened into a paste (no standing water).
  4. Lower the heat to low, stir for another 5 minutes to guarantee a thick and stiff paste. You will know it's right because your arm will definitely feel it while stirring.
  5. Turn off the heat, transfer the paste to the prepared steamer basket.
  6. Use a spatula to press the paste through the steamer basket holes until all the paste is now floating in the ice cold water inside the soup pot. The cendol/dawet paste should harden immediately and hold its shape. Set aside in the fridge to fully harden the paste, at least 1 hour.
• Coconut milk
  1. Place all coconut milk ingredients in a sauce pot and cook until the coconut milk starts to boil. Turn off the heat, and immediately remove the pan away from heat source.
  2. Discard the pandan leaves, and pour into a clean jar/bowl.
• Palm sugar syrup
  1. Place all palm sugar syrup ingredients in a sauce pot and bring to a boil. Cook until all the sugar has dissolved.
  2. Turn off heat, discard the pandan leaves, and strain to a clean jar/bowl.
• Assemble ice cendol (or ice dawet)
  1. In a drinking glass/a bowl, fill half way with crushed/shaved ice, top with cendol/dawet to almost full, ladle some coconut milk and palm sugar syrup. Enjoy with a spoon.

Notes

• (*) Palm sugar syrup is best if you can make it with either Indonesian palm sugar (gula Jawa), or Malaysian/Singaporean palm sugar (gula melaka). If you cannot find any of these, please use granulated coconut palm sugar, and not Thai palm sugar. Thai palm sugar is very pale and the color of your palm sugar syrup will be so different compared to the authentic version.