The
‘es cendol’ is considered a ‘sweet
drink dessert’, a beverage that is usually ordered just before or right after
meal. Cendol is made from fine rice flour ‘spaetzle-like’ but a little bit softer.
The dough mixture consists of finely ground rice flour combined with chalk
water (boiled chalk with water) to make the dough really soft and spongy when
it is cooked in boiling water. Use a strainer or sieve or a special ‘cendol’ sieve to produce the same fine
particles. The ‘cendol’ usually comes
in green and white color.
Combine
the other ingredients: black jelly (cincao), boiled red cassava pearls, pandanus
flavored coconut milk, pandanus flavored palm sugar and shaved ice.
The
term ‘cendol’ came from Malay-Patani
language (the language is used in South Thailand) ‘horn dooi’ means ‘help’
which is needed when preparing this drink because it is a bit complicated to
make. Travellers from Southern Thailand in the early 1900s would cross the border
to Malaysia and from there to Indonesia and to other region. The original ‘cendol’ is green in color, served with
palm sugar, some coconut milk and shaved ice. This tasty drink was probably the
base for the creation of ‘ais kachang’
and ‘ais batu campur’ in Malaysia as
well as ‘halo-halo’ in the Philippines,
where all of these types of drinks have similar ways of preparation and in
appearance.
The
‘es cendol jawa barat’ is but a bit
more complicated to prepare as there are more variety of ingredients to add. The
Chinese style black jelly cincao, colorful cassava pearls and the flavor of
pandanus leaf is predominant. This shows that there are so many cross culture
influence in this particular ‘glass of
drink’ so I call it a cross-culture drink.
Ingredients
for the ‘cendol’
1 cup fine rice flour
2 ½ tablespoons cassava
flour
1 ¼ cups ‘suji’ leaves
juice (this leaf looks like a pandanus leaf)
a pinch of salt
Combine
the rice flour with the cassava flour and salt. Add ½ cup of the ‘suji’ leaf juice and mix well.
Meanwhile, heat the remaining ‘suji’
juice to boiling point and add the flour mixture. Stir in to cook until it
becomes very soft ‘jelly-like’ dough. Remove from the heat.
In
another pot, boil water and place a ‘cendol’
strainer to sift the dough to form the ‘cendol’.
With the use of a scraper, push the dough through the strainer to the boiling
water to cook further the dough in a form of tiny green ‘pasta-like’ soft dough.
Prepare
also a bowl of ice water to cool the cooked ‘cendol’.
As soon as the ‘cendol’ float, you
should scrape and take it out from the boiling water and allow to cool by
placing it in the ice water so that it will not be overcooked and become saggy. Then remove from the water as soon as the ‘cendol’ is cold and store in a
container.
Repeat
the process until the entire dough is cooked properly.
For
the coconut milk syrup
4 cups coconut milk
1 ¼ cups sugar
1 piece pandanus leaf,
crushed
Combine
the coconut milk, sugar and pandanus leaf and bring to boil. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Keep in the fridge.
For
the palm sugar syrup
1 cup palm sugar
1 tablespoon white sugar
½ cup water
1 piece pandanus leaf,
crushed
¼ cup chopped ripe
jackfruits
About the image above: simple 'cendol' presentation in one of
the restaurant in Vietnam; the cendol 'Jawa Barat' probably more
classic presentation and of course the taste will be
unforgettable especially if you try it in the region itself
like Bandung or other area in West Java
Combine
the palm sugar, white sugar, water and pandanus leaf and bring to boil until
the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Add the chopped
fresh jackfruits and keep for later use.
To
serve
¼ cup boiled cassava pearls
(red color)
¼ cup black jelly ‘cincao’
shaved ice to chill
Prepare
a bowl or a tall glass to serve this ‘cendol’. Fill the bowl or glass with enough
‘cendol’ and add the cassava pearls, black jelly, coconut milk syrup and the
palm sugar syrup. If you want a sweeter drink, you may add more sugar. And
finally, top the drink with shaved ice just before serving. Enjoy this icy
yummy treat!
