Cendol
Green pandan rice flour jelly noodles served in a glass with coconut milk, palm sugar syrup and shaved ice.
Photograph credit: Cendol Penang by Popo le Chien · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
Don't Make These Mistakes
Stir the jelly all the time as it cooks.
Use ice-cold water to set the strands.
Add red beans or sweetcorn for extra texture.
Making Cendol
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Whisk the rice flour, tapioca starch, pandan juice and first pinch of salt until smooth. Cook over a medium heat, stirring constantly, for 6 minutes until thick and glossy.
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Press the hot mixture through a colander or potato ricer into a bowl of iced water. Leave for 5 minutes to set, then drain.
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Heat the palm sugar and water until dissolved and syrupy, about 5 minutes. Cool.
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Mix the coconut milk with the 1/4 tsp salt.
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Divide the cendol and ice between 4 glasses, pour over the coconut milk and drizzle with the palm sugar syrup.
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Why It Works
Does the ice always melt before you finish it? In Southeast Asia, it does, and it does not matter. Cendol is a drink and a dessert at once, a tall glass of green jelly worms, coconut milk, dark syrup and crushed ice, eaten with a long spoon and a straw in the heat of the afternoon.
The jelly is made from rice flour, tapioca starch, pandan juice and water, cooked in a pan until it thickens into a sticky, translucent green paste. Keep stirring from the moment it starts to thicken. It sets fast and lumps if left. When glossy, it is pressed through a colander or ricer into a bowl of iced water, where it sets into short green strands.
Pandan juice is made by blitzing leaves with water and straining. If you cannot find fresh pandan, use paste or extract with a drop of green colouring.
The syrup is gula melaka (palm sugar) melted with water and a pandan leaf until thick. The coconut milk is thinned slightly and given a pinch of salt. Build the glass with cendol, ice, coconut milk and syrup, in that order, and serve at once.
After You've Cooked It
Best made fresh. The cendol keeps in cold water in the fridge for 1 day.
Changing the Recipe
- If coconut is a problem, a cooking cream (dairy or plant-based) can stand in for the coconut milk in a sauce; the dish will lose the coconut flavour and taste noticeably different.
Serving Cendol
- Red beans
- Sweetcorn
- Fresh durian
- Black glutinous rice
Cendol Nutrition Facts
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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