Malaysian. Dessert. Served at Daun Pisang (#4).

Cendol

Pandan jelly, gula melaka, and coconut milk, as a drink pouch

Cendol is an iced dessert of pandan jelly, gula melaka syrup, and coconut milk. The palm sugar gives the syrup a deep caramel flavor.

The jelly is mung bean starch plus cornstarch, because cornstarch alone comes out too soft, and a few drops of lye water are why it stays that vivid green.

Makes
Makes 12 pouches
Do ahead
Make all three components two days ahead. Fill the pouches the day you drink them.

Ingredients

Scale

Pandan jelly worms

  • 88gmung bean starch (hoen kwe flour)
  • 60gcornstarch
  • 1 L (~1040 ml)fresh pandan juice, from 40–50 pandan leaves and 1050 ml water
  • ½ tspfine salt
  • 28 dropslye water / alkaline water (~7 drops per 260 ml juice)

Gula melaka syrup

  • 500ggula melaka, grated or chopped
  • 200 mlwater
  • 4pandan leaves, knotted
  • ½ tspsalt

Coconut milk

  • 2 cans (800 ml)full-fat coconut milk
  • 200 mlwater
  • 2pandan leaves, knotted
  • ½ tspsalt

Per pouch

  • 2–3 tbspgula melaka syrup. Start at 2, it's concentrated
  • 3–4 tbspdrained jelly
  • 3–4small ice cubes, or skip
  • 60–80 mlcold coconut milk

Method

  1. Make the pandan juice: blend 40 to 50 pandan leaves hard with 1050 ml water, then strain and squeeze. If you can't get leaves, use 2 tsp pandan extract in the water.
  2. Whisk the starches and salt into the cold pandan juice until there are no lumps.
  3. Add the lye water. Sieve into a heavy pot.
  4. Get an ice bath ready before you start cooking, with a 3 to 5 mm stainless strainer or steamer insert to press through.
  5. Cook on medium, stirring constantly with a silicone spatula, 8 to 12 minutes. It goes from opaque green to translucent, glossy, and thick, and it scorches, so keep it moving. It's done when it pulls from the sides and is fully translucent.
  6. Press the hot jelly through the strainer into the ice water. Work fast. If it sets in the strainer, reheat it slightly.
  7. Store the jelly submerged in water, airtight, in the fridge. Before serving, drain it, rinse it warm to soften, soak it cold, and drain again.
  8. For the syrup, simmer the gula melaka, water, pandan, and salt on medium-low until melted and slightly thick, 5 to 10 minutes. Strain, cool, and keep in a glass jar.
  9. For the coconut milk, bring the coconut milk, water, pandan, and salt to a gentle simmer, not a boil. Cool and refrigerate. Re-whisk if it splits.
  10. To fill a pouch: 2 to 3 tbsp gula melaka syrup, 3 to 4 tbsp drained jelly, 3 to 4 small ice cubes or none, then 60 to 80 ml cold coconut milk.
  11. Seal, add a boba straw, and serve immediately.

Notes

  • The jelly is best within 24 to 48 hours.
  • The syrup thickens cold, so warm it slightly to pour. It lasts weeks.
  • This syrup is thick and concentrated. For a cocktail, make a thin 1:1 syrup instead.
  • The coconut milk is thinned 4:1 with water so it drinks easily through a straw.
  • Filling all 12 pouches takes about 5 minutes if everything is already cold.