Southeast Asian · Dessert · Served at Mekong (#5 and #6) and Daun Pisang (#4)
Cendol/Lod Chong/Mont Let Saung
Pandan jelly, coconut milk, and palm sugar, in a drink pouch
This dessert goes by a lot of names around Southeast Asia: cendol, lod chong, mont let saung. The base is the same everywhere: pandan jelly, coconut milk, and palm sugar syrup over ice.
I serve it in a drink pouch with a straw, like the bags you'd buy it in at stalls.
This is my version, with jackfruit. It should be cold, drinkable, and not too sweet.
Adapted from MyKitchen101en's cendol jelly (opens in a new tab), the jelly, doubled.
- Yield
- 4 pouches, about 8 oz each
Ingredients
Serves
Pandan jelly worms
- 44 gmung bean starch (hoen kwe flour)
- 30 gcornstarch
- 520 mlfresh pandan juice, from 20 to 25 pandan leaves blended hard with 530 ml water, strained and squeezed. If you can't get leaves, use 1 tsp pandan extract plus water.
- ¼ tspfine salt
- 1/8 tsplye water (alkaline water)
Palm sugar syrup
- 200 gThai or Khmer palm sugar
- 100 mlwater
- 1pandan leaf, knotted
- ¼ tspsalt
Salted coconut milk
- 1 can (400 ml)full-fat coconut milk
- 120 mlwater
- 1pandan leaf, knotted
- ¼ tspsalt, plus a pinch
Jackfruit
- 150 gripe jackfruit, fresh or canned
Per pouch, about 8 oz
- 3 tbsppalm sugar syrup
- 5 to 6 tbspdrained jelly
- 3 tbspjackfruit
- 4small ice cubes
- 100 to 110 mlcold coconut milk
Method
- Make the pandan juice: blend 20 to 25 pandan leaves hard with 530 ml water, then strain and squeeze.
- Whisk the mung bean starch, cornstarch, and salt into the cold pandan juice until there are no lumps, then add the lye water. Pour it through a sieve into a heavy pot.
- Cook over medium heat with a silicone spatula going constantly, 8 to 12 minutes, from opaque green to translucent, glossy, and thick. It scorches easily. It is done when it pulls from the sides and is fully translucent.
- Have an ice bath ready before you start. Press the hot jelly through a 3 to 5 mm stainless strainer or steamer insert into the ice water. Work fast; if it sets in the strainer, reheat it slightly. Keep it submerged in cold water.
- For the syrup, simmer the palm sugar, water, pandan, and salt over medium-low until dissolved and lightly thickened, 5 to 8 minutes. Strain and cool. Do not reduce it hard.
- For the coconut milk, bring everything to a gentle simmer, not a boil. Chill it. Re-whisk if it splits.
- Slice the jackfruit into thin strips. If it's canned, rinse off the syrup and pat it dry first. Keep it cold.
- Before you assemble, warm the jelly under the tap just until it loosens, then chill it again in cold water and drain it well.
- Fill each pouch with everything cold, in this order: syrup, jelly, jackfruit, ice, then coconut milk. Seal, add a boba straw, and serve right away. Shake before drinking.
Notes
- Use pouches that hold at least 10 oz so they don't burst when shaken.
- Use both starches; cornstarch alone makes the jelly too soft. The lye water keeps the green bright.
- The jelly, syrup, and coconut milk can be made a day ahead. The jelly is best within 48 hours, kept in water.
What I use
- Heatproof spatulas: ChefAide silicone set (opens in a new tab) (the jelly scorches if you stop stirring)
- Press for cendol jelly: Stainless press, 3 discs (opens in a new tab) (for pressing the jelly into the ice bath)
- Mung bean starch (hoen kwe flour): Mung bean starch, 500 g (opens in a new tab)
- Lye water: Potassium carbonate solution (opens in a new tab) (keeps the jelly bright green)
- Drink pouches: 17 oz, pack of 100 (opens in a new tab) (smaller ones burst when shaken)
- Wide boba straws: Wrapped, pack of 100 (opens in a new tab)
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