"A quick introduction: Cendol is a traditional dessert drink, popular in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Myanmar. It’s so accessible and celebrated as a national delicacy that you’d be hard-pressed to not find it at a food cart on your block. It consists of pandan rice jellies (a mixture of the pandan leaf and vanilla flour), palm sugar, and coconut milk—variations on fruits and milks depend on the region.
I had my first cup of cendol before knowing what bubble tea was. As an Indonesian kid with an American upbringing, the concept of the popular Southeast Asian dessert was the weirdest thing ever: who would be cuckoo enough to find little green worms* submerged in milk and sugar delectable? It wasn’t until I discovered bubble tea and its similarities with a drink that long perplexed me, that I realized this treat is loved by many. Cendol has a special place in my heart. My mom serves this version of the drink on any Indonesian national holiday, and especially when capping off a month of fasting for Eid al-Fitr. I’m swerving onto a cheesy boulevard by saying this, but it wouldn’t be holiday my family's way, particularly our Indonesian way, without the green jellies jostling in our mouths."—RikaIngredients:
The jelly bits:
2 packets of mungbean flour (tepung khunkwee cap puhun cemara)
3½-4 cups of water
¼ teaspoon of pandan paste
The sweetening syrup:
1 can jackfruit (20oz)
½ stick of palm sugar (gula jawa) cut into strips
1-1½ cups of sugar
Also essential:
½ gal of 2% milk (for my lactose/vegan homies, substitute this with coconut milk)
Ice cubes
Method:
1. Pour the mungbean flour, pandan paste, and water into a medium size cooking pot. Add more water to your jellies if you would like them to be softer. Cook on medium heat and stir consistently until it becomes a thick paste. The paste should be bubbling at this point, which is an indicator that you’ve reached the right consistency. Remove the paste from the heat.
2. Fill a large pot with cold water. While the jelly paste is still very warm, pour it through a strainer. Use a wooden spoon to push the paste through the large holes so that they form long jelly droplets. Repeat this process until the entire batch of paste is gone and you’ve got a hefty amount of green jellies submerged in cold water. Leave the cendol jelly in the water for 5-10 minutes to allow the paste to harden. Drain out the water and store the jellies in a plastic container or bag, then set it aside in the fridge.
3. To make the syrup, use a can opener to poke two holes on top of the canned jackfruit. Pour out the syrup in a saucepan and set the actual fruit aside. Add the slices of gula jawa and granulated sugar. Constantly stir the concoction on low to medium heat until it bubbles. Don’t leave the syrup unattended or else it will overflow. Remove the syrup from heat and pour into a container to allow it to cool. Cut the jackfruit up into long, thin strips, and then add it to the syrup mixture. Stir well, making sure that th