It’s such a shame if i were to miss this month’s Little Thumbs Up chosen theme of Pandan. Especially since i have an overgrown pandan shrub at my mini garden, outside my house.
I didn’t want to make a pandan chiffon cake. That’s a bit overdone
I wanted to make a cool refreshing cup of cendol, an Indonesian (or is it Malaysian?) dessert of coconut milk sweetened with palm sugar.
I’ve been reading a lot of blogs which contrary to our long standing beliefs, regard that coconut milk is good for you. especially when it’s served raw. Ditto for palm sugar in relation to our common out of the mill white sugar.
I didn’t have a problem with those findings. In fact, i am ecstatic. Indonesia is like a coconut depot. i can get a whole coconut for less than USD 50 cents and get:
- 1. coconut water (another superfood),
- 2 coconut milk,
- 3. coconut shavings (which can be ground into coconut flour).
Talk about making your dollar stretch!
So, back to my cendol adventure. I just had a very tiny, insignificant problem: I didnt have that fancy tool needed to make the cendol strands!
*image taken from alatapa.blogspot.com
right, like i would let that get in the way.
So here i go, showing you a step by step pictorial on making cendol. If you’ve been following this blog, you probably noticed that i almost never do a step by step.
A good reason for that is my kitchen is like a hot mess each time i am in it.
a better reason is that i was always too lazy.
But here i am, laziness cast aside.
First, we snip the pandan leaves like so. Drop them into a blender and…
BLEND!
When all the leaves have been blended to pulp sized, and your water is a nice shade of green, you strain it to catch all the water, and discard the pandan leaves pulp.
Pour the green pandan water into your flour which is made up of hunkwee flour, rice flour, and sago flour. Whisk the mixture till well combined.
Restrain this flour mixture, to get rid of any lumps that might form during whisking.
Next, find the biggest cooking vessel at your home.
For me, it’s my giant chinese wok.
Cook over low heat while whisking till the mixture thickens like so:
If you have that fancy cendol tool, good for you!
If you dont, you just have to be extra creative.
Today i used a pipping bag.
Get out your oven mitt! Because you are gonna squeeze the hot pandan mixture into an awaiting bowl of ice cold water. Do not wait for the mixture to cool or it won’t gel!
Next we go to assembly.
A nice serving of melted palm sugar (gula melaka)
Spoon some of that cendol you just made in…
Okay, without the cendol maker, these may be fatter than your average cendol. That’s ok. No one minds. I’m cool with it. You’re cool with it. We’re cool.
Top with coconut milk, freshly squeezed of course.
All the way to the top! *In my haste to taste the drink, I don’t have a picture of the finished glass of cendol with coconut milk all the way to the top.*
Pandan Water:
50 grams of Pandan Leaves snipped
325 grams of water
Blend the pandan leaves with the water till the leaves are pulped, and the water turns a nice shade of green. Strain the mixture.
The dry ingredients:
25 grams hunkwee flour (Mung Bean flour)
20 grams rice flour
5 grams sago flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 TBS sugar
Whisk the flours together. Add the sugar and salt. Stir to combine.
Pour the pandan water into the flour mixture. Give a good stir. Strain the mixture for any lumps.
Prepare a basin of ice water, ice cubes are welcome. Prepare oven mittens and a pipping bag.
Pour strained mixture into a wok. Cook over low heat till thickened
Pour it into a pipping bag. Using the oven mitts, gently squeeze the cendol into the basin of ice water.
To asemble:
1 L of Freshly squeezed coconut milk, salted with 1tsp of salt.
2 blocks of gula melaka, melted (add water if too thick).
Ladle some of the gula melaka onto an awaiting cup. Ladle some of the cendol, and top the glass with the freshly coconut milk. Enjoy at room temperature or with ice
I am submitting this post to Little Thumbs Up September – Pandan hosted by Joceline @ Butter, Flour & Me, organized by Zoe@ Bake For Happy Kids and Mui Mui @ My Little Favourites DIY.