Cendol homemade from scratch at home

This is a blog post on cendol homemade from scratch at home. Cendol is actually a name for a dessert in Malaysia and in South East Asia. Here is more information about it. It is sold by street food vendors in night markets and food courts. Also, it is added to a shaved iced dessert called ice kacang. When it is serving in a cool drink it serves with coconut and palm sugared flavor syrup. In a nutshell, it is basically jelly or bubble tea Southeast Asian style.

It is great to eat as a cold-sweet snack or as a dessert. it can also be shop-bought or from the wet market. It is hard to find shops outside Malaysia or Singapore. The good news is that most of the ingredients can be bought in Asian shops.

Sourcing ingredients

One notable ingredient is mung bean starch. It can be hard to find and only available certain Asian shops online. Some say to use potato starch instead. In the UK one of the places to buy online is Tradewinds. They are reliable and they provide decent service during current times. A bag goes a long way. Not unless if you are using it to make glass noodles as it is a key ingredient.

Another ingredient would be pandan leave but that can be substituted with vanilla essence and green food coloring. Try not to use too many pandan leaves as although they give nice green color they can also give a bitter taste. Otherwise, the rest of the ingredients is easily sourced online in supermarkets or in Asian shops. I use Alpro coconut drink as much lower in fat and calories than coconut milk. Although it doesn’t give as much flavor as coconut milk I am happy with the compromise.

The outcome of how it ultimately looks depends on the mold used to make the cendol. Mine doesn’t look as good as bought ones as I didn’t use a cendol maker but it works. Also, the final outcome of cendol very much depends on how quick the mixture is left to cool down from cooking. don’t be surprised if the cendol breaks essily as once it’s cool down before it is push thru the presser it breaks easily.

Serve it with ice cubes and coconut milk palm sugar syrup. This recipe is vegan. For gluten-free options omit the wheat starch but it might affect the outcome of the cendol making it more breakable.

Cendol homemade recipe

5-6 long pandan leaves

400 mls water

70 grams mung bean starch

50 grams corn starch

30 grams wheat starch

Cendol maker or a wide borehole sieve (I use a steamer rack). It is also possible to use a disposable piping bag, I have tried it but it can be too warm to hold it and press out at the same time.

Ice cubes in a bowl of water to cool down the cendol

For the coconut milk and palm sugar (gula melaka) syrup

1 liter Alpro coconut drink (ordinary or low fat will do)

3-5 tbsp palm sugar or brown sugar to taste.

Prepare the coconut milk and palm sugar but melting a bit of the coconut drink with palm sugar in a microwave or saucepan.

Then cook the cendol. Measure the ingredients and add them to saucepan. In a low to medium heat cook the mixture till it starts to thicken and starchy. Then take it off the heat and sieve the thicken cendol in sieve, cendol maker or piping bag onto a bowl of ice water. Once the cendol is cool down it is ready to serve with coconut milk palm sugar syrup.

Thank you for reading and dropping by. For more recipes on South East Asian here is baked cassava cake and kuih ketayap.