Cuisine Of Indonesia

Cendol [pronounced 'chen-dul'] or es cendol is a traditional dessert originating from Java, Indonesia, but is also popular in Malaysia, Singapore and Southern Thailand (where it is called lorkchorng singapore ลอดข่องสิงคโปร์). The dessert's basic ingredients consist of shaved ice, coconut milk, starch noodles with green food coloring (usually sourced from the pandan leaf) and palm sugar. Red beans, glutinous rice, grass jelly and creamed corn are optional additions. Cendol has become a quintessential part of cuisine among the multi-racial population in South-East Asia and is often sold by vendors at roadsides, hawker centres and food courts.

Cendol vendors are also a common sight in Indonesian cities. In the Javanese language, cendol refers to the jelly-like part of the beverage, while the combination of cendol, palm sugar and coconut milk is called dawet.

In Malaysia, cendol is usually sold on the roadside by Indian Muslim vendors. It is common dessert fare in Singapore popularly found in dessert stalls, hawker centres, coffeeshops & food-courts, & served by vendors of various ethnic background. The first Indian Muslim vendors learnt the skills of making the cendol from the Javanese in Indonesia and brought the recipe and preparation methods with them to Malaysia & Singapore. Cendol is also popular as a snack, particularly after Friday prayers among Muslims.

The relative affluence of Singapore, as well as Western influence, has given rise to different variations of cendol. One can occasionally come across variants such as cendol with vanilla ice-cream or cendol topped with durian.