Cendol

Etymology
There is popular belief in Indonesia that the name "cendol" is related to and originated from the word jendol; in Javanese, Sundanese and Indonesian, it means "bump" or "bulge", in reference the sensation of drinking the green worm-like jelly. In Vietnam, it is called "bánh lọt," or fall cake. Bánh lọt is a common ingredient in a Vietnamese dessert called chè, or more commonly chè ba màu. In Thailand it is called lot chong (Thai: ลอดช่อง) which can be translated as "gone through a hole", indicating the way it is made by pressing the warm dough through a sieve in to a container with cold water.^[3]

Ingredients

The dessert's basic ingredients are coconut milk, a worm-like jelly made from rice flour with green food coloring (usually derived from the pandan leaf), shaved ice and palm sugar. Other ingredients such as red beans, glutinous rice, grass jelly, creamed corn, might also be included.^[4]

In Sunda, Indonesia, cendol is a dark-green pulpy dish of rice (or sago) flour worms with coconut milk and syrup of areca sugar. It used to be served without ice. In Javanese, cendol refers to the green jelly-like part of the beverage, while the combination of cendol, palm sugar and coconut milk is called dawet. The most famous variant of Javanese es dawet is from Banjarnegara, Central Java.

The affluence of Singapore, as well as Western influence, has given rise to different variations of cendol, such as cendol with vanilla ice-cream or topped with durian.^[5]

Selling

Cendol has become a quintessential part of cuisine in Southeast Asia and is often sold by vendors at roadsides, hawker centres and food courts.^[6] Cendol vendors are almost ubiquitous in Indonesian cities, especially Jakarta, Bandung, and Yogyakarta. Originally cendol or dawet in Java was served without ice, however after the introduction of refrigeration technology, the cold cendol with shaved ice (es serut) was available and widely popular. It is possible that each country developed its own recipes once ice became readily available. This explains why it is most popular in Malayan port cities such as Malacca, Penang and Kuala Lumpur where British refrigerated ships' technology would provide the required ice.
In Indonesia and Malaysia, cendol is commonly sold on the roadside by vendors. It is even dessert fare in Singapore, found in dessert stalls, food centres, coffee shops and food courts.^[6]

References

1.      ^ http://www.belindo.com/Default.aspx?NavID=183
2.      ^ Shaving the Ice, Cutting the Heat
3.      ^ http://www.thaifoodmaster.com/recipes/dessert_recipes/2670
4.      ^ Penang Food | Cendol | The Best Penang Hawker Food and Restaurant Guide
5.      ^ YourSingapore.com - Cendol
6.      ^ ^{a b} My Asian Kitchen: Cendol