Beat the Heat.. with Cendol!
Cendol is a quintessential part of cuisine in Southeast Asia and is often sold by vendors at roadsides, hawker centres and food courts. Cendol vendors are almost ubiquitous in Indonesian cities, especially Jakarta, Bandung, and Yogyakarta. Originally cendol used to be served without ice, but post introduction of refrigeration technology, the cold cendol with shaved ice took the world by storm. It is possible that each country developed its own recipes and here in Malaysia it is found in dessert stalls, food centres, coffee shops and food courts. People add all sorts of things to their cendol including red beans, glutinous rice, grass jelly, creamed corn, and even durian.
It's all a matter of preference how you like your Cendol. Here are our top 3 Places for Cendol:
1. Banting Cendol
Banting, that's situated in the district of Kuala Langat, is a great place for local food as well as desserts. The Cendol Stall called Cendol Banting Kamarudin is one of the best in town, and it is run by an Indian-Muslim guy, called Kamarudin. Till today, he still shaves his ice, the old fashion way, employing a crudely hand-crafted, manual ice shaver to do the job. He swears by this and says that the ice just comes out fluffier and nicer.
Oh yes, and once you've tasted the Cendol, you'd be inclined to agree too.
Kamarudin works with smooth agility - he scoops red bean and sago pearls into a bowl. He then places that bowl beneath his shaving machine and starts to move the block of ice back and forth over a sharp blade fixed to that wooden contraption, very quickly, several times over. White, fluffy ice that looks like snow, starts to fall into the bowl below, until it resembles a mountain of ice. Kamarudin then pulls the bowl out and ladles in a generous scoop of coconut milk with green strands of pandan-flavoured mung bean. This is what the folks standing about gawking, are here for. With a finishing flourish, he drizzles some Gula Melaka (coconut palm sugar syrup) right at the peak of the ice mountain and serves the best cendol dessert in Banting!
The fabulous Cendol. The green cendol strands are soft and springy with an intoxicating pandan aroma. The red bean and sago jelly go perfectly with the sweet and salty coconut milk – adding salt to the coconut is a must. It gives the dessert some dimension, and extra kick. Here is the shocker. This delightful thirst quencher in a bowl cost only RM1.00 per bowl. What can I tell you? You’ve got to love Banting!
Taxi Terminal along Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad,
Kuala Langat, Selangor Darul Ehsan.
Tel: +6016-6527456
2. The Pudu Cendol Man White, fluffy ice is expertly shaved off from the noisy ice machine, that's going a mile a minute, and fashioned into a mountain of ice, in a bowl below. He then ladles the coconut milk with generous strands of soft cendol into the ice. He douses the lot in brown gula melaka. The fabulous Chendol for just RM1.50. The green chendol strands are soft and springy with an intoxicating pandan aroma. If you add red bean, glutinous rice etc, the price can go up, but it is still pretty affordable. The green chendol strands go perfectly with the sweet and salty coconut milk. This place does it just right!
Venturing deeper into the slip roads and back alley ways of Pudu, alongside the beads and tailor shops, you will find the Cendol man. Plastic tables and chairs in all sorts of assorted colors line the back roads and you will see people sitting down and eating snacks such as rojak that go so well with the Cendol.
Run by a couple, this iconic stall in Brickfields is a hot favourite with folks who are tired of the heat, and looking for a little refreshment. Patrons like to come here for the ABC (ice kacang) as well as for a sip of fresh young coconut juice. Most people pack back their drinks as they have limited sitting space in front of their stall. We love the Cendol here too.
