Green worms and coconut
Bingsu and bespoke gelato are all the craze this season. Our prediction is that kakigori is next. No doubt these hits are banging, but never underestimate an iced dessert ala natural from the tropics. Today’s heatwave got me reminiscing about cendol (the dessert with the green worm things). Like rendang and batik, cendol is one of those cultural icons that Indonesia and Malaysia fight over as the OP.
The best cendol I have had to date was at Penang Road Famous TeoChew Chendul. A George Town landmark, this cendol is legendary because they put in the work. Starting at 4am, it’s all from scratch - no corners cut. Grinding the coconut, slow-cooking the red bean, mixing the pandan leaves with rice flour. It's a humble set up and there is no air-conditioned comfort - perhaps an intentional choice to enhance the experience. The way that pecorino, basil and pine nuts chemically work so well together, the layers in cendol perform the ultimate Fusion Dance. With kind regards to the ingredients native to the region, this is a beautifully aromatic dessert. Grassy, creamy, milky, soothing, roasted, caramelised fragrances all from a little baby blue bowl of shaved ice. Best of all it’s a cooling aid to the humidity.
Of course it gets the ultimate tick of Asian approval - “not too sweet”. Personally, I am partial to SEA desserts simply because the sweetness is from palm sugar and coconut milk. The beauty of these desserts is that each element, each layer comes direct from the earth and goes through very few industrial steps before landing in a plate. The milk is extracted straight from the mature coconut, the palm sugar from boiled palm tree juice. My fix today was found in a shopping mall food court. Not surprisingly each ingredient came from a canned source - all I can say is unless it’s being cooked, there is absolutely no substitute for fresh coconut milk.
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