Green Jelly Noodles · Iced Coconut Dessert Drink
Es Cendol
📷 Closely related photo — Photo: Gunawan Kartapranata / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Its green traditionally comes from pandan or suji leaf juice mixed into rice-flour jelly, which is pressed through a perforated mould into short, worm-like strands.
Es cendol layers pandan-green jelly noodles, coconut milk, shaved ice, and dark palm sugar syrup into a glass, eaten with a spoon as much as sipped. It's sold from carts and bicycle vendors across Indonesia, especially in the heat of the afternoon.
Why it's made this way: It's one of the oldest known Southeast Asian street desserts, referenced in Javanese texts for centuries, and remains a defining cold treat of Indonesian street life.
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Part of World of Street Food — 3443 dishes from 118 countries.
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