She got nabbed something like 4 times running; afterward
it was my turn, twice, but mine took mere seconds (nobody
wants to cheese off a potential Chinese tycoon).
I've only been nailed twice, totally. Once in Dubai and again
in...Paris last
In Paris, maybe they'd been alerted to your having
been palling around with Lilli, that international
woman of mystery.
trip. But then I don't fly anywhere near as often as you two.
I get pulled over maybe every month on average.
But then I do travel probably more than everyone
else on this conference combined. Plus I'm not
very PLU. Why Lilli got it so often I don't have
an appropriate hypothesis for.
the ICD has been discovered, both times not by a machine
but by a sharp-eyed security guard.
I was told under no circumstances to go through the magnetic orifice,
or let
them use the handwand. Heck, I'm not supposed to carry my cell in my shirt
Mine must be the next generation; they've probably
fine-tuned the knowledge to the degree that they
guarantee me that just so long as the sensing and
wanding don't take more than 7 seconds with
zapper contact with the device, it won't either
deactivate or go off. Cellphones are supposed to
be much, much worse (especially because you generally
store them in your pocket for more than 7 seconds).
You're also supposed to use the opposite ear if
possible when using the phone.
pocket. I just vaguely point at my chest and mumble "Pacemaker" (a
universal
term), then they push me through the microwave, if there is one, or go all retro and grope. It often looks like it'd be slightly faster than standing around waiting for the orifice to become free. Works at museums and other places too.
I didn't consider using it as an advantage.
Leslie's cendol recipe
categories: sweet, Singaporean
yield: 1 batch
80 g Pandan leaves
500 ml Water
100 ml Coconut milk
60 g Tepung Hoon Kueh (Mung bean flour)
40 g Custard Flour (or substitute cornflour)
1 ts Instant jelly powder (can omit)
1 ts Alkaline water
1/4 ts Salt
2 Tb Sugar
Wash and cut the pandan leaves and place in a
blender with water. Blend till the leaves are
all very fine and strain to get 500 ml pandan
juice. Mix the juice, coconut milk, and the
rest of the ingredients in a pot and start
cooking. Stir constantly until the mixture
becomes a sticky paste. Continue to stir the
paste for 5 min as this will make the cendol
more resilient and chewy. Next press the paste
through the cendol press into ice cold water.
Leave it in the fridge to set properly. Serve
with coconut milk, gula melaka and shaved ice.
Gula Melaka
Try to buy the best gula melaka you can. The
good ones are made of pure palm sugar and are
usually softer and have a wonderful fragrance.
The poor quality ones have sugar added, so
they are harder and drier. Pure palm sugar has
a texture almost like toffee while the poor
quality ones have sugar crystals in them. I
have bought good quality gula melaka from the
Tampines Round Market (large dry good stall
across from the Yummy wanton mee) and Geylang
Serai Market (Ummi Farah #01-09) They should
cost $5/kg for the top quality ones.
To make the syrup, place the gula melaka in a
pot and add an equal amount of water and boil
till the gula melaka dissolves and becomes
syrupy. Strain to remove impurities and keep
in a bottle.
Coconut milk
UHT coconut milk is fine but if you really want
a tok kong cendol, you will need to make a trip
to the wet market to buy fresh coconut milk.
UHT will keep in the fridge for a long time
after opening, but fresh coconut will turn sour
in 2 or 3 days. In order to prolong the shelf
life of fresh coconut milk, heat the coconut
milk till you see smoke rising and small bubbles
appearing (80C-90C) and allow to cool. This will
kill all the bacteria which was on the outside
of the coconut before they shredded it. Adding
a pinch of salt will bring out the flavour of
the coconut. 1/4 ts for 500 ml of coconut milk
is just about right. If you like, you can add
some pandan leaves to the coconut milk and let
it steep.
Red Beans
My wife hates red beans in cendol, so I didn't
make it. You know what they say: Happy wife,
happy life! and I plan to keep it that way. But
if you insist, go buy the ready made adzuki
beans from the Japanese grocer. That is what
my culinary instructor advised me to do!
Ice shaver
Very finely shaved ice is essential to the
ultimate cendol, BUT, in case you don't want
to spend the extra money, you can crush ice
in a food processor or blender. I bought one
from Korea which makes very fine shaved ice
just like those outside. It is made of plastic,
so I am not sure how long it will last, but it
does its job very well. With an ice shaver, you
can freeze the coconut milk and shave it to make
extra concentrated coconut flavour!
Pandan leaves
Quality of pandan leaves vary. If you are at the
wet market, get hold of a bunch and smell it. If
you don't smell anything, go to the next stall.
The ones sold at NTUC are as good as any that I
have come across in Singapore. I have been told
about the legendary pandan leaves of yesteryear
which are small, slender and very fragrant. If
you know where I can buy them, please let me know!
Tepung Hoon Kueh (Green bean flour)
The quality of this flour varies. I have used some
which result in very hard texture. So if your
cendol comes out harder than expected, you might
want to reduce the amount of flour by 10 g or
change to another brand. I bought a 1 kg packet
of Tepung Hoon Kueh from Alina Bakery House which
I am very happy with. They have smaller packs on
the shelves too. But you can buy Tepung Hoon Kueh
from most places, they usually come packed as a
cylinder about 15 cm in length.
Custard Powder
Custard Powder is essentially cornflour with
flavouring and colour. This is my own innovation
as I feel the slightly eggy, vanilla flavour
works very well with the cendol. You can just
substitute with corn flour if you like. Corn flour
makes the cendol more tender. I have tried a lot
of other flours like rice flour and wheat starch
but in the end I settled on the combination of
green bean and cornflour.
Instant Jelly Powder
This is another of my own improvisation. The jelly
powder makes the cendol more lively and bouncy,
rather than just pastey. You can omit it if you
don't have it. I bought my instant jelly powder
from Phoon Huat.
Alkali water
A bit of alkali water is needed to add a bit of
chew to the cendol as well as to maintain the
lively green colour. You can omit it if you wish.
Cendol press
I finally managed to source one from Ailin Bakery
House. You can buy it online from Malaysia but
you have to find a way to get it shipped to
Singapore. If you don't have a chendol press,
just get hold of any thing with 3-4mm holes in
them and press the paste through it.
Notes on Method
1. I added some coconut milk to my cendol to give
it a more pleasing colour and some fragrance. You
can omit it and just substitute it with an equal
amount of water. Alternatively, you can use 600 ml
of the 2nd press coconut milk and omit the water
altogether. 600 ml of liquid is what you need.
2. As the paste thickens, make sure you stir it
thoroughly. The paste will get thicker and more
stretchy as you stir it and the resultant cendol
will have more bite. The whole cooking process
should take about 10 min from the start.
*Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the following friends who
have shared their recipe and tips with me!
Culinary Instructor, Irene Yip
Chef Alvin, Penang Place
Chef Kathryn, Peramakan
Chen Desheng, Pure Soya Bean
Sharon, My Makan Place
http://ieatishootipost.sg
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