Stay Cool on a Hot Day

Most of my life, I live in a city with warm and humid climate, I am supposed to get used to hot and humid weather. But somehow my body does not seem willing to adapt to it. The combination of warm temperature and high humidity like now always make me all sweaty and cranky….

How can I stay cool  on a  hot day like this?


How about making cold dessert drinks?

In my country, we have so many popular drinks which are based on ice (in our language we call it Es) and can also be classified as desserts.  Typical examples include es campur (mixed fruit ice drink), es cincau (grass jelly ice drink), es blewah (musk melon ice drink),  es kelapa muda (young coconut ice drink), es alpukat (avocado juice), es cendol and many many more.

Here’s a few of most popular Indonesian Cold Dessert Drinks to stay cool on a hot day and also fit well for breaking the fast:


Es Kelapa Muda (Young Coconut Ice Drink)

If you travel to my country, you will find lots of coconut tree. We like to drink coconut water, and also make drinks called  Es Kelapa Muda (Young Coconut Ice Drink) where we mix the slippery young coconut with the coconut water then add ice cubes and this is how we make the drink:

Ingredients

• 2 cups of young coconut water
• 1/2 cup young coconut flesh

How to prepare:

• take the water from a fresh, young coconut
• scrape slithers of coconut flesh
• add the coconut flesh into the coconut water in a glass or right in the coconut shell and add some ice cubes

Es Kelapa Jeruk  (Young Coconut in Orange Juice)


This drink is a combination of young coconut and orange juice. The slippery floating slivers of fresh coconut flesh will add textural dimension to the refreshing fresh orange juice, so yummy…… 

Ingredients

• 8 medium size oranges, squeeze to get the juice
• 1 cup fresh young coconut flesh
• simple syrup (optional)
• ice cubes

How to prepare:

• Combine roughly 1 part fresh-squeeze orange  juice with 1 part water.
• Typically a few spoonfuls of simple syrup are added and let it drop to the bottom of the glass so that the sweetness can be adjusted with a little stirring (optional).
• Add in the coconut flesh and ice cubes.

Es Blewah (Musk Melon Ice Drink)

  picture from unique-of-images.blogspot.com

Musk melon prevents a heat related disorders and making it a great  refresher and stimulator on a hot day. Its high water content helps to reduce body heat. This drink is very popular during fasting month.

Ingredients 

• 250 gram ripe blewah (musk melon), cut into half, peel off the outer skin of the musk melon and  sliver the flesh
• 800 ml water
• 200 ml red syrup
• ice cubes

How to serve (for 4 glasses)

• In a glass put the musk melon slices.
• Add water and syrup and ice cubes.

 
Es Campur (Mixed Iced Fruit Drink)

 picture from www.houseofannie.com

 

 This special Es Campur or also known as Es Teler can be the ‘so called’ trademark for many of Indonesian Restaurants and Food-Stalls. It has a sweet and fruity taste with chunks of jack-fruit,  avocado and young coconut pulp! The coconut juice combination will cool you down from the heat especially when this drink is consume during hot day under the sun!

Ingredients:

• 1 Young coconut flesh (spoon it)
• 1  Avocado, take out the flesh, cut into chunks or thinly sliced
• 10 pieces of Jack-fruits, seeded and thinly sliced
• 15 pieces buah Atap,  sliced (buah Atap is the flesh of the young seeds of the mangrove plant Nypa fruticans. It is usually soaked in sugar syrup)
• 500 ml of simple syrup
• 5 tablespoons  sweetened condensed milk
• crushed or shaved ice

Note: This dessert can be sweetened to taste, adding more, or less, of the milk mixture and the syrups.

Simple syrup:

• 400 ml coconut milk (or plain water)
• 100 gr sugar

How to prepare:

• Add young coconut pulp, avocado, jack-fruit and buah Atap in a glass or in a bowl.
• Add in simple syrup and sweetened condensed milk or according to your taste. Stir.
• Top with crushed or shaved ice. Enjoy!

Es Cendol (Chendol Iced Drink)

  picture from madeinindonesia-store.com

Es cendol is typical Indonesian drink made from rice flour served with coconut milk, sugar palm and ice cubes or shaved ice. While Indonesian people drink es cendol as a nice refreshment, a lot of Westerners like es cendol as dessert.


Ingredients for cendol

• 125 gr rice flour
• 50 gr sago flour
• 75 ml pandan leaves water (boil water with pandan leaves until it has green color)
• 450 ml water
• salt as needed

Other ingredients

• 200 gram palm sugar, boil with 125 ml water until it dissolves. Strain the palm sugar water and boil again. Set aside.
• 500 ml coconut milk. Boil and set aside to cool.

How to make cendol

• Mix rice flour and sago flour, then mix it with some of the water.
• Boil the rest of the water, add green pandan leaves water and salt.
• Put the flour mixtures into the boiled water.
• Stir well and cook until it thickens (paste-like).
• Drain with special cendol strain (usually the strainer has round holes), so when we press the cendol mixture it will go out of the strain as roundish short cendol.
• Put these cendol directly into a bowl with water and ice in it.
• Cendol will be solid and then drain them again. Set aside.

How to serve

• Put some cendol into a tall glass, pour palm sugar syrup and coconut milk (separate layers). You can add shaved ice or just ice cubes.

References:

• www.houseofannie.com
• www.madeinindonesia-store.com
• www.uniqueofimages.blogspot.com

Dessert First

Unlike in most western countries, in my country it is not our custom to serve dessert after meal. Desserts or sweet dishes are regarded simply as snacks, to be eaten when and where you have the need for one.

Desserts also have a social function as well…….they are for serving to guest who drops in or comes visiting…….. they are for eating at any family gathering, formal or informal,……  and they are there too, simply as  a self-indulgence, when you are having a cup of coffee or tea.

During fasting month like now, we even serve desserts first since it is best to start with something sweet and sweet dessert fits well as a starter to break the fast.

We have a comprehensive list of options for delicious sweet desserts . With abundant tropical produce such as coconuts, lots of Indonesian desserts use Santan or coconut milk.
 

Check out a few examples out of the so many ‘drool worthy’ Indonesian desserts to break the fast:

 
Bubur Pacar Cina (Tapioca Pearl Dessert)

This tapioca pearl dessert is very popular in Chinese community and its even called “Pacar Cina” which literally means “Chinese Lover”.  Cooking this dessert is not difficult, but is quite tricky. They would turn soggy if overcooked, or else the middle part is not cooked through without enough cooking time

 
Kue Centik Manis (Pretty and Sweet Dessert)

Centik comes from the word Cantik which means pretty while manis means sweet. The name of this dessert literally means Pretty and Sweet which reflects the look and taste of it. It’s very easy to make, no steaming or baking process. Centik manis is also popular during Ramadan (fasting month) in Indonesia.

 
Kue Lapis Sagu (Layered Coconut Cake)

This cake with its mysterious layered structure is not as difficult to make as it looks.

And here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 180 gram glutinous rice flour
• 180 gram tapioca
• 400 gram sugar (or depends on the desired sweet level)
• pinch of salt
• 900 ml coconut milk
• 5 sachet (40 gram) vanilla
• a few drops of pink food coloring

Direction:

•  mix all ingredients except food coloring to abatter, divide into 2
• dye one part with a few drops of pink food coloring
• pre-heat a steamer and wrap the lid with a clean tea towel to capture the steam
• spoon a thin layer of uncolored batter into a spring-form cake tin
• steam for about 5 minutes it sets and looks shiny
• add a thin layer of pink batter to the tin and steam again
• continue the process alternately until all the batter is used up
• the whole process may take up to 3 hours. the final layers may have to steam longer around 10 minutes
• allow to cool completely before cutting into thin slices

Kolak Pisang (Banana sweet soup)

Kolak is an equivalent of sweet soup. The soup is made of palm sugar and coconut milk. To the soup we can banana or other ingredients such as jack fruit, pumpkin, or cassava. Could be served either warm or cold.


Kue Putu

Everybody will notice easily if a vendor of Kue Putu passes by. It is because he has a special whistle that toots along the way. Usually, the vendor bears two cabinets using yoke or rides a bicycle.

Kue Putu is a traditional cake made of rice flour with palm sugar filler. The taste is plain outside but sweet inside. Added with steamed grated coconut makes the taste richer. The color is white or green and the shape is like a cylinder.


Onde-Onde (Sesame balls filled with mung bean paste)

Onde-onde is one of traditional cakes in Indonesia, and particularly being famous in Mojokerto (East Java) since Majapahit era. We can find Onde-onde in traditional market or in some stores or even in fancy restaurants. Moreover, we can find this cake in China town in Indonesia or in every corner of the world.

References:

• the real taste of Indonesia, a culinary journey – 100 unique family recipes – Hardie Grant Books, Australia
• asiafinest.com
• bandungholic.blogspot.com
• indonesiantravelguide.com
• sotokudus senayan