Malaysian-Indonesian pandan jelly dessert with coconut milk and ice (Cendol)

1. Chop the pandan leaves, blend with 400 ml of the water and squeeze the green juice through a fine sieve or muslin.

2. Whisk the pandan juice with the rice flour, tapioca starch and salt until smooth, then cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until it becomes a thick, translucent green mass.

3. Press the hot mixture through a colander or cendol press into a bowl of iced water, so it sets into short, worm-like drops; drain.

4. Simmer the palm sugar with the water and a pandan leaf over low heat into a thick syrup, remove the leaf and cool the syrup; stir a pinch of salt into the coconut milk.

5. Put a portion of pandan jelly and sweet red beans into bowls or glasses and pile the crushed ice on top.

6. Drizzle with the salted coconut milk and palm sugar syrup and serve immediately.

Tip: A favourite street cooler in Malaysia and Indonesia, the dessert of hot afternoons. If you don't have a cendol press, pipe the mixture from a piping bag into the iced water; the caramel depth of palm sugar gives it its character.