Cincau or Grass Jelly

I’ve neglected this site for a while, but no longer! I’m brimming with more food posts due to the backlog. Yes, I still eat!

Anyway, it being so hot outside and with the haze and all, I thought I’d start off with a little cooling dessert drink – grass jelly or cincau (pronounced “chin-chow”) as the Hokkiens and locals will call it. The Cantonese call it “leung-fun”.

Its essentially a Chinese herbal jelly. The types we get are usually slightly sweetened, but in fact, it’s bitter. Its not much different from gui-ling-gao except its made from a grass herb. Its supposed to have “cooling” properties, so its excellent for hot days but not if you are nursing a cough.

The texture is like wobbly jelly and it is sold plentifully in local markets and supermarkets. The ones in the supermarkets are usually found in the chilled sections with the tofu and the like. It comes either in a tube form or in a box form.

I buy mine from the local market. It comes in a sizeable block for RM1.

When I get home, I usually cut it up into rough squares. I like mine chunky. The last time I bought it, I made some syrup to sweeten it. I just boiled water with sugar to make a simple syrup. Alternatively, use honey. I usually plop a teaspoonful of honey over the cincau and top up with boiled water. You can add ice cubes if you like, for a sweet dessert after dinner.

There you have it. A nice cold bowl full of cincau for a fraction of the cost at a coffeeshop.

I picked this habit of buying cincau from my Dad. Whenever he is here, we never fail to have a bowl of cincau after dinner! Yummy!

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