Cente Manis

I first tasted this sweet last CNY eve, made by my sister's friend Marina. It was a hit that night, because of it sweet taste and freshness / coolness. Very suitable for hot weather. Apparently this sweet is also called Cantik Manis (Pretty & Sweet) or even Jentik Manis, but since Rina, like most other people from Jakarta calls it Cente Manis, I will stick to that name.

The recipe I post here is courtesy of Marina. Her version uses mung bean flour (tepung hun kwe) and tapioca pearls. However, I have also come across recipes that use rice flour instead of mung bean flour. You may also substitute tapioca pearls with the colourful pacar cina. For this recipe, I actually coloured the tapioca pearls with a drop of green and red food colouring. The addition of jackfruit is really refreshing and it also adds nice colour to cente manis.




Ingredients:
100 gr tapioca pearls (sago)
4 pieces of canned ripe jackfruit, finely diced (optional)
225 gr sugar
1 tsp salt
750 ml coconut milk
100 gr tepung hunkwe
200 ml water

Method:
Place the tapioca pearls into a sieve over a large bowl. Rinse the pearls under running water, then cook them in a pot of hot water for about 1/2 hour until transparent. If the water runs low, add more.
Remove and rinse under cold water and drain. Divide pearls into 2 portions, add a drop of pink to one portion and green to the other. Coat each portion with 1 tbsp of tapioca flour and set aside.

Boil coconut milk, sugar and salt until sugar dissolves. You may add knotted pandan leaves for extra fragrance.

Meanwhile, mix hunkwe flour with water well. Rinse off excess flour from the tapioca pearls. You should get translucent pink and green pearls.
When coconut milk is boiling, turn off the stove and stir in hun kwe mixture, then add in the pearls and jackfruit. Pour the thick mixture into moulds to set. Alternatively you may want to do it the traditional way, ie. wrap the mixture in plastic sheets or banana leaves and let it set.