Fabulous Faloodeh ● Did Cendol Come from an Ancient Persian Cold Dessert?

In Iran, there is an ancient cold sweet dessert known as "Faloodeh". In its simplest form, it is rice or wheat vermicelli (noodles), rose water, sugar syrup and ice. "Faloodeh" goes back to 400 BC i.e. it is more than 2600 years ago.

Modern "Faloodeh" in Yazd, Iran, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The ancient form of Faloodeh is still available today. This is at a food kiosk in Dubai.

Faloodeh from a street cart stall in Shiraz, Iran.

"Faloodeh" is a cold dessert. The ancient Persians went to great lengths to ensure their supply of ice for "Faloodeh" during hot summers. To store ice in the desert, ancient Persians built ice storage houses known as yakhchal. These huge dome store houses have coned roofs, thick mud walls, underground storage rooms, and below them, underground aqueducts to keep the ice cool. Giant ancient fridges.

So, it is no wonder that "Faloodeh" was food for royals during ancient Persian times.

Mughal emperor Jahangir (reign 1605 - 1627) invaded Iran in 1622-3, and while there, he tasted "Faloodeh", fell in love with it and brought it back to India.

Soon, "Faloodeh" conquered India and beyond. Let's trace the journey of "Faloodeh" as traders brought the dessert from India to the East.

In India, "Faloodeh" became known as "Falooda". In its basic form, "Falooda" did not differ much from its Persian parent. It is made by mixing rose syrup and vermicelli. Milk, sweet basil seeds and ice cream are added in the Indian version.

"Falooda" means shredded in Hindi and here refers to the vermicelli. Hence, vermicelli is the definitive ingredient in Falooda. Falooda vermicelli can be made from wheat, arrowroot, cornstarch, or sago.

Vermicelli for Falooda is known as Falooda sev or simply sev.

Super easy Falooda sev recipe. Just use a plastic squeeze bootle.

When Falooda arrived in Myanmar from India, it became "Phaluda". Phaluda has the essential vermicelli and rose syrup. Then, there's milk with basil seeds, grass jelly, egg pudding, ice cream, sago, fruit jelly, and chopped fruit. However, some Phaluda recipes dropped the vermicelli.

When "Faloodeh" arrived in Yunnan, China via Myanmar through India, it became 泡鲁达 (transliterated Paoluda). Faloodeh is a very adaptable dish, so in Paoluda it underwent a lot of localisation. There are many versions of Paoluda in Yunnan itself. Significantly, vermicelli is sometimes missing. Paoluda often has sago, grass jelly, purple rice, grated coconut, fresh mango cubes, condensed milk, coconut milk, and topped with toasted bread. It is served cold with ice cubes.

My thanks to Dr Ong Jin Teong author of Nyonya Heritage Kitchen and Norman Cho author of The Bejewelled: Lives of the Peranakans who alerted me to Nyonya taibak, a disappearing Peranakan dish of Malacca. Now only one stall, Tai Bak Corner 米台霸冰店 in Malacca still sells this dessert.

Taibak is made by boiling rice (tapioca or wheat) flour into a pasty starch. Sometimes the starch is coloured by adding rose syrup (red) or butterfly pea flower (blue). The starch is pressed through a perforated mesh into a pot of boiling water for further cooking i.e. different from Faloodeh sev where the vermicelli is dropped into cold water.

Like faloodeh, the taibak vermicelli is eaten with clear syrupy water cooled with shaved ice (neither coconut milk nor palm sugar is used). Pandan is also added to the clear syrup soup. At Tai Bak Corner in Malacca, they also add grass jelly and have the option of palm sugar.

The origin of Nyonya tai bak needs further research. As the name tai bak suggests, it could be derived from 米苔目 mee tak bak noodles which are made in the same way. Mee tai bak noodles are usually eaten as a savoury dish but there are also sweet dessert versions in Taiwan and also in Guangdong, China.

Was cendol of Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore also derived from Faloodeh?

In its most basic form, cendol (known as dawet in East Java) comprise just vermicelli, coconut milk, palm sugar and ice. In the Malay / Javanese version, the vermicelli is made of rice flour and infused with pandan (screw pine) juice, hence the green colour.

The resemblance between basic Faloodeh and cendol led some to speculate that cendol may be inspired by the Persian Faloodeh. Cendol has been in Java for 900 years. Cendol or dawet (as it is called in East Java) is mentioned in Javanese lore going back to the 12th century such as in the Kakawin Kresnayana (Journey of Krishna).

Interactions between traders from the Middle East and Indonesians go back to the 7th century. Muslim traders transit the Malay archipelago via the maritime Silk Roads to reach China's ports such as Quanzhou in Fujian province. Some Muslim traders who came to Indonesia for spices settled down and and blended with local people. Hence, the historical timeline seemed to support the Faloodeh - Cendol hypothesis.

From East Java dawet spread westwards to West Java where it is known as Jendol. Jendol moved further west to Singapore and Malaysia, especially during the British colonial era when many Javanese moved to British Malaya for work. Jendol become known as chendol in Singapore and cendol in Malaysia.

So, the next time you enjoy a cendol, remember the cool tasty dessert in your hand may have its roots in Persia more than 2000 years ago and came to our region nearly 1000 years ago. It's also a symbol of longstanding ties between Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

Written by Tony Boey on 7 Jan 2023