During the Dutch colonization period, the Javanese immigrants were shipped from Java to Surinam by Dutch people to work on the plantations there. The drink Dawet was introduced in Surinam by the Javanese immigrants. It is one of the popular drinks in Surinam and also introduced in the Netherlands.
Not all dawet made by others are delicious. Mothers dawet is still the best and i will share my mothers’ recipe with you. A very delicious refreshing sweet pink coconut drink.
Mother’s recipe Javanese Dawet
Syrup ingredients:
- 2 glasses (400 ml) of water. You can use spring water or filtered water. I use spring water myself.
- 30 spoonfuls of cane sugar (400 grams) or any other type of sugar.
- 2 stems sereh
You cook all ingredients until its coloured brown (this is from the melted sugar). As soon as this is the case, you let it simmer for another 10 minutes to draw the sereh well. Water must not be boiled out. It is intended that it becomes a syrup like a lemonade and not really thick and sticky syrup.
Once you have made the syrup. Then you start making cornstarch strings. This is part of a traditional Javanese Dawet. If you want to have a modern twist, you can use lychees, or young coconut meat or jackfruit instead of cornstarch, but you have to cut this thinly and in length.
As content for traditional Javanese Dawet you use cornstarch strings.
Recipe for cornstarch strings (drop):
- 350 ml of water (spring water/filtered water)
- 4 full tablespoons of cornstarch
4 full tablespoons of cornstarch in a bowl. Maizena will dissolve with about 2 tablespoon of water. Then you put 350 ml of water in a pan until it boils, then you put in the dissolved cornstarch. With a whisk or a spoon you will keep stirring until it becomes a thick paste. Then you put it on low heat and let it gently simmer for about 10 minutes. Still stirring otherwise it is quickly burned. In the meantime, grab a bowl and fill it with cold water. Next, pick up a colander and place it above the bowl with cold water. Put the warm cornstarch paste from the pan in the colander (note the colander is not allowed in the bowl with cold water), so that the strings fall into the bowl with cold water. Colander is a large scale with holes in it.
You can also use as variation lychees or young coconut meat or jackfruit instead of cornflour. You have to cut this thinly and in length.
Once homemade syrup and cornstarch strings are made or you use the above variations. Then we mix with the ingredients mentioned below.
- 1 tablespoon of the red colourant Cola Champagne flavor (Brand Tip Top at Jumbo supermarket,) you can add more red colour if you want to have more dark pink or red colour.
- 1 can of coconut milk (or fresh coconut milk of 2 coconuts)
- pinch of salt
- (source / filtered) water
Mix homemade syrup and cornstarch strings or other variations such as lychees or young coconut or jackfruit with 1 tablespoon red cola Cola Champagne, 1 can coconut milk or fresh coconut milk of 2 coconuts and a pinch of salt (depending on your taste). Then stir well. If the Dawet is too sweet then dilute this with water and stir well again. When you’re done you put it in the fridge and after half an hour you get it out again to enjoy of your Dawet.
Enjoy it.
If you like the Javanese dawet, like this posting and leave a comment. If you have any further questions, you can also leave a comment with this posting.
If you use my recipe and you place a photo on Instagram, do not forget to tag me in it and use my hashtag #marilyn_amaterasu because i would love to know how you made it.
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