SEREMBAN – Maideen Cendol hawker Mohan T. Kadeer Mohaideen, 55, may have upgraded from a food cart to a food truck, but he is still using a decades-old family recipe for cendol (shaved ice dessert) that keeps customers coming back.
Mohan said his father, T. Kadeer Mohaideen, 78, started selling cendol from a beca (trishaw) in Seremban in the 1960s and passed down the business to him in 2000.
“When I was young, I used to help my father sell cendol. After I inherited the business, my wife, M. Anjali and I set up shop outside Pasar Besar Seremban.
“I upgraded to a truck in September, but although there are modern ice shavers, I’m still using the traditional method to maintain the authenticity of my father’s recipe,” he said, adding that he can get 10 to 15 bowls of cendol from one block of ice.
He also said that he can sell up to 300 bowls of the cooling dessert per day, priced from RM1.60-RM2.50, and contains santan (coconut milk), gula melaka (palm sugar), home-made short, green noodles, creamed corn and red beans.
He said that he uses 5kg of santan for his cendol but “before, I used 7kg-10kg in a day because I could sell more than 300 bowls. Since Covid-19, however, I only sell 100-200 bowls per day”.
He said that his cendol isn’t just loved by the locals, but by people from as far as Sabah, too.
“Due to the conditional movement control order (CMCO), my customers from other districts and states can’t come for their cendol fix.
“Usually, they will flock here at the weekend, including those from Kuala Lumpur and Selangor,” he said, adding that the classic cendol – without corn and red beans – is the most popular.
The father of two said his business is open from 9am-4.30pm every day except Tuesday, and that he also accepts bookings for big events.
Loyal customer Alizah Ahmad, 49, said she buys cendol every time she comes to the market.
“It is creamy, sweet and delicious, with a taste you can’t forget. It also contains a lot of ingredients and is cheap,” she said. – Bernama, November 27, 2020
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