What is Lod Chong?
Lod Chong is a popular dessert from Thailand with the sweet tastes of Pandan and coconut. Lod Chong in Thailand is a dish called Cendol in Indonesia, but fundamentally, they are both the same sweet dessert.
In Thailand, this is definitely the most popular among all Thai desserts and has been around since ancient times. During marriage ceremonies, the long noodles coming from the press holes symbolize the longevity of love and offers the best wishes for the new couple. It is a must-try for anyone visiting the country.
“Lod Chong” directly translates to “through hole” in the Thai language, which makes sense because the noodles in Lod Chong are created by pressing custard through multiple holes.
Its ingredients are quite simple, yet go a long way. The Lod Chong is made with rice flour, arrowroot flour, mung bean flour, limestone solution, and pandan juice from pandan leaves, giving it that bright green pigment. The coconut sauce that coats the noodles is made with coconut milk, palm sugar, grounded salt, and thai scented candle. This tasty dessert is great for parties, often served with crushed ice and jasmine.
A lod chong press is quintessential when creating Lod Chong; you won’t be able to make the dish without one! So we’ve compiled a list of the 6 best lod chong presses on the market to make your time in the kitchen so much easier!
The 6 Best Lod Chong Presses
This lod chong press by Boonbarame is one of the more popular lod chong presses on the market.
They offer a medium size lod chong press, so it is 4.5 inches tall with an overall diameter of 4.5 inches. The height of the press is 7 inches high, so it’ll be easy to take in and out of the mold. It weighs about 8.27 pounds, making it rather stable during use.
Being made with stainless steel, this lod chong is perfect for hot and cold dishes, and everything in between! The polished and shiny materal makes it easy to clean up afterwards as well.
If you’re a Lod Chong fanatic, you won’t want to miss out on making your dishes with this handy lod chong press.
Sandecko delivers a remarkable lod chong press to the table! There are two separate parts: a mold and a press plunger. The dimensions of the mold and press plunger are 5.5 inches high and 5.4 inches wide, with 70 holes at the bottom of the mold. The diameter of each mold is approximately 4-6 millimeters.
It is made of environmentally friendly sleek stainless steel, so it can accommodate to cold and hot cooking conditions, lasting you for the long run. The brand states that it is made by professionals Singapore and Sarim producers, so you can count on getting a good quality lod chong press.
It functions quickly and quietly, making the cooking process easy and simple; just fill, mold, and press!
The biggest aspect to keep in mind is that this model is comparably smaller than the average lod chong presses on the market, so if you want to make lod chong in bigger quantities, this may not be the press for you. However, if you have a smaller household, Sandecko lod chong press wouldn’t take up as much space in your kitchen storage. This also works well as a gift, or if you’re just starting out in the kitchen!
Another sensible lod chong press option is this one by Areerataeyshop.
It is 4.5 inches high and 4.3 inches wide. The size makes it rather portable and easy to store, so you won’t have to worry about this product taking up too much space in the kitchen.
Like any good lod chong press, this one is made from good quality stainless steel, so shiny you can see your reflection on it! The holes for the mold are meant for lod chong more than they’re meant for sarim dishes, so the holes are bigger.
The circular handles on each end is also produce support when in use. You can’t go wrong with this model; it will last you long enough to make lod chong dishes for years!
This is another lod chong press distributed by Nahdi. It’s not too dissimilar from the previous options and is a rather sensible option for your kitchen!
The dimensions are as follows: 5.5 inches in height and 5 inches in diameter, which stands at a medium size in the kitchen.
However, unlike the other options, this model is not made with stainless steel; it is made with a silver aluminum and only weighs about 340 grams. So it may not have the same durability as the other models, but it is easier to store and hold given the weight and still gets the job done.
This option is good for someone looking to dip their toes into the world of lod chong without committing to fancier dishware.
Grocery Thai is another kitchen brand that offers their own stainless steel lod chong press. The exact dimensions of the container height and width is 6.5 inches and 6 inches, respectively. The press itself is quite tall, being about 9 ¼ inches high.
This press also has the circular handles at the end for extra support. It is a product that comes directly from Thailand, so it is quite authentic. In fact, this larger size is typical of the lod chong presses you would find at most bakeries in Thailand. This model is quite large compared to the other models on this list, which may be helpful depending on what you’re looking for.
You may want to invest in Grocery Thai’s lod chong press if you desire to make larger portions at a faster rate, meaning restaurants and bigger households would find more use out of this.
ImportFood designs a beautiful stainless steel lod chong press, molded and shaped by hand, so you know it’s made with love. It’s also made directly from Thailand, so the design of this model is quite authentic.
The circular handles at each end of the mold is extremely helpful for support during the cooking process; these enable you to run a wooden rod through them to keep it stable.
The height of the mold is 5.5 inches and the diameter of it is 5 inches wide; the plunger itself is 8.5 inches tall, which will make it easier to put it in and pull it out. The 71 holes at the bottom of the mold are 3/16 inches wide, perfect for making the noodles uniform and neat.
We think this model is completely foolproof and perfect for anyone looking for an effective and genuine lod chong press.
Lod Chong Recipe
Now that you have your handy dandy lod chong press, you’re ready to make your own easy lod chong dishes at home. This recipe by importfood.com only takes about 1 hour to complete and serves plenty.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of rice flour
- ½ cup of arrowroot flour
- 2 tablespoons of mung bean flour
- 5 cups of Limestone solution
- ¾ cups of Pandan juice blended from about 10 Pandan leaves and 600mL of water
- 2 ½ cups of coconut milk
- 1 ½ cups of sugar
- 2 ½ cups of palm sugar
- Thai scented candle
You’ll want to start out by pouring the custard portion of the ingredients into a pan over medium heat, starting with the rice flour, arrowroot flour, mung bean flour. Add in the Limestone solution and the Pandan juice. Be sure to stir the mixture in one direction to maintain a good consistency. Continue stirring until the consistency is quite thick and custard-like, which takes about 10 to 15 minutes.
Then, prepare a bowl filled with room temperature water; this will catch the lod chong strands when you form them. Pour the custard mixture into your lod chong press to form these noodles. Try to avoid making the lod chong noodles too long. You will want to press the custard through the holes in short pumps to achieve shorter strands.
For the coconut sauce that coats the noodles, take another pot and pour in the palm sugar and the Thai scented candle until the mixture boils. After it begins to boil, turn the heat off and pour in 1 ½ cups of sugar and stir. Lastly, add in 2 ½ cups of coconut milk and stir until the mixture is even.
Pour the coconut sauce and cool crushed ice over the lod chong noodles and enjoy!
Nutritional Facts About Lod Chong
Lod Chong is a rather sweet dessert that is high in carbohydrates, protein, fat, and calories. Don’t let these stats stop you from indulging in this wonderful Thai dessert in moderation once in a while! It is also a good source of iron, riboflavin, thiamin, folate, and niacin, as well as plenty of dietary fiber.
NomList.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME. Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon.com at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product. All prices on this site may change and those considered valid are displayed on Amazon.com