Onde Onde

Onde-onde if I’m not mistaken is a Malaysian dessert. The only time I’ve also seen this dessert in the US was at an Indonesian Cafe in Los Angeles. And I bought a packet to please my urges! Onde onde is made of glutinous flour, filled with Gula Melaka (Malaysian Palm Sugar) and has shredded coconut on the outside. A perfect (to me) onde onde needs to have the right amount of gula melaka oozing out once you take a bite at it! Mmm…..

I’ve made Onde onde in the past using my favorite method of eyeballing each ingredient. It turns out good all the time. This time, for the sake of sharing an Onde onde recipe, I followed Terri’s Onde Onde recipe. It turned out great (minus the frozen shredded coconut I used), just like how I made it in my precious attempts! Here’s her recipe!

ONDE ONDE RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups Glutinous Rice Flour
• 150 Ml Water
• 5-7 Pcs Pandan Leaves
• 1/3 Cup Gula Melaka, Finely Chopped
• 1 Cup Shredded Coconut

Method:
Pound or whizz the Pandan leaves into a fine mess. Mix the leaves with the water and massage the mixture well to release the juice. Squeeze into a large glass and strain into a measuring jug to remove any leaf bits. If you don't get 150 ml, top it with water.

Mix the pandan water with the glutinous rice flour until it comes together. You may need to add 2-3 tablespoon of water. Don't make the dough too wet or the balls won't hold up and will stick to your plate. If dough is too wet, you can flour your palms. Break off bits of the dough, or roll it into a log and break off from there. Make the ondeh ondeh small so that you can pop it into your mouth without biting into two. Roll each dough bit into a smooth ball.

Boil water in a medium pot.

Using your thumb, make a dent in the middle of the ball and spoon about 1/3 teaspoon of Gula Melaka into the dent. Push the dough together to seal the dent. Roll until smooth. Do not make the dent too big because if the dent is big and not fully filled up with sugar, the ondeh ondeh will collapse after it cools.

Drop the balls into the boiling water. Use a slotted spoon to move the ondeh ondeh so that they don't stick to each other. When the balls are cooked, they will rise to the surface. Give them another minute or more so that the gula melaka melts. You should test one to see if the gula has melted. Roll the balls in the grated coconut to coat. Let cool and serve.

June’s notes: I blended my pandan leaves instead of pounding it. I found my pandan leaves at a Southeast Asian store at the frozen aisle. If you’re unable to find pandan leaves, you could use those artificial pandan flavorings to get the color. Just dip the end of a toothpick/skewer and dap the color onto the dough. Gradually mix the dough until color is well combined. Remember to “color dough” slowly.

If you cannot find freshly grated coconut, frozen ones are edible. Let the coconut thaw (or zap it in the microwave fro a couple seconds) and add a pinch of salt before using. There are many kinds of frozen grated coconut. The ones I got this time were not very tasty and did not go well with my Onde onde. I’ve had better frozen shredded coconut in the past!