Onde Onde

 

It has been a very long time since I baked or made any desserts. Today I was craving for onde onde (pronounced as 'on-day on-day'). The thought of gula melaka (palm sugar) oozing out from the poached dough got me running to Tesco to grab the necessary ingredients to make this dessert. Onde Onde is basically a bite-sized pocket of gula melaka encased in a glutinous rice flour dough, coated with shredded coconut. This dish is a real joy to consume, where the explosion of sugar with the first bite is addictive in itself - YUM! This is a traditional snack for Malays.

The key points of good onde onde are the nice fragrant pandan leaves and the luscious gula melaka (palm sugar). Herewith is the recipe:

Ingredients:

250 g glutinous rice flour (tepung pulut)

220 ml pandan juice (To make the pandan juice: Blend 5-6 long pandan leaves with 200 ml water and strain using a sieve to obtain a smooth juice.)

150 g  gula melaka (palm sugar), finely chopped (so that it will melt evenly when the dough is poached)

150 g grated coconut

A pinch of salt

Steps:

For the dough:

1. In a large bowl, combine the glutinous rice flour with pandan juice and knead lightly.

2. Pinch a small piece of the dough (about 40 g) and drop it into boiling water. When the dough rises up the surface, remove it with a slotted spoon and shake off the excess water.

3. Mix the poached dough back into the main dough and knead well to form smooth dough.

Note: Don't over-knead the dough as it gets sticky the longer you touch it. As soon as there is a smooth dough, you can stop kneading it. The best is to use a ladle to mix it so that it doesn't stick to your hands. The final dough should be very soft and slightly sticky.

4. Cover the dough and set aside for about 15 minutes.  

Grated coconut:

1. Mix the grated coconut with a pinch of salt.

2. Steam the grated coconut for about 3-4 minutes.

3. Leave to cool completely.

Poach the dough filled with gula melaka:

1. Bring a pot of water to boil (use the same pot of water you used to poach the small piece of dough as mentioned above).

2. Pinch a marble-sized portion of dough (about 15 g each) and flatten lightly.

3. Fill the center of the dough with gula melaka (palm sugar) and roll them in your palm to form a smooth ball and cook the glutinuous rice balls in boiling water.

Note: the longer you hold the dough, you will notice that it will start melting and the dough will basically stick to your hands and it becomes difficult to form a smooth ball after that. The best way is to quickly roll the ball and drop it into the boiling water. Ensure that all seams are tightly sealed to prevent the dough from breaking apart in the water.

4. When the rice balls float to the surface, remove them with a slotted spoon and shake off excess water.

5. Leave to cool.

Final step:

Coat the glutinous balls with grated coconut and serve immediately.