Onde-onde (Ondeh-ondeh) Recipe

The last time I made this was during my varsity days. I was in my final year, sharing a room in the hostel with another roomate. I had a lot of time on my hands then because there were only 2 papers I was taking. The hostel has a strict rule of forbidding any form of cooking in the vincinity. With a rice cooker hidden in my cupboard, I secretly tried my hands on onde onde. Well.. that was donkey years ago. This is one of my favourite malay kuih but it is difficult to come across one that has a generous amount of melted gula melaka wrap in a soft pandan dough made of either rice flour or sweet potato. With my dad and mom around, I found an incredible good excuse to make this dessert. It was indeed satisfying to pop one after another of this kuih inside my mouth but I couldn't help wishing there were more gula melaka in it.  Apparently, I had difficulty stuffing the filling in the dough.

Ingredients:
250 g Glutinous Rice Flour
200 ml Pandan Juice
150 g Gula Melaka (Palm Sugar), finely chopped
100 g Grated Coconut
A Pinch Of Sea Salt

Method:
To make the pandan juice, blend 10 pandan leaves (screwpine leaves) with 220 ml water.


In a large bowl, combine the glutinous rice flour with Pandan juice and knead lightly. 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. Mix it back into the main dough and knead well to form smooth dough. Cover the dough and set aside for about 15 minutes.

Mix the grated coconut with a pinch of salt. Set aside.
Bring a pot of water to boil. Pinch a small piece of dough (about 15 g each) and flatten lightly. Fill the center of the dough with palm sugar. Roll them in your palm to form a smooth ball and cook the glutinous rice balls in the boiling water. When the rice balls float to the surface, remove them with a slotted spoon and shake off the excess water.

Coat the rice balls with grated coconut and serve immediately.

My cooking tips : when you mix the 40g of hot ball dough (which you have boiled and cooked in the water) with the rest of the main dough, make sure you knead it well and knead it fast before it cools off. This will ensure the dough mixes and blend well with the rest of the dough.