Ondeh Ondeh Gula Melaka — Beautiful Voyager
Check out full recipe here.
What is Ondeh Ondeh?
Ondeh Ondeh is a popular Nonya or Peranakan dessert made of pandan (screwpine leaf) juice and glutinous rice flour (some uses sweet potatoes too), filled with Gula Melaka or coconut palm sugar, coated with grated coconut. In Singapore and Malaysia, it’s commonly called Ondeh Ondeh or Onde Onde, in Indonesia, they are called Klepon. When you bite into these little balls of goodness, the melted Gula Melaka gushes out like lava and the taste blends really well with the pandan flavored dough that covers it.
How to make Ondeh Ondeh?
Making this dessert is really simple. We first make the dough with glutinous rice flour (mixed with tapioca flour) and pandan juice. Fill the dough with finely chopped Gula Melaka and roll them into little balls. Then boil the dough balls until they float to the top. Lastly coat the balls with steamed grated coconut before serving.
Why is it called Gula Melaka?
Gula melaka, or coconut palm sugar, is commonly used in Southeast Asian cuisines. You can easily find this sugar in most wet and dry markets and Asian grocers, and it usually comes in a log shape. Gula Melaka is named after the historic state of Malacca (Melaka in Malay language) located in the southern region of Malaysia. Gula literally meant sugar in Malay language. It’s a natural sugar made from coconut palm sap, which is the sugary circulating fluid of the coconut plant, not to be confused with palm sugar which is made from a different type of palm tree.
How long can you keep Ondeh Ondeh?
Freshly grated coconut turns bad easily and we do not typically keep any coconut based food more than a day. The recipe I have here makes about 20–25 balls and my family loves it so much they usually finish in one sitting. I would recommend making it fresh for your loved ones to enjoy.
I rarely make desserts as there are only a few that I really love. Check out my recipe for Tiramisu, a trial and tested recipe by my bf Italian family!
INGREDIENTS:
- 300 g glutinous rice flour
- 80 g tapioca flour
- 150 ml water
- 10–15 pandan leaves washed
- 80 g grated coconut
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 50 g gula melaka finely chopped
- 1 tsp cooking oil
METHOD:
- Gather grated coconut, salt, 2 tied pandan leaves (washed), steam for 10 minutes over medium high heat. Then remove pandan leaves and set aside.
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- Cut the remaining pandan leaves into small pieces, add 100ml water and blend till smooth. Extract juice by sieving the blended pandan juice.
- Sieve the glutinous rice flour and tapioca flour.
- Add pandan juice slowly part by part into the mixed flour. Mix with a spatula initially. Once the dough is formed, use hands to knead the dough until the texture is slightly firm.
- Add cooking oil and knead until dough consistent, non-sticky and smooth.
- Divide dough into Squash ball sizes.
- Make a dent in each dough ball and add about 3/4 tsp gula melaka in it. Seal the dough ball
- When the dough balls start to float, boil for another minute (to let the gula melaka melt completely), then remove from the boiling water.
- Coat with steamed grated coconut and serve.
Originally published at https://www.beautifulvoyager.com on September 21, 2021.
