Onde-onde, ondeh-ondeh or in Indonesia – klepon is a dessert or tea-time snack made out of glutinous rice flour or sweet potato, filled with gula melaka (coconut palm sugar) and coated with grated coconut. Onde-onde can be found in morning markets, school canteens and sold by Mak Cik’s or Pak Cik’s (aunties or uncles) selling kuih (cakes).

This recipe was requested by my close friend Martin. I can’t remember how the subject came up but he said ‘make onde-onde lah…then put on your website’. So right after I got off the phone with him, I started gathering the ingredients. Lucky for me, I had all of it on hand. The only thing that’s missing is freshly grated coconut. I have yet to find finely grated coconut here, so I used desiccated coconut but steamed it for 30 minutes before using it. This is to rehydrate the desiccated coconut. It does taste and feel different compared to the freshly grated ones, but what to do! Below is a machine used to grate coconut in Malaysia. Here’s a video on how it’s used.

Though I am able to make it at home, I still prefer the ones sold in Malaysian markets. Perhaps I’m a little stingy when it comes to using my gula melaka since I only have limited stock from Malaysia. Of course you do not need to use the ones from Malaysia as most Asian shops sell palm sugar from Thailand or Vietnam.

Recipe adapted from Sea Salt with Food

Pandan Extract

12 Pandan Leaves

1 cup Water

Coconut Topping

1 cup Desiccated Coconut / Freshly Grated Coconut

To taste Salt

Onde - Onde

2 cups (204 grams) Glutinous Rice Flour

1 cup Pandan Extract

1 tablespoon Sugar

1 small block Gula Melaka (Coconut Palm Sugar), chopped into small pieces

Directions:

Pandan Extract

Wash pandan leaves. Cut pandan into 2 cm strips. (This helps to blend faster) Add cut pandan leaves and water into blender or food processor. Blend till juices have been extracted. About 3-4 minutes. Strain pandan extract with a cheesecloth.

Coconut Topping*

Mix desiccated coconut and salt in a heat proof bowl. Steam for 30 minutes.

Onde – Onde

Mix glutinous rice flour with pandan extract (you may not need all) and sugar until it forms into a dough. Roll dough into small balls (about 1 tablespoon each). Flatten dough and fill the centre of dough with gula melaka (about 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon). Seal the gula melaka with the dough and gently roll it to form a ball. Bring a medium sized pot of water to boil. Boil the onde-onde in batches. Do not overcrowd the pot. When the onde-onde floats to the surface, use a slotted spoon to remove. Coat the onde-onde in steamed grated coconut immediately. Allow onde-onde to cool before serving.

Tips:

You can get palm sugar from any Asian shop.

If you do not have fresh pandan leaves, you can use pandan extract or flavouring.

Store onde – onde in a container and enjoy within 2 days.

Do not refrigerate, it will become very hard.

1 cup glutinous rice flour = 104 grams

Cups to Grams conversions

* If using freshly grated coconut, you can skip this step.

Enjoy!