200gsweet potatopre peeled weight about 250g/8.8oz
200gglutinous rice flour
Everything Else
200ggula melakayou'll probably not need all
200ggrated/shredded coconutonly the white part
¼ + ⅛tspfine salt
water to fill a large saucepanI'm using a 20cm/8" saucepan
If using desiccated coconut
100gdesiccated coconut
50gcoconut milk
Instructions
Extract the Pandan Juice
I've provided a few pictures here, there'll be a video coming within 24 hours.Rinse the pandan leaves and using a pair of scissors, cut 7 leaves up into 2.5/1" lengths straight into a blender or food chopper.
Pour in half of the 1 cup of water and blend until the leaves are all shredded. Add more water as necessary. I used up a whole cup. This will depend on the width of your blender.
Strain the pandan juice through a fine sieve. At the end, squeeze the pulp with your hands to get every last drop. Set aside.
Make the Onde Onde Dough
Bring a large saucepan of water to boil with ¼ tsp salt. Peel the sweet potato and cut into rough 5cm/2" cubes.
Add to the boiling water and cook for 10 minutes, until a knife just glides through a cube. I know many people tell you to steam the sweet potato - I don't even know what that means! Do you steam potatoes to parboil them or do you dump them in boiling water?!
Drain and leave to air dry for 5 minutes. That means leave them in the strainer, this is so they won't be too watery. Then tip out into a large bowl and mash until smooth and creamy.Leave for 5 - 10 minutes to cool down while you chop up the gula melaka (below).
After chopping the gula melaka, when your sweet potato has cooled down, tip in ⅓ of the glutinous rice flour and mix with a wooden spoon.
Add a little of the pandan juice (about 4 Tbsp) and mix again.
Add the next ⅓ of the flour and repeat with mixing, then adding some pandan juice.
Add the final ⅓ of the flour and mix with your spoon, adding a Tbsp of pandan juice at a time to make a dough. Bring it all together with your hands, only adding pandan juice as necessary to create a non sticky dough.The dough should come away from the bowl clean and resemble plasticine (or playdough) in its consistency. Video coming in a day or 2.Cover with a tea towel, while we get the coconut going.
Chopping the Gula Melaka
Using a sharp knife, chop the gula melaka into little pieces. They won't be neat, don't worry about it.If it's too hard, give it 5-10 seconds in the microwave oven.
The Coconut
Remember the last pandan leave? Cut it into 3 pieces and place on a large plate. Tip the shredded coconut onto the plate.
Sprinkle the ⅛ tsp salt all over and warm in the microwave oven for 20 - 30 seconds, depending on your oven's wattage.Again, I know others tell you to steam the coconut. Why bring out the steamer when the microwave oven is just there and does the job perfectly?
Fluff up the coconut with a fork and leave until needed. You could cover it to prevent it from drying out, but I don't bother.
If using desiccated coconut, tip it out into a wide, shallow bowl and pour the coconut milk all over. Sprinkle the salt and mix well with a spoon. Slot in the pandan leaf pieces.Microwave in the oven in 20 second bursts, for about a 1-2 minutes, depending on you oven. What you want is for the coconut to absorb the milk, fluff up and take on the flavours. Make sure all the liquid has been absorbed.You could also do this on the stove in a frying pan or wok over very low heat.
Shape and Fill the Onde Onde
I find it best to form all the onde onde balls before cooking. They won't dry out as long as you cover them with a tea towel.The best way to ensure that you get fairly even sized balls is to keep dividing the dough as you see in the image.Cut the dough in half and place one half back in the bowl and cover. Cut the other half into half again. Then roll each one into a log and cut into equal small pieces. Each piece is 1 onde onde.
Grab one piece of dough and shape into a ball. Now we are going to fill it. The best way, is to create a deep hole in the dough by pushing your thumb through if you don't have long nails.Otherwise, like me, use the rounded end of any small utensil you have (like a pastry brush) and push down.Fill with gula melaka, ensuring that you have enough but not too much that you can't seal it. Be careful of long, sharp edges that may puncture your dough. Break them off.Seal the onde onde and gently roll into a ball. If you can see signs of gula melaka, just patch it up with the dough and roll to smooth out. Set aside while you do the same with the rest of the dough.
Once you are done with say ¾ of the dough, bring a large saucepan of water to boil. Then continue forming the rest of the onde onde.
Cooking and Finishing the Onde Onde
Depending on the size of your saucepan, cook about 8-10 balls at a time. have the heat on medium-high and gently drop the balls into the boiling water. Be careful not to burn yourself. I prefer to drop them one at a time.
Leave the onde onde to cook on the same medium-high heat. They will soon float to the top. Once they do, cook them for a further 2 minutes.Be sure to have your coconut very close to the saucepan.
Get a skimmer or slotted ladle and lift a few onde onde at a time, shake off excess water gently, then drop them carefully onto the coconut. They are very soft at this stage, so everything has to be done gently.Get the rest and place them on the coconut.
Using your fingers, cover the onde onde with the coconut immediately. Don't roll them yet as they are soft.
Cook the next batch. Now, go nack to the onde onde on the coconut and gently roll them to ensure they are fully coated. They are fairly sticky so this shouldn't be a problem.
Lift your coconut covered onde onde onto a serving plate and get ready to coat the next batch. Arrange them in one layer, don't pile them up.Repeat this until all the onde onde balls are covered with coconut and serve immediately. They can be eaten while still warm or at room temperature.However, leave at least 10 minutes before biting into one, just in case the filling is still hot. This is just a precaution.