Not surprisingly, Malaysia has some pretty interesting sweets. Today’s dessert, onde onde, is a sweet pastry type cookie and a popular snack in Malaysia and Indonesia. However, unlike those French concoctions of buttery goodness that may come to mind, these little nuggets are made of glutinous rice flour. So, not your typical pastry.
I’m usually not a pastry fiend, but I’ve seen these onde onde since I was a wee tot going to the Asian market with mom. Now having the resources and opportunity to make them, I figured why not.
These do require some odd ingredients and thanks to my Asian grocer, I was able to find all of them: Pandan leaves, palm sugar and glutinous rice flour.
I had used glutinous rice flour around the holidays last year, and I’ve been looking for a reason to try again after being pleasantly surprised. I was again quite pleased, and really need to make an effort to try this in some westernized baked goods. Just for the sake of experimentation.
Thanks, Rasa Malaysia for the recipe and guidance
Ingredients
1 cup glutinous rice flour
1 cup pandan juice (see note below)
2/3 cup palm sugar
1/3 grated coconut
1/3 toasted sesame seeds
Directions
1. In a large bowl, combine the glutinous rice flour with Pandan juice and knead lightly to form smooth dough. Cover the dough and set aside for about 15 minutes. You made need to add more flour to get the consistency to be not too sticky.
2. Bring a pot of water to boil. Pinch a small piece of dough (about 2 TB) 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.
3. When the rice balls float to the surface, remove them with a slotted spoon and shake off the excess water.
4. Coat the rice balls with grated coconut or sesame seeds and serve immediately.
**Note: to make the Pandan Juice. Blend 10 Pandan leaves with 1 cup water.**
You really do have to serve immediately. When I came home from work to take a bite of one, I found the outside dry and was squirted by the sugary inside. Definitely not as good, and I’m not sure worth all the work. Sometimes, it’s better just to buy it…
