Servings
30Prep
30 minCook
5 minOnde-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!
Thank you so much for the simple and wonderful recipe! My daughter and I enjoyed making and eating them!
Thanks for trying and I am glad you and your daughter had enjoyed making it. 🙂
How many pcs does this recipe make?
Depends on how much dough you use per onde-onde, but for a regular bite sized one, about 30 pieces.
These came out great! Managed to get Pandan (froze them), glutinous rice flour and gula melaka from KL back to Switzerland as they don’t stock it where I am! Was easier to make then I initially thought. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Lis! Glad it worked for you. I too am living in Switzerland! If you are new here, you can get fresh pandan leaves and glutinous rice flour at most Asian (chinese) stores.
Thank you so much for the recipe. How do u get the filling to melt?
Thanks for checking it out! It melts when you boil it.
Thank you. I miss eating these and I cant wait to make them. One of my favorites.
Thank you for sharing the recipe! It was a success!
Awesome thanks for sharing the authentic Malaysian recipes would definitely try it
So glad I found this recipe. Missing my childhood snack…I also live in Basel!
Anyway, just one question, can you make it until the last step before boiling them then just keep it in the freezer? So I can just make big batch then eat it whenever I want to.
Thanks 😊