Newbie Nonya Makes Ondeh Ondeh

Ondeh Ondeh, a kueh with gula melaka filling

Ondeh Ondeh became an obsession of mine about 4 years ago when I had deliciously soft Ondeh Ondehs from Galicier, an old-school bakery. Tucked away in the corner of Tiong Bahru, in Singapore, they serve a medley of kuehs from Kueh Ambon to Dardar, butter cakes, and of course, the Ondeh Ondeh. I loved the soft, chewy texture with a burst of flavour in a single bite.

If you haven’t had an Ondeh Ondeh before, it is an experiential dessert. At first bite, the gula melaka filling bursts in your mouth. The earthy sweetness from the gula melaka gets elevated by the saltiness from the coconut shavings covering the skin which keeps you popping a second, third, and fourth helping into your mouth!

If you’re like me, a fan of foods with a chewy, mochi-like texture, then Ondeh Ondeh is a must-try recipe. Over the years, Mother perfected her recipe to achieve a stretchy consistency in the Ondeh Ondehs. So here is her tried and tested recipe:

This recipe takes 45 minutes to prep, 5 minutes to cook, and makes 15–20 pieces.

The Ingredients:

50 g of yellow sweet potato, wash and remove the skin

15g of gula melaka, diced or grated

10g of granulated white sugar

100g of glutinous rice flour

2 pandan leaves, cut into smaller pieces

1 litre of water, brought to a boil

100g of coconut shavings, steamed

Pinch of salt

2–3 drops of green food colouring

Oil, to coat the plate and fingers when shaping the dough

Method:

The Prep — this is crucial as it sets you up for a faster cook. Having the ingredients washed, blended, grated, and set aside allows you to cook you Ondeh Ondehs optimally.

Steps 1–3 to prep the sweet potato

1. Start by prepping your sweet potato. After washing the skin and peeling it, cook it by boiling it in hot water. Sweet potato acts as a starch — the secret to the Ondeh Ondeh’s chewy texture. As a substitute, you could use boiled tapioca.
2. Once the sweet potato is cooked, place it in a blender. To help blend it to a smooth consistency, add about 1–2 tablespoons of water.
3. Transfer your blended sweet potato paste to a pan and let it cook till it small bubbles appear. Switch off the fire.

4. Mother loves short cuts so she grates the block of gula melaka instead of chopping it up into smaller pieces. Personally, I find her short cut GRATE (ya know, great/grate. I promise you my cooking skills are better than my jokes). Back to the point, grating the gula melaka means it melts faster for a gooey filling. The last thing you want is to bite into an Ondeh Ondeh without its signature ooze. Whether you’ve chopped it or grated it, mix in the white sugar to coat it. Place it aside.

5. Grab your steamed coconut shavings and mix your pinch of salt in. Taste it. You want it to be on the saltier side but not overpowering. Place this aside. Don’t have a steamer? Microwave it! Settings should be on medium and let it heat up in the microwave for about 30 seconds and you’re all set.

Making the Dough — once you have your prep done, you’re in the clear to focus on creating a soft, chewy dough

1. Place your glutinous rice flour into a large, sturdy bowl. Add a pinch of salt to it. At home we have an old pyrax bowl which serves us well. Basically any bowl that can take the heat and a good beating. You’ll see why in a bit…
2. Add spoonful-by-spoonful of the cooked sweet potato to the glutinous rice flour. Knead it into a dough. Caution! It is hot so put on a rubber glove or stir it in with a spoon. Why mix it when hot? The heat helps to bind the sweet potato and glutinous rice flour together.

3. Knead till you get a soft texture that can be easily shaped. If it crumbles, add more sweet potato to the dough. Quick tip: if you’ve run out of sweet potato, adding 1/2 a tablespoon of hot water would do the trick!

4. At this stage you can add your food colouring. Ondeh Ondehs a typically pale green in colour. You can choose to add green food colouring to the dough or keep it in natural dough colour. Unfortunately, I’ve not found the sweet spot to homemade colouring. I’ve tried blending pandan leaves with water then straining it, and using that juice as a colouring. But adding this to the dough only made it sticky and I had to work on the dough again to get that soft texture. If you’ve found the secret to homemade pandan essence, I’d love to give it a go!

5. If you’ve added colouring, knead it a few more times to ensure it is well mixed. Now I did say your bowl needed to take a good beating. Mother’s tip to kneading dough: 1. Pick up the dough 2.Throw it as hard as you can into the bowl 3. Repeat for 3 rounds. Beating the dough helps to keep it fluffy. My advice for this part, do it in the sink.

Cooking the Ondeh Ondeh — this is where you make the filling, roll it out, and let it boil.

1. Bring your 1 liter of water to a boil in a deep pot. This helps you save time so that you can cook your Ondeh Ondehs right after they’ve been rolled. Add your cut pandan leaves. This gives your Ondeh Ondeh an earthy fragrance. A deep pot allows the Ondeh Ondeh to float up to the surface! That’s when you know they’re cooked.
2. Grab a plate and coat it with a thin layer of oil. coat your fingertips too. Oil helps to shape the dough while rolling it.

3. Pinch a bit of dough of about 12g. Shape it into a ball then make a well in its centre with your thumbs. Add a teaspoon of the gula melaka filling, close the edges by pinching it together, then roll it into a ball. Place it on the plate covered with oil.

4. Repeat the step above. You’ll want to cook a few Ondeh Ondehs in a batch so once your plate is half-full, it is time to cook!

5. Place the Ondeh Ondeh balls into the boiling water. Don’t overcrowd them. Depending on the size of your pot, cook them in batches of 5–7 balls at a time.

6. Once the Ondeh Ondeh rises to the surface, allow it to cook afloat for 1 minute. This extra time allows for the filling to cook all the way through. Remember, it is not an Ondeh Ondeh if the filling doesn’t burst in your mouth. Then scoop it out, strain it dry before rolling it in the plate of coconut shavings.

They’re ready to be eaten! If your coconut shavings are fresh, it can be kept for 2 days in the fridge. Leftovers are not common in my household when there are Ondeh Ondehs. I followed Mother’s recipe and got a nod of approval. If my parents ate it without any complaints, then I’ve passed the test.

Glossary:

Kueh Ambon — A dessert made out of tapioca flour

Kueh Dadar — A thin pandan pancake (like a crepe) with gula melaka coconut shavings inside

Gula Melaka — Coconut sugar or palm sugar