Ondeh Ondeh (sweet potato recipe)

There're those who say that Kueh Dadar is similar to Ondeh Ondeh in taste since they both have a strong pandan taste coupled with the unmistakable yumminess of juicy gula melaka (palm sugar) and grated coconut with every bite.  I beg to differ, though, for there is nothing as gratifying as popping one of these green balls into your mouth and having your eyes pop wide open as you're greeted by the 'burst' of sweet honeyed gula melaka filling your whole mouth! YUM! It's like Soda Pops, Asian-style, haha. 

I find the tricky bit is rolling the dough without having the gula melaka ooze out before it reaches your mouth!  It took me so many frustrating attempts and many 'wasted' balls of ondeh ondeh stained with brown spots that were far too ugly to be served and far too 'leaky' to be tasty. 

On watching a Nyonya kueh documentary, I discovered the fool-proof secret is to roll the gula melaka into pea-sized marbles before inserting them into the dough! That was my Aha! moment. 

I've included a pretty good recipe here, and be forewarned: once you start popping, you can't stop!

Ondeh Ondeh With Sweet Potatoes


Ingredients

450 g Sweet Potato, peeled, steamed and mashed up
150 g Glutinous Rice Flour
25 g All-Purpose Flour
4 tsp Pandan essence
150 g Gula Melaka (Palm Sugar), finely grated, rolled into mini balls
200 g dessicated coconut

Method
Steam sweet potatoes for 30 minutes or until the flesh is mushy. Mash the sweet potato flesh to a pulp.


Grate gula melaka (palm sugar) into shreds and using your fingers, roll into mini balls about the size of 2 peas. Mix flours well with sweet potato pulp, add the pandan essence and knead to form a soft pliable dough.

Pour the dessicated coconut onto a wide plate and mix in a pinch of salt, ready to coat the ondeh ondeh once it has been boiled. (Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to the boil, ready for boiling the uncooked dough).


Roll out a small piece of dough (about 20g each) into a small ball and flatten it slightly. Insert a pea-sized ball of palm sugar into the middle and roll the dough to form a ball again, taking care to seal it completely.

Lower the balls of ondeh ondeh gently into the pot of boiling water with a slotted spoon. They are done when they float up to the surface of the water. Remove each one carefully to prevent breaking each one and then quickly toss each ondeh ondeh with the dessicated coconut, rolling them around the plate till each one is completely covered with the coconut.