Yesterday, I decided to visit my Korean neighbour who was leaving for another state. I doubt if we will meet again but you never know. She’s been very nice and I will surely miss her. I decided to bring along something just so that I didn’t go empty handed. I wanted something that would be easy to prepare and yet look presentable. Finally it struck me that I’ve not made this Malay kuih/tea time snack/dessert for sometime and it’s one of the easiest to prepare as well as a favourite for both adults and kids.

Traditionally, the kuih would use a block sugar called Gula Melaka but not being able to find any such sugar here, I substituted it with dark brown sugar. The difference is that the dark brown sugar liquified completely leaving a nice syrup like filling while the Gula Melaka would sometimes have a few small chewy lumps in the filling which you could enjoy crunching. Ultimately, I think there was little compromise to the taste!

Ingredients (makes 12 ondeh-ondeh):

To prepare the rice balls:

1 cup glutinuous rice flour
a few drops of green pandan paste
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup water (reserve)
1/4 tsp salt
dark brown sugar or Gula Melaka (crushed) or muscavado sugar
A pot of water

To prepare coconut:

1/2 cup shredded or grated coconut (without skin)
a pinch of salt
steamer

Method:

1. Mix the grated coconut with the pinch of salt. Steam for 5 - 10 min. This will keep the grated coconut from turning sour. 
2. Put a pot of water on the fire to boil while you prepare the rice balls.
3. In a bowl, add salt to flour. Mix with a whisk.
4. Add the pandan colouring to the 1/2 cup water and stir to dissolve the colouring. Add the coured water to the flour mixture a little at a time. Make into a dough.
5. If you need to add more water, use from the reserve. Add very little at a time. 
6.  Roll the dough into a cylinder and cut into equal pieces. This depends on how big or small you want the ondeh-ondeh to be.
7.   The size of each ball in relation to a teaspoon.
8. Take one piece and roll into a ball on your palm. Them flatten it out a little to form a circle. 
9. Put some brown sugar into the centre of the circle. Fold the sides of the circle to cover the sugar.
10. Roll it into a ball again. A little roll will do - just to smoothen the folded edge. Make sure the ball has no holes or the sugar will escape.
11. Drop the balls into the pot of boiling water. 
12.  When the balls float, use a spoon to give a gentle stir so that the balls flip around a little. Continue to let it boil floating in the water for 2-3min. This will make it soft.
13. Remove with a slotted ladle.
14. 
15. Dab the bottom of the ladle on a kitchen towel quickly and then drop the balls into the steamed coconut. 
16.  Gently roll in the coconut to cover completely. Serve hot as a dessert or for a yummy tea time snack.

 Tips:

• The original recipe uses pandan leaves. If you have pandan leaves, blend the leaves with some water, then strain through a fine sieve. Since I couldn’t find pandan leaves here, I substituted it with pandan paste. I bought this from Uwajimaya, an Asian store in Seattle.

• Once the dough is ready you need to use it. Leaving it in the open dries it out and makes rolling into balls quite a crumbly task. Hence the suggestion to get the pot of water on the fire before making the dough.
• How to know the right consistency for the dough? Break a piece of the dough and roll it into a ball on your palm and flatten it. When you lift the sides, it shouldn’t stick to your palm. If it does, add a bit more flour to the dough. When adjusting flour and water, remember to use very little at a time.
• It might get a little messy at the beginning if you’re doing this for the first time, so make sure you line your cooking area with either a kitchen towel or fill the balls with sugar over the sink - just in case the balls break and the sugar spills out!

Variations:

- To use mashed sweet potato

- To use tapioca flour

- To use a filling of grated coconut mixed with gula melaka

With these variations come the various names this dessert is called. In Malaysia, it’s popularly known as Buah Melaka and Indonesia, Kelepon Hijau.