After every of our Singapore trips, we always come back to Melbourne with lots of shopping and food ideas...
After our recent trip, my son has been obsessed with many Nonya kuehs! Knowing that it is almost impossible to buy good Nyonya kuehs in Melbourne, he made me promise that I will make onde onde, kueh tutu and kek lapis for him and the list is kind of endless! Why did I said that I will make these kueh? Maybe I have nothing better to do? Hmmm...
Frankly speaking, I do enjoy exploring recipes and don't mind cooking or baking anything for my sweetie. However, after trying to make these treats, I realised that some kuehs are actually not very straightforward to make. With some practice and kang-hu (meaning skill in Hokkien - LOL!), I have managed to make a good batch of onde onde eventually!!! Phew... Relieved now because I have fulfilled at least one of my promises.
The good thing is I can assured that my homemade onde onde are made with 100% real pandan, NO fake artificial taste and colouring! And it feels really nice enjoying these lovely treats with my family.
If you are interested to make onde onde at home, I would love to share my cooking tips and kang-hu* with you...
*kang-hu means skills in Hokkien.
My Homemade Onde Onde that is made with 100% real pandan
... vs the store-bought onde onde that we ate in Singapore
Notice the difference in the colours?
I say... I like our homemade ones more. How about you?
Here's a quick video showing how I made these onde onde.
These traditional onde onde (recipe is adapted from a popular website) are good but I think that they can be better! Huh???
If you have been following my blog, you will know that I love exploring recipes! And I love to improvise or create recipes that can make or bake any food that taste better than usual!
After making these onde onde, I have this strong feeling that I need to explore further! And I believe that I can make these traditional pandan onde onde taste even better!!! So please stay tune if you wish to read more about my onde onde exploration.
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Here's the well tried-and-tested recipe that I have adapted from a popular website, Nyonya Cooking
I have reduced the recipe proportionally so I can make 10-12 bite-size onde onde only at one go.
Make 10-12 small bite-size onde onde
To hydrate the desiccated coconut:
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp (10 ml) water
40g desiccated coconut
Note: Instead of using the desiccated coconut, you can use 40g freshly grated one if it is available and omit this hydration step.
Dissolve salt in water, then sprinkle the salt water onto the desiccated coconut. Mix well.
To hydrate:
1) steam with medium heat with occasional stirring for about 10 mins or until it is moist and fluffy.
Or 2) cover with cling wrap and microwave with low power for 20-30 secs, then stir. Repeat this cover, microwave and stirring step 3-4 times or until the coconut is moist and fluffy. Cover with cling wrap and allow to coconut to sit and cool down completely before using it
To prepare pandan leaf extract:
4-6 pandan leaves
60g water
Using a kitchen scissor, snip pandan leaves into small pieces and place them into a blender or a processor container with 60g water and process. Tip: It is difficult to process the leaves with less than 60g water - This amount is the minimal. Place blitzed pandan over a muslin cloth and squeeze out the pandan juice. Use only 40g.
For the onde onde:
40g glutinous rice flour
20g tapioca flour
15g caster sugar
40g pandan leaf extract - see above
adequate finely shaved gula melaka to fill onde onde
Bring a pot of water to medium rapid boil. Tip: Not too rapid as it will cause the over-heated onde onde to burst. Not too low heat as the prolonged cooking time will cause the onde onde to be rather mashy with less chewy texture.
Combine glutinous rice flour, tapioca flour and sugar. Add pandan leaf extract to create a pliable dough. If the dough is too soft, add more glutinous rice flour. If the dough is too dry, add 1/2 tsp water until it is soft enough and pliable.
IMPORTANT Tip: Work quickly as the dough can lose its moisture very quickly. Divide dough into 10-12 portions (about 10g per portion). Flatten each portion of dough and wrap adequate (about 1/2 tsp) gula Melaka in it. IMPORTANT Tip: Do not flatten dough excessively. The thin dough will cause the onde onde to crack easily and the sugar filling will ooze out during cooking.
Cook each wrapped dough immediately in a pot of medium boiling water with constant stirring until for about 1-2 mins until you see that the dough won't stick onto the base of cooking pot. Tip: Do not wait and cook the dough after you have wrapped the rest of the dough because the wrapped dough will crack when it lose its moisture very quickly.
Continue to wrap and cook the rest of dough very quickly before the dough starts to lose its moisture and become too brittle to handle.
Cook in 10-15 mins or until they float on the boiling for at least 5 mins.
Coat well with the hydrated coconut immediately. Set aside to cool completely.
Serve and consume all within the same day.
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