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Ondeh-Ondeh

July 11, 2011 by Linda 62 Comments

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These balls of Ondeh-Ondeh are so fun to eat. Made with sweet potatoes and glutinous rice flour rolled in coconut with a little surprise on the inside.

These balls of Ondeh-Ondeh are so fun to eat. Made with sweet potatoes and glutinous rice flour rolled in coconut with a little surprise on the inside. | RotiNRice.com

It is Monday and time for another Muhibbah Malaysian Monday. This time I am bringing Ondeh-Ondeh, a Nyonya (Straits Chinese) tea time favorite, to the round-up. These delightful furry balls are a joy to eat as they have a little surprise in them. They explode with sweet melted palm sugar in your mouth when chewed! It is always fun to watch the “unsuspecting” eating this for the first time. πŸ™‚

Before we move on to the recipe, I am very excited to tell you that Roti n Rice has been selected as the Foodista Food Blog of the Day for July 11, 2011. Rose Berry Agar-agar will be featured on the Foodista homepage for 24 hours. Please do check it out. Thank you all for your continued support.

These balls of Ondeh-Ondeh are so fun to eat. Made with sweet potatoes and glutinous rice flour rolled in coconut with a little surprise on the inside. | RotiNRice.com

There are two versions of Ondeh-Ondeh. One is made with just plain glutinous rice flour while the other has a little sweet potato added to the dough. It is usually scented with pandan (screwpine) juice and rolled in fresh dessicated coconut. As I was not in the mood to try to extract the pandan juice from the pandan leaves and I do not have pandan essence with me, I decided to flavor the dough with a teaspoon of vanilla instead. Freshly grated coconut is not something easily found here in the north and so I used dried dessicated coconut. I toasted the coconut to bring out its fragrance.

Please use freshly grated coconut if you have access to it. Make sure only the white part is used. You can leave it fresh or lightly pan fry as directed in the recipe.

5 from 2 votes
These balls of Ondeh-Ondeh are so fun to eat. Made with sweet potatoes and glutinous rice flour rolled in coconut with a little surprise on the inside. | RotiNRice.com
Print
Ondeh-Ondeh
Prep Time
30 mins
Cook Time
3 mins
Total Time
33 mins
 

These balls of Ondeh-Ondeh are so fun to eat. Made with sweet potatoes and glutinous rice flour rolled in coconut with a little surprise on the inside.

(Makes 16 balls of Ondeh-ondeh)

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Malaysian
Keyword: ondeh-ondeh
Servings: 8
Calories: 124 kcal
Author: Linda Ooi
Ingredients
  • ΒΎ cup unsweetened dried grated coconut ** (60g)
  • 1 small sweet potato (cubed) (8oz/225g)
  • 1 cup glutinous rice flour (125g)
  • ΒΌ tsp salt
  • Β½ tsp vanilla extract or pandan essence
  • 3 tbsp water
  • Β½ cup gula melaka / palm sugar / brown sugar (shaved) (3.5oz/100g)
Instructions
  1. Dry fry dessicated coconut until lightly brown, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove and place in a shallow bowl. Set aside.
    Ondeh-Ondeh-7
  2. Place sweet potato in a steamer and steam for 10 minutes until soft and mashable. Remove and place steamed sweet potato in a large bowl. Mash sweet potato with a potato masher. Add glutinous rice flour, salt, and vanilla extract. Mixed well and knead until a soft pliable dough forms.

    Ondeh-Ondeh-8
  3. Divide dough into 16 equal portions and form into balls. Flatten a ball of dough in the palm of your hand into a flat disk of about 2-inch diameter. Place a teaspoon of gula melaka in the center. Gather up the sides and seal well to form a ball of about 1-inch diameter . Roll between your palms until ball of dough is smooth. Place on a plate. Repeat with the rest of the dough.

    Ondeh-Ondeh-9
  4. Bring a medium sized pot of water to boil. Gently drop in formed ondeh-ondeh. Reduce heat to medium and allow ondeh-ondeh to cook until they float to the surface, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon.
  5. Drop onto fried coconut one at a time to coat.
    Ondeh-Ondeh-10
  6. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Recipe Notes

**Freshly grated coconut may be used in place of dessicated coconut and it can either be used as is (i.e. fresh) or fried.


These balls of Ondeh-Ondeh are so fun to eat. Made with sweet potatoes and glutinous rice flour rolled in coconut with a little surprise on the inside. | RotiNRice.com

I am sending this to Sharon for Muhibbah Malaysia Monday #13.


These balls of Ondeh-Ondeh are so fun to eat. Made with sweet potatoes and glutinous rice flour rolled in coconut with a little surprise on the inside. | RotiNRice.com

Enjoy…..and have a wonderful day! 😎


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Filed Under: Dessert, Gluten Free, Southeast Asian, Vegan Tagged With: coconut, Malaysian, Nyonya, sweet potatoes

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Comments

  1. Lyndsey says

    July 11, 2011 at 3:05 pm

    These look amazing. I love the surprise inside, so yummy! I was wondering where you get your pandan leaves? Do you have a plant? Or do we have to look for screwpine here, I’ve been wanting to get one.

    Reply
    • Biren says

      July 11, 2011 at 3:25 pm

      Thanks Lyndsey! I get my pandan leaves in the frozen section of the Vietnamese store. They call it “la dua”.

      Reply
  2. Gertrude says

    July 11, 2011 at 3:25 pm

    Nice looking ondeh ondeh. I normally coat them with fresh coconut. Interesting that you coat them with toasted coconut.

    Reply
    • Biren says

      July 11, 2011 at 3:28 pm

      I would have used fresh coconut but it is not easily available here in Minnesota. I only have dried dessicated coconut and so I dry fried it to perk it up a little. πŸ™‚

      Reply
      • Gertrude says

        July 11, 2011 at 7:30 pm

        Did you try looking for them at the Indian Stores? That is where I got mine πŸ™‚

        Reply
        • Biren says

          July 11, 2011 at 8:39 pm

          Thanks Gertrude for the tip! I will definitely check out the Indian store the next time I go there. πŸ™‚

          Reply
  3. Vatsala says

    July 11, 2011 at 3:59 pm

    Very new recipe to me. Bookmarked it.

    Reply
    • Biren says

      July 11, 2011 at 8:40 pm

      Hi Vatsala, thanks for visitng and commenting! πŸ™‚

      Reply
  4. Lindsey@Lindselicious says

    July 11, 2011 at 5:27 pm

    Hi Biren! I love that photo with the sweet potato oozing it out- it looks so good. I have never heard of Ondeh Ondeh but it looks like an super yummy variation of mochi. Congrats on Foodista!

    Reply
    • Biren says

      July 11, 2011 at 8:44 pm

      Thanks Lindsey! These ondeh-ondeh do look and taste a little like a mochi except for the filling. I like how the melted palm sugar oozes out in one’s mouth. πŸ™‚

      Reply
  5. Amelia says

    July 11, 2011 at 7:30 pm

    Congrat on foodista πŸ™‚
    Lovely photo and delicious ondeh ondeh.

    Reply
    • Biren says

      July 11, 2011 at 8:44 pm

      Thanks Amelia!

      Reply
  6. Veronica's Kitchen says

    July 11, 2011 at 8:02 pm


    My mother-in-law makes this with pumpkin but I actually like your recipe of sweet potato better. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    • Biren says

      July 11, 2011 at 8:47 pm

      Hi Veronica, thanks for visiting and commenting! I’ve never tried it with pumpkin but I can see that it will work. πŸ™‚

      Reply
  7. Reeni says

    July 11, 2011 at 8:19 pm

    I would be ever so happy to have these “explode” in my mouth! Such delightful little treats. Congratulations on being featured!

    Reply
    • Biren says

      July 11, 2011 at 8:48 pm

      These delightful little bites are fun and delicious to eat. Thanks Reeni! I am honored to be featured on Foodista. πŸ™‚

      Reply
  8. Parsley Sage says

    July 11, 2011 at 8:47 pm


    Oh that sounds delicious. Love the combo of pandan and sweet potato. Yummy!

    Reply
  9. tigerfish says

    July 11, 2011 at 8:58 pm

    Never talk while eating ondeh-ondeh….kekekek.
    This happens to be one of my favorite Nyonya kueh. The one I have tried is usually green – I think infused with pandan leaves?

    Reply
  10. torviewtoronto says

    July 11, 2011 at 9:57 pm

    delicious looks wonderful lovely pictures

    Reply
  11. Sonia says

    July 11, 2011 at 11:31 pm

    I’m too lazy to make this as I easily get it here, hehehe..Yours look so good. Congratulations to you too.

    Reply
  12. elle marie says

    July 11, 2011 at 11:41 pm

    I have honestly never tried Ondeh-Ondeh, but I’m quite fond of all the ingredients and I’d love to give it a try someday.

    Reply
  13. Miss Adriennely says

    July 12, 2011 at 12:15 am

    Ondeh ondehs are one of my favourite Malaysian snacks! But i’ve never tried one with sweet potatoes before.. it must taste fabulous!

    Reply
  14. anncoo says

    July 12, 2011 at 1:42 am

    I love Oneh-Oneh and I remember the first time I made this was in my secondary school and I love to pop the whole piece in my mouth and I totally agree with Tiger – never talk while eating Oneh-Oneh πŸ™‚

    Reply
  15. Nate @ House of Annie says

    July 12, 2011 at 2:54 am

    Very good! We’ve attempted onde-onde a couple of times, with less than stellar results. But practice makes perfect, I guess. Good on ya!

    Reply
  16. Jill@MadAboutMacarons says

    July 12, 2011 at 3:26 am

    Biren, these look absolutely magical. I’m going to add “Ondeh-ondeh” to my list of discoveries and bear in mind that they will explode in the mouth. So much to learn about Malaysian food! Great going on Foodista – well deserved!

    Reply
  17. Lisa H. says

    July 12, 2011 at 3:39 am

    Nice looking ondeh-ondeh…
    When I was young… I didn’t quite like the gooey glutinous rice texture… but now… I love it, keep popping like pop-corn and can’t stop ..hehehe πŸ˜€

    Reply
  18. The Harried Cook says

    July 12, 2011 at 8:59 am

    Sounds delicious! I love sweet potato, and I think I might have had something like this when I was in Singapore… I bet it’s yummy with that melted palm sugar in the center! Yum! Great recipe πŸ™‚

    Reply
  19. Angie's Recipes says

    July 12, 2011 at 9:16 am

    I wish I could try a few of them….they are gorgeous!

    Reply
  20. Mina Joshi says

    July 12, 2011 at 9:18 am

    They look absolutely amazing. At first – I thought they were Ladoos but on reading the recipe – I find they are a new dish for me. wow!

    Reply
  21. Peggy says

    July 12, 2011 at 9:31 am

    Congrats on being the food blog of the day yesterday! These look absolutely scrumptious!

    Reply
  22. Adora's Box says

    July 12, 2011 at 12:47 pm

    I love glutinous rice sweets. What a sweet surprise inside this one. Sounds so delicious, Biren. Congratulations on the Foodista feature.

    Reply
  23. Juliana says

    July 12, 2011 at 2:13 pm

    I never had anything like this before and would love to try it since I love glutinous rice. Looks delicious!
    Hope you are having a great week Biren πŸ™‚

    Reply
  24. Kelly says

    July 12, 2011 at 3:18 pm

    These look so delicious! What a great recipe!! πŸ™‚

    Reply
  25. Lucy @ Lucy eats says

    July 12, 2011 at 5:15 pm

    Congratulations on being food blog of the day! Wow, these look delicious. I’ve seen them at asian supermarkets before but never had the courage to try them *hehe*

    Reply
  26. kankana says

    July 12, 2011 at 10:56 pm

    This is such a different kind of dish I have come across πŸ™‚ Looks delicious.

    Reply
  27. May says

    July 13, 2011 at 6:58 am

    Hi…these look so delicious! Yum!! πŸ™‚

    Reply
  28. kitchen flavours says

    July 13, 2011 at 7:55 am

    Ondeh-ondeh is my daughter’s favourite. And using the roasted coconut sounds really interesting!
    I read somewhere that desiccated coconut can be reconstituted by soaking in water for 10 minutes or so, I have not tried it, so I don’t know how it taste like.
    Congratulations on being Foodista Food blog of the day! πŸ™‚

    Reply
  29. Jeannie says

    July 13, 2011 at 9:45 am

    I’d love to pop one into my mouth and taste the burst of sweet palm syrup! Yummy! Another old time favorite!

    Reply
  30. LeQuan says

    July 13, 2011 at 9:50 am

    These look wickedly delicious, Biren. I’ve never had Ondeh Ondeh before. Thanks for introducing me to them. Congrats on being selected as the Foodista Food Blog of the day!

    Reply
  31. Nami @ Just One Cookbook says

    July 13, 2011 at 11:55 am

    Oh Biren, another yummy dessert!!! I love coconut around the balls… I don’t know this particular sweets, but from ingredients and the method of cooking, I am already in love. Hehee. BIG CONGRATS on your recipe being featured at Foodista! YAY! Sorry for my late congrats…I’m a bit behind in pretty much “everything” now. Ugh. Looking forward to your next yummy recipe! πŸ˜‰

    Reply
  32. Lilly says

    July 13, 2011 at 2:24 pm

    I think I came across these when I was in Asia, but I can’t remember where. The name seems very familiar.

    Reply
  33. MaryMoh says

    July 13, 2011 at 3:23 pm

    Congrats on being chosen! Always love your photos and recipe. I love ondeh ondeh. It’s just so therapeutic just biting into them πŸ˜€

    Reply
  34. Julie M. says

    July 13, 2011 at 8:48 pm

    Yum Biren! I love the surprise in the middle. I really need to come and eat at your house one of these days. You always make my tummy grumble.

    Reply
  35. Erin @ Dinners, Dishes and Desserts says

    July 13, 2011 at 8:58 pm

    Great recipe Biren! Great little surprise in the center.

    Reply
  36. rebecca says

    July 13, 2011 at 11:10 pm

    oh this is neat and what a cool texture congrats on being featured proud of you

    Reply
  37. Chris says

    July 14, 2011 at 3:38 am

    I love these ondeh-ondeh.

    Reply
  38. shaz says

    July 14, 2011 at 8:36 am

    Thanks for a great submission Biren. This is one of my favourite kuih and I love the sweet potato version πŸ™‚ The best bit is the squirt of the filling when bitten into, so true.

    Reply
    • Biren says

      July 17, 2011 at 7:01 pm

      You are most welcomed Shaz. Thanks for hosting! Oh yes, the sweet palm sugar in the mouth is just the best. πŸ™‚

      Reply
  39. Sanjeeta kk says

    July 14, 2011 at 9:48 am

    This looks like a wonderful recipe I have not tried ever, Biren. Lovely dessert!

    Reply
  40. Kay Ecker says

    July 14, 2011 at 11:46 am

    Wow, these look delicious! I’ve never heard of them, but I live the name:-)

    Reply
  41. The Mom Chef ~ Taking on Magazines One Recipe at a Time says

    July 15, 2011 at 10:05 am

    What a beautiful treat, Biren. I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s like a little surprise inside a moist donut.

    Reply
  42. Magic of Spice says

    July 15, 2011 at 10:50 am

    Congratulations on the feature…very cool πŸ™‚
    These look delicious and they sound like allot of fun to eat πŸ™‚

    Reply
  43. Tiffany says

    July 17, 2011 at 7:14 am

    Sweet potato and coconut! YUM!

    Reply
  44. denise @ quickies on the dinner table says

    July 20, 2011 at 6:58 am

    You know, I’ve never tried sweet potato ondeh-ondeh? Can you believe it?! Jakun LOL I LOVED ondeh-ondeh when I was really, really young. The gula melaka squirting out the ball when I bit into it used to make me laugh so much my mother thought there was something wrong with me πŸ˜€ My cousins and I used to try to ‘shoot’ each other with the projectile gula melaka LOLOLOL So naughty we were, and so WASTEFUL!!! Aiyoh!

    Reply
    • Biren says

      July 20, 2011 at 10:47 am

      Haha…I am trying to picture you and your cousins trying to shoot each other with gula melaka projectiles. Those were the days of carefree abandon.

      You should try sweet potato ondeh-ondeh. The sweet potato provide a nice flavor and makes the ondeh-ondeh a little less “floury” in taste. πŸ™‚

      Reply
  45. Lyn says

    July 22, 2011 at 12:28 pm

    Beautiful ondeh-ondeh! Those added with mashed sweet potato are the best! *Slurp* πŸ˜€
    Some will also add a little dessicated coconut inside together with the shaved palm sugar and I love those! πŸ˜€

    Reply
  46. Diana says

    July 31, 2011 at 1:40 pm

    I am going to try to make this one with our next home-grown sweet potato harvest! We been searching for many sweet potato recipes lately to try since we harvested some tubers last month. I tried once making sweet potato onde-onde from a recipe book but did not went well due to too much water. But I will have a go again with yours. Wish me luck!

    Reply
  47. Cozinhar Sem Lactose says

    May 29, 2013 at 2:18 pm

    They look soooo great!

    Reply
  48. Chung Phaik Khe says

    April 18, 2017 at 7:37 pm

    After kneading into balls and inserting the palm sugar, can i freeze the ondeh ondeh a day before cooking?

    Reply
    • Linda says

      May 2, 2017 at 7:42 am

      I have never tried it but I don’t see why not. Uncooked tang yuan (tong yuen) are sold frozen and they turned out fine when cooked.

      Reply
  49. Fatin says

    June 2, 2018 at 10:39 pm

    Hi Linda,
    Thank you for sharing the recipe. I never tried ondeh-ondeh using sweet potatoes. Would love to try but unfortunately I don’t have glutinous rice flour. Is there a substitute for it?
    Thank you and keep on sharing amazing recipes.

    Reply
    • Linda says

      June 5, 2018 at 5:06 pm

      Glutinous rice flour is needed to give it that slightly chewy texture.

      Reply

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My grace is sufficient for thee...
2 Corinthians 12:9
Hi, I'm Linda! I make quick, easy meals, and spin on classics and old favorites with focus on Malaysian, Chinese, and American cuisines. Read more →
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