My Mind Patch: Ondeh Ondeh in Coconut + Milk

Ondeh Ondeh is the name of a popular local snack made of palm sugar filled glutinous rice balls coated with grated coconut. I was craving for this snack but there was no grated coconut at home. Therefore, I tried serving the glutinous rice balls in cold sweetened coconut milk which was a combination of coconut cream powder, condensed milk and fresh milk.

I prefer coconut cream powder to packet of coconut milk, as the former is easier to store and dispense. Just add the required amount of coconut cream powder to hot water, and you'll get that small amount of coconut milk. To me, this is more feasible than opening up a new packet of coconut milk for that small amount needed. This is just my personal preference, you can use packet coconut milk if it is more convenient to you 😉

Avoid serving this cold snack at night as glutinous rice product takes a longer time to be fully digested 😜

Servings: 4 persons' snack

Ingredients

95g glutinous rice flour
5g tapioca starch/glutinous rice flour
5g caster sugar
20g hot water

50g water

1~2g pandan paste *

1/2 tsp pumpkin powder #
1/2 tsp water

1/2 tsp purple yam powder #
1/2 tsp water

65g palm sugar/gula melaka granules
a small amount of water

* blend 15g pandan leaf with 50g water into pandan paste. Collect about 1~2g for use.
# I bought the pumpkin powder and purple yam powder from Kitchen Capers near Kent Ridge MRT station

Coconut + Milk Syrup
10g coconut cream powder
20g hot water

20g condensed milk
150g cold milk
20g ice cubes

Directions

1. Mix glutinous rice flour, tapioca starch and caster sugar in a mixing bowl.

Dig a well in the center and pour 20g of hot water into it.

Cover and let it stand for about 10 minutes.

Gradually add 50g of water into the flour mixture, and stir to mix at the same time.

Till the mixture formed into some coarse crumbs. Try not to add too much water at this stage!

Press the flour crumbs together to form into a dough (about 172g). Divide the dough into 3 portions: 72g, 50g and 50g.

2. Add different colour ingredients to create 3 different colour dough:

Pandan dough
Add about 1~2g of pandan mixture to the 72g dough. Mix and knead into a smooth dough.

Pumpkin dough
Take a 50g dough, flatten it slightly, and add the pumpkin powder to the center.

Add water to the pumpkin powder and mix well. Ensure the pumpkin powder is not lumpy before mixing into the glutinous rice dough.

Mix and knead well into a smooth dough.

Purple Yam dough
Similarly, flatten the last 50g glutinous rice dough, add purple yam powder to the center.

Gradually add water to mix the purple yam powder into a thick paste.

Mix and knead well into a smooth dough.

Cover the 3 colour dough with cling wrap and let them rest for about 30 to 60 minutes.

3. This step is optional. You can skip this step if you prefer to add the filling in granules form.
Add water, bit by bit, to the palm sugar/gula melaka granules. The purpose of adding water was to bind the granules together. So, add as needed!

Stop adding water when the palm sugar forms into coarse lumps.

Divide and shape the palm sugar into 30 balls each weighing about 2g.

4. Divide and shape the pandan dough into 12 balls, pumpkin dough into 9 balls, and purple yam dough into 9 balls.

5. Flatten a dough ball and place a palm sugar ball in the centre.

Wrap up the dough.

Give the dough a light squeeze to compact and better seal the dough.

Roll the dough between both palms to form into a round smooth ball.

Place the shaped rice balls in a plate in a single layer.

6. Bring half pot of water into a boil before dropping the rice balls into it. Stir regularly to avoid the rice balls from sticking to the base of the pot.

The dough balls are cooked once they float to the water surface.

Transfer the cooked rice balls to a bowl of icy water. Pour away the water if it become warm. And add another round of cold icy water to the rice balls.

7. While waiting for the rice balls to cool down, prepare the coconut + milk syrup.
Dissolve coconut cream powder in hot water.

Add condensed milk, fresh milk and ice cubes to the above coconut cream. The purpose of the ice cubes was to cool down and dilute the milk syrup. Stir to mix well.