Pumpkin Onde Onde

Yield : about 15 glutinous rice balls

Ingredients:

100g mashed pumpkin purée 

100~105g glutinous rice flour

10g tapioca powder 

50g palm sugar, cut into fine bits 

80g fresh grated coconut

1 pandan leaf, cut into 2cm length

1/4 tsp salt

Mix the grated coconut, pandan leaf and salt together. Steam it in the remnant steam after steaming the pumpkin.

Directions:

1. Take about 120g of peeled raw pumpkin. Steam the pumpkin chunks in a rice cooker. Simply pour 100ml of water into the rice cooker pot, and place the raw pumpkin chunks in a heat resistant bowl. Close the lid and start the rice cooking process by pressing the 'Quick' mode.

2. When the pumpkin is cooked, use a spoon or fork to mash it into purée. 

3. In a mixing bowl, combine the hot pumpkin purée, glutinous rice powder and tapioca powder into a soft pliable dough.

4. Start boiling a pot of water to blanch the pumpkin rice balls later.

5. Take a teaspoonful of dough, about 15 ~ 18g, and roll it into a ball. Place the rice balls on a plate.

6. Select a rice ball and shape it into a bowl and place a few chunks of palm sugar in it. Wrap up the dough, and give it a light squeeze by closing up your palm. This is to ensure there will be no point of weakness where the melted palm sugar could leak out.

Then shape it into a ball by rolling between two palms.

If the dough is too dry, it will crack. Try to wet it with a bit of water to make it smoother and pliable.

7. When the water starts to boil, throw the rice balls in and stir the water. This is to avoid the rice balls from sticking to the pot and burnt.

8. When the rice balls are cooked, they will float. Scoop out the rice balls and place them on a rack to dry.

9. When the rice balls have dried up slightly, roll them over a plate of steamed grated coconut.

10. Serve the ondeh-ondeh fresh after cooling down :)

Tips on keeping your fresh grated coconut

Keep your fresh grated coconut in small freezer bags. Squeeze out as much air as  possible. Label the bag with the date of purchase. Keep the bags flat in the freezer. 

This will allow you to have fresh grated coconut whenever you want to make the ondeh-ondeh :)