she paints the kitchen red

ondeh-ondeh

today was one of the rare times i made a malay local cake (or more commonly known as kueh. ondeh ondeh are balls of glutinous rice flour filled with palm sugar, then coated in steamed fresh grated coconut. they are traditionally coloured green, but i was in a quirky mood so i decided to have blue, turquoise and pink balls instead.

this is the first time i made something without following a recipe. i just mixed the glutinous rice flour with water, just enough to form a pliable and soft dough. you really have to judge the consistency for yourself because if the dough is too soft, the palm sugar will “leak out” (which happened to quite a few of my balls) and if it does not have enough water, the dough will sort of crumble and fall apart.

after that, divide dough into small balls and flatten slightly to accommodate the palm sugar, after which you seal up the edges and roll it back into a ball. after all the dough is used up, throw them into a deep pan of boiling water. when the balls float, they are cooked.

drain well and coat in the steamed grated coconut. (steam it with a pinch of salt)

keeping the palm sugar in is a tedious task!

the balls cooking.

ready!