Onde-Onde
Chewy glutinous rice and sweet potato balls filled with liquid palm sugar and rolled in sesame seeds, then cooked in hot oil until crisp.
Photograph credit: Onde-Onde Wijen by Supardisahabu · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · this resized copy is shared under the same licence
Making Onde-Onde Ahead
Best eaten warm on the day. Keeps for 1 day at room temperature.
Onde-Onde: The Method
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Steam the sweet potato for 15 minutes until soft. Mash smooth.
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Mix the warm mash with the glutinous rice flour and water to a soft, smooth dough.
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Take walnut-sized pieces, flatten, add a piece of palm sugar and seal. Roll into smooth balls. Make about 20.
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Roll the balls in the sesame seeds, pressing them in.
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Heat the oil to 160°C / 320°F. Cook the balls in 3 batches for 5 minutes each, turning, until golden. Drain on kitchen paper.
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A Few Pointers
- Seal the seam completely.
- Do not overcrowd the oil.
- Eat warm, as the sugar sets when cold.
Why the Method Is What It Is
Sweet potato in the dough is the clue to the texture: it makes the shell soft and moist inside, and it makes it easier to handle than glutinous rice flour alone. Onde-onde is a Malaysian and Indonesian snack, a ball rolled in sesame seeds with a pocket of palm sugar that melts as it cooks.
Boil or steam the sweet potato until soft, mash it smooth, and mix it into the glutinous rice flour while still warm. Add a spoonful of water at a time until the dough is soft and not sticky. Do not let the dough dry out. Cover it with a cloth while you work.
Take a lump the size of a walnut, flatten it in your palm, add a small piece of palm sugar and seal it carefully. Roll into a ball between your hands. Press the seam closed. If there is a gap, the sugar leaks into the oil and sprays.
Roll in sesame seeds, pressing them in. Heat oil to 160°C / 320°F, a little lower than for most frying. Cook for 5 minutes in small batches, turning, until golden and floating. Drain and eat warm, within the hour.
Good Alongside
Black tea · Fresh fruit · Coffee · Kuih
Onde-Onde Nutrition Facts
No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (how much frying oil the food takes up cannot be known from the recipe). Why some recipes have none.
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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