Sweet Potato Onde (Sweet Potato Glutinous Rice Balls)

Malaysians are very partial to their local tea time treats and desserts, and being a Malaysian, I am no exception. Some of our local tea time treats and desserts are simple and quick to whip up whilst there are some which require a bit more work due to the number of steps involved. This particular version of "onde" uses sweet potato instead of just flour. The sweet potato gives it a natural sweetness as well as colour. Furthermore this is simple to work and in terms of buying the ingredients pretty economical. I love eating onde because they are bite size and I usually end up popping at least half a dozen in one sitting. Ooops ... I think I've said too much already!







Sweet Potato Onde (Sweet Potato Glutinous Rice Balls)
Recipe from Amy Beh

Ingredients:

150g sweet potato, cubed, steamed until soft and mashed
200g glutinous rice flour
1/2 tsp salt
100ml water
1 Tbsp tapioca flour
100g finely chopped gula melaka (palm sugar)
200g grated fresh coconut (white part only) and 1/4 tsp salt, then steam for 5 minutes and leave to cool.

Method:

1) Bring water, salt and tapioca flour to a boil over low heat. Keep stirring until almost transparent.

2) Pour the mixture immediately into the glutinous rice flour in a largemixing bowl. Stir till it is well absorbed. Add the mashed sweet potato andmix well to form a dough. If dough is too soft, add a little moreglutinous rice flour. If it is too dry, wet your hands and knead the dough.

3) Divide dough into two and roll each portion intoa longish roll. Cut into small pieces.

4) Bring water to a boil in a deep saucepan. Roll the pieces of dough into small balls with your palms. Then flatten the ball and put about half teaspoon of the sugar mixture in the centre.

5) Pinch to seal, then roll againinto spheres. Drop the balls into boiling water until they float to the surface (about 2 to 2 1/2 minutes).

6) Remove the cooked balls with strainer.

7) Roll in grated coconut to coat. Serve whilst still warm.