Sweet Potato Ondeh Ondeh

Yes, I had been baking, but since they are old recipes which I had already posted, I had no updates.

I spent last week and this week trying my hands at making one of my favourite desserts, the ondeh ondeh. I also prefer sweet potato in the dough, so I scored through the internet for recipes.

The first recipe I tried was from AromaCookery.

Sweet Potato Onde Onde

adapted from Amy Beh’s pumpkin onde onde recipe

Ingredients:
150g sweet potato, cubed, steamed until soft and mashed

200g glutinous rice flour
pinch of salt

100ml water

1 tbsp tapioca flour

Filling :100g grated gula melaka combine with 1 tbsp sugar
Combine:200g grated coconut (white part only) and 1/4 tsp salt, then steam for 5 minutes and leave to cool. (This helps it to keep better.)

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 ofdough into small balls with your palms. Then flatten the ball and put abit 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.

The dough was easy enough. The grated gula melaka melted and became a large lump, not sure if it was because it I did not put in enough sugar. It was relatively easy to wrap. But as the balls rest on a plate while waiting to be boiled, the gula melaka melted and seeped through the dough. I was not satisfied with the results - 1) when eaten, the ondeh ondeh did not 'burst' in the mouth as it was supposed to. 2) the taste of sweet potato was not obvious (maybe the sweet potato is not of good quality) 3) its a tad hard. and 4) the gula melaka was of inferior quality and not 'fragrant'.

Most of all above.. is my fault.

So I got another recipe and tried again today.

This recipe is from Baking Mum. Hers is quite different from the above, has more sweet potato than flour and has less steps!

Ingredients:

600 gm of steamed and mashed sweet potato

2 tbsp pandan juice (I omited as I did not have pandan leaves)

250 gm white coconut shreds (add 1/2 tsp of salt and steam)

150 gm tapioca flour

1 tsp green colour (if sweet potato used is orange in colour, omit the colouring)

3 tbsp castor sugar

Filling: 200 gm of gula melaka (cut into small pieces)

Mixed mashed sweet potato, tapioca flour, sugar, pandan juice and colouring (if used) and knead into a dough. If dough is dry, you can add some water (a tbsp at a time) until dough is soft and not dry.

Pinch some dough and make into a small ball.

Flatten it with your palm and put filling in it and wrap it up.

Boil a pot of hot water. When water boils, put the wrapped ondeh ondeh into the pot and let it cook. When ondeh ondeh floats to the top, the dough is cooked.

Roll cooked ondeh ondeh in the steamed white coconut shreds.

This time round, I chopped the gula melaka rather than grate and added quite a fair bit of caster sugar (which is a mistake!). The caster sugar kept the gula melaka from melting, but it also kept it from binding together, so when I filled the ondeh ondeh, it also trapped air in the dough ball! Some of the ondeh ondeh pops, but with little gula melaka, but with much air! Another disappointment.

But overall, I like this dough better. Able to taste the sweet potato and its also soft and chewy. I will definitely try this recipe again, until I can figure out how to put lots of gula melaka in there and not have it seep through the dough. Any advise you have will be welcomed.