Onde onde (glutinous rice balls)

Poh creates an Asian version of macarons with these chewy rainbow-coloured Malaysian snacks featuring surprise fillings.

Onde onde Credit: Poh's Kitchen

• makes

  1

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  1:20 hour

• difficulty

  Mid

Glutinous rice balls with different fillings are also known as 'Sticky Marbles' (as I affectionately call them).

Ingredients

Plain coloured dough

• ½ cup glutinous rice flour
• 100 ml water (cool to room temperature is fine) OR 100ml coconut milk

Coloured dough

• red liquid food colouring, or yellow liquid food colouring, or pandan aroma pasta (pandan paste from Asian grocers)

Adzuki bean paste filling

• Red bean paste (found in Asian grocer in cans or plastic packets)

Coating for rolling finished balls

• ½ cup caster sugar (for durian ball)
• ½ cup peanut crumble (for peanut ball)
• ½ cup black sesame crumble (for black sesame ball)
• ½ cup desiccated coconut + ¼ tsp crushed sea salt mixed into it (for onde onde)

Onde onde filling

• ½ cup shaved dark (Indonesian-style) palm sugar

Durian filling

• 250 g durian pulp (found in the freezer section of an Asian store)
• 2 tbs coconut cream
• ½ cup caster sugar

Peanut filling

• 1 cup salted peanuts
• ⅔ cup caster sugar
• ½ cup peanut paste

Black sesame filling

• 1 cup black sesame seeds
• ½ cup caster sugar
• 50 g cold butter

This amount makes enough for one flavour, so you need to make this recipe five times if you want to attempt all the flavours. Knead four balls of the plain first, leave two white, colour one pink, one a pale yellow, and colour the final one with the pandan paste, enough to make a pale green. Use colouring sparingly, as you don't want the balls to look too lurid and unpalatable.

Instructions

Glutinous rice flour dough

1. Knead glutinous rice flour with water or alternatively, coconut milk, until a ball gathers and the dough is slightly moist. If the dough seems a little dry, add a tsp of water or coconut milk and knead until incorporated. Cover in plastic wrap immediately to keep moist.
2. To stuff the dough, pinch a small portion of the dough, roll roughly into a ball and squash, so it's about 4-5 millimetres thick. Place stuffing into the centre and gather dough around so the stuffing is covered, then pinch away any dough you think is superfluous. Roll in palm of hands till you form a perfect ball.
3. Stuff red bean paste in the pink dough, durian into the pale yellow dough, the peanut and black sesame into the white dough, and the palm sugar into the green dough. As the balls are rolled, position them on a baking tray lined with parchment.
4. Fill a medium to large pot with boiling water. Have a slotted spoon and sieve sitting over a bowl. Take fillings out of freezer at the last minute (when doing the durian, you do have to work faster as it melts quite quickly) and all the coating ready in separate bowls. Drop the balls in 5-6 at a time so you can manage the coating immediately after cooking. When the balls are cooked, they will float to the top. Scoop out and transfer to sieve to drain for about 5 seconds. Don't leave for too long or they will get sticky and unmanageable.
5. Tip balls into coating and roll until completely covered. Roll the red bean paste and durian balls in plain caster sugar, the peanut in the peanut crumble, the sesame in the sesame crumble and the palm sugar ones in desiccated coconut. Rest on paper towel to catch access moisture from balls as they cool. Arrange attractively on a plate and leave to cool completely before wrapping in food grade plastic wrap.

Note

• Red adzuki bean ball has a plain pink dough with no coating.

Fillings

Onde onde (dark palm sugar)

Shave palm sugar by slicing thin slivers off the block and then chop roughly. Pinch small amounts together and roll into small marbles. Freeze.

Azuki bean paste (red bean paste)

Freeze red bean paste and using a ¼ tsp measure (the type shaped like half a sphere) and scoop as if melon balling, so the red bean paste forms a sphere. Another way you can achieve the same result is with a tsp: scoop a small amount of mixture, drop into slightly wet hands and roll into small marbles. Place on a tray and freeze till required.

Durian

Place durian pulp, coconut cream and sugar in a small saucepan and cook on medium heat till sugar has melted and the mixture begins to get a bit stickier, but not caramelised. Pour into a plastic container and freeze. Once frozen, use same process as red bean paste, to shape balls. With the durian jam however, you cannot roll in hands as it will melt with body heat. Only use scoop method.

Black sesame

In a food processor, blitz sesame seeds and caster sugar briefly, add cubed butter and blitz until it resembles a crumble texture. Remove half a cup of the mixture and sprinkle onto a plate. Place the remaining mixture in a plastic container, pack down tightly and freeze. Once frozen, use same process as red bean paste, to shape balls.

Peanut

In a food processor, blitz the peanuts and caster sugar until nuts are chopped. Scoop out half a cup out of food processor to roll balls in after they are cooked. Add peanut paste into food processor and pulse till incorporated. Make sure the texture is so you can squash the peanut mixture into balls and they will keep their shape without crumbling apart easily. If they do crumble easily add a couple more tbsp of peanut paste, pulse and repeat process.

Poh's Kitchen, season 1 to season 3, premieres on Tuesday 20 November at 8.30pm. The series airs Tuesdays at 8.30pm on SBS Food (Channel 33). After they air, episodes will stream at SBS On Demand.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

Glutinous rice balls with different fillings are also known as 'Sticky Marbles' (as I affectionately call them).