Sunday, June 21, 2009

Ondeh Ondeh

Had a hankering for this nonya dessert, which also happens to my dad's favourite, just nice for Father's Day today. Given the exorbitant rates you pay for this commercially and how easy it is to make (edit: easy to make doesn't mean its not tedious, esp when you're doing the 20th ball or so! ) and how well shops don't make it, I thought if I'm going to eat this standard and pay for it, I might as well make it at home! The difference however is that I'm eating it hot and we all know what a huge difference that makes to any food. Anything tastes better hot.

I did a lot of research beforehand, and here are my sources which I've adapted the final recipe from: Basic recipe which I mostly followed and reproduced below: http://www.mytasteheaven.com/2009/04/ondeh-ondeh-nyonya-kuih.html
Basic recipe which I like the 'method' of making the balls: http://fatboyrecipes.blogspot.com/2005/12/my-green-ondeh-ondeh-balls.html
Another simple recipe: http://www.mycookinghut.com/2008/04/06/onde-onde-malaysian-dessert/
Version with sweet potato: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=313655

Ingredients (makes 48 to 50 ping pong sized balls, only because I wanted to use up all the flour and grated coconut!

Skin
500g of glutinous rice flour
240ml of water (in the end I used a lot more than this, can't say the exact amount because i keep adding teaspoons of hot water in to get it moist enough)
2 tsps of pandan leave essence (which is why my balls are white in colour. The original receipe called for 2 tbsp of pandan leaves juice, which I was too lazy to follow, but I will next time! Taste of essence is just not the same!)
2 tablespoons of castor sugar

Filling:-
2 pieces of gula melaka (cut into small pieces)

Coating:-

200g grated coconut (I bought the steamed version from the fridge section of the supermarket, keeps longer)
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Method
1) Pour the hot water into the glutinous rice and mix.
2) Add in the other ingredients for its skin until it forms a dough.
3) Form small balls into size and fill them with a little piece of gula melaka and seal them up.
4) Boil some water in a pot.
5) Put the sealed balls into the boiling water.
6) When the balls float on the water, take them out put into a freezer bag which has the grated coconut inside. Toss around until the balls are well coated.
7) The ondeh-ondehs are ready to be served. Some recipes recommend serving them cold (not chilled, but cold)



End note: I made enough to feed an army! Not an experience I think I'd want to repeat any time soon, my kitchen was like the aftermath of a typhoon afterwards, and no matter how much I cleaned, I still never seemed to get rid of all the grated coconut from everywhere! Next time, I'm going to bring a friend!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Almond Longan Jelly

Requested by my col because of today's BBQ and another (pregnant) colleague loves almond jelly and has a craving for it. This is my mom's receipe which uses fresh milk rather than the synthetic stuff you get in hawker centres.

Ingredients
1 to 1.5 tsp almond essence (depending on how much you like the almond taste)
2 cans of longan
1 packet of agar agar powder
(following instructions on agar agar packet)
250g of sugar (can cut down to 200g if you find it too sweet)
1 litre of liquid made up of 500ml of water, 500ml of fresh milk

Method
1) Bring out a jelly mould. Rinse it with water so that the agar agar will easily slide out. Do not to dry out the water.
2) Prepare the ingredients according to the agar agar packet:
a) Add the agar agar powder to the milk and water. Stir until partially dissolved.
b) Put on the stove and add the sugar. Bring to a boil.
c) Stir to ensure that the gelatine doesn't get caught on the bottom. Once it is boiling, turn off the flame.
d) Let it cool a minute or so and pour into the jelly mould.
e) Let cool 10 minutes before putting the mould in the fridge.
3) Let set and chill overnight. Next day, pour over the 2 cans of longan, longan water and all. Put in ice cubes. If its still too sweet, add a bit of cold water to taste.


Buchujeon (Garlic chives pancake)