Onde-onde (Indonesian Glutinous Rice Flour Balls with Mung Beans Filling)

My father is a big fan of Kartolo, a famous comedian from East Java (Surabaya). Everytime we eat onde-onde he always told me this joke from Kartolo. Long time ago when the Dutch was still colonizing Indonesia, they didn’t know how come we (Indonesian) could attach all those sesame seeds onto the surface onde-onde. They thought we attach the sesame seeds one by one? What’s so funny about that then? Can you find the joke?

Funnily when I made this onde-onde I asked masbul to do the sesame seeds part and I told him about the joke. He thought it was funny 😛

But on the other hand…why my onde-onde were not round? What did I do wrong? It seemed that the oil that I used for frying was too hot so the onde-onde sort of burst into oval shape. Next time better I guess.

Ingredients:
– 250 gr glutinous rice flour
– 25 gr tapioca flour
– ¼ tsp salt
– 175 cc warm coconut milk from ½ coconut
– 100 grams white sesame seeds

Filling:
– 200 gr skinned mung beans (I used mung beans with skin)
– 50 cc water
– 150 gr sugar (I used 75 gr)
– 1 pandan leaf or vanilla
– oil, for deep frying

Directions:
– For the filling, soak mung beans for about 1 hour, steam until cooked and mash while still hot. Mix with water, sugar and pandan leaf or vanilla, cook on low heat and stir constantly until the mixture can be shaped. Cool and make balls with a diameter of 1 ½ cm. Set aside.
– For the skin, mix glutinous rice flour, sago flour and salt. Pour in warm coconut milk, a little at a time, kneading constantly until the dough can be shaped. Divide into 12 parts. (Mine yield 15)
– To assemble, take 1 part of dough, shape into a ball and flatten to ½ cm thickness. Place 1 ball-shaped filling in the centre, close the dough around it and reshape into a ball.
– Roll ball into sesame seeds, pressing slightly to ensure that the seeds sticks to the dough. Or dip ball quickly into water to dampen the surface before rolling into the sesame seeds.
– Heat oil over medium fire and deep-fry the rolls until golden brown and done. Drain.

Source: Book of Kue kue Indonesia by Yasa Boga