Klepon
Chewy green rice cakes filled with melted brown sugar, served in sweet coconut broth. A beloved Indonesian dessert that's surprisingly achievable at home.
- Total time
- 45 min
- Servings
- 4
- Calories
- 285
- Protein
- 2g
Ingredients
- 2 cups glutinous rice flour
- ¾ cup water
- 1 teaspoon pandan extract or paste
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup palm sugar or brown sugar
- 1.5 cups coconut milk
- 1.5 cups water
- ½ cup palm sugar or brown sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- 1
Chop the palm sugar into small pea-sized pieces using a knife and cutting board, so it will melt easily inside the dough.
- 2
Pour 2 cups glutinous rice flour into a large mixing bowl, then sprinkle 0.25 teaspoon salt over the top.
- 3
Add 1 teaspoon pandan extract to a measuring cup with 0.75 cup water and stir with a spoon until the color is uniform green.
- 4
Slowly pour the green water into the flour while stirring with your fingers, squeezing and breaking up lumps, until the mixture looks like wet sand with no dry flour visible.
- 5
Knead the dough in the bowl by folding it over itself, pressing with the heel of your hand, and turning it, for 2 minutes until it is smooth and slightly sticky but holds together.
- 6
Pinch off a piece of dough about the size of a walnut and roll it between your palms into a ball; repeat until all dough is shaped into 12 balls.
- 7
Poke your thumb into the center of one dough ball to create a hole about 1 inch deep, then push a pinch of chopped palm sugar into the hole.
- 8
Gently pinch the edges of the hole together to seal it, then roll the ball between your palms to smooth out any seams.
- 9
Repeat steps 7 and 8 until all 12 dough balls are filled and sealed.
- 10
Fill a large pot halfway with water and set it on a burner over high heat; wait until you see large bubbles rolling rapidly across the bottom and surface, about 8 minutes.
- 11
Gently drop all 12 filled dough balls into the boiling water one at a time using a spoon, to prevent them from sticking together.
- 12
Stir the water gently with a wooden spoon once every 30 seconds to keep the balls from sticking to the bottom.
- 13
When all the balls float to the surface and stay there for 1 minute, they are done; remove them with a slotted spoon and set aside.
- 14
Pour 1.5 cups coconut milk and 1.5 cups water into a medium saucepan and place it on a burner over medium heat.
- 15
Add 0.5 cup palm sugar and 0.125 teaspoon salt, then stir with a spoon until the sugar dissolves completely and the liquid is uniform in color, about 2 minutes.
- 16
Let the syrup simmer gently (you should see small bubbles breaking at the surface) for 3 minutes, then turn off the heat.
- 17
Divide the cooked klepon balls evenly among 4 bowls, placing them in a single layer at the bottom of each bowl.
- 18
Pour the warm coconut syrup evenly over the klepon in each bowl until they are barely covered, about 0.75 cup syrup per bowl.
Tools you’ll need
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- large mixing bowl
- cutting board
- chef's knife
- spoon
- large pot
- wooden spoon
- slotted spoon
- medium saucepan
- 4 serving bowls
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