When I was little, I had reason to rejoice every Sunday because my mother often took me to the market where she worked as a vendor. What made me particularly happy was the fact that I was almost always allowed to visit the booth where cakes were sold. And I always chose onde-onde. Made with sticky rice filled with green beans, this pastry is sweet, sticky and contains hearty sesame. One piece was never enough.
Onde-onde is very well known in Indonesia. We even have an onde onde town – Mojokerto. It is said that this nickname has existed since the Majapahit kingdom. Every shop that sells traditional cakes also has onde-onde on offer – mostly it is sold cold, although it tastes better warm, as the texture becomes softer. The onde-onde in this photo I made myself based on the recipe of a friend of mine. I made it as a snack for my mother and at the same time to alleviate our longing for the beautiful past.