Onde Onde ice cream potong? Who would have thought of making ice cream from a traditional kuih or cake/snack in Malaysia? I didn’t. I am glad someone did because it’s fabulously creamylicious. I am familiar with most local cakes, snacks and pastries.  Ice cream, I know only too well. Both making and eating them. Which is why, at least to me, Onde Onde would not have jumped out as a likely candidate to be reconstructed into an ice cream or ice cream potong (ice cream on a stick or ice lolly). Mass produced. Reasonably priced. Available at convenience stores and supermarkets.

Hence, I appreciatively say a very big thank you to the creators of this tongue smacking dessert – the F&N Ice Cream Division for its King’s brand of ice cream. I am so glad that there are ingenious people, who experiment with different ingredients, combine unusual flavours, reinvent cakes or snacks into ice creams, biscuits into cakes, and fuse foods like croissant and donut into cronuts and brioche and muffin into bruffins.  

Onde Onde refers to adorable bite-sized green round mounds made of glutinous rice flour infused with pandan juice or screwpine leaf. Each Onde Onde is filled with Gula Melaka or palm sugar. Then rolled in fresh grated coconut. The surprise element or star, as baking and cooking shows are fond of saying these days, is the palm sugar. The liquid brown sugar produces a molasses kind-of-goodness each time I bite into it. At least, every time, I’ve had an Onde Onde or Buah Melaka as it is known in Alor Setar, where I grew up. 

Just like its namesake, the outer layer of the ice cream is green, and is coconut and pandan flavoured. The inside is filled with Gula Melaka and coconut shavings. Despite knowing what’s coming after a few licks of the milky pandan coconut ice cream, I am still pleasantly surprised when my taste buds hit upon the Gula Melaka centre. While it is difficult to fight the temptation to bite right into the rectangular sweetness, allowing the ice cream to thaw or soften a little, brings out the best in the flavours. So, wait a while, please.

My other favourites are glutinous rice and red bean ice cream potong. Both ingredients are quite prevalent in Asian cold and hot desserts. Also, in some savoury dishes. Pulut inti (glutinous rice with sweet coconut topping), bubur pulut hitam (black glutinous rice with coconut milk) and steamed glutinous rice with chicken (Loh Ma Gai) feature the versatile glutinous rice. Red bean is found in cendol, red bean steamed buns, breads and soup. However, freezing and presenting them on a stick, is a fun way of using popular local ingredients and turning them into must-try easy to devour desserts. The flavours and speckled chewy texture of glutinous rice and crunchy, crumbly red bean combined with the never-fail taste of coconut milk always meet, and sometimes surpass my expectations – depending on the time of day and state of mind I am in. Other flavours to pick and choose from are Musang King (a more expensive durian variety), durian (the everyday Joe variety), yam, coconut, teh tarik (pulled local tea) and cempedak (Jack fruit).

I also like Bisou Bake Shop’s inventive Cupkuih. The pandan cupcake with Gula Melaka and coconut filling make it really moist and fluffy. But the real icing on the cake is the ‘all my fingers licking’ smooth coconut cream cheese frosting. The white shredded coconut didn’t do much for me but a bite of the frosting with the cake is a sure winner. My niece bought it for me. As a chocolate person, I may not have got it for myself but I am glad she did. Pandan and crème do make a perfect pairing. Cake Sense, a bakery, deliciously incorporates these two ingredients in its Twinkies or Swiss roll. The roll is soft, creamy and goes down way too easily. My nephew, who lives in Brisbane, will attest to this.

Another locally inspired and easily available clever creation is Secret Recipe’s Absolute Durian. I know I can enjoy durian more if it didn’t heat up my head like a furnace. Honestly, two fleshy seeds is all it takes to make me feel too hot for comfort. That said, the Absolute Durian cake has the right balance. Four layers of premium vanilla cake with three layers of rich durian filling to make it absolutely delightful. And, the creamy icing mirrors the thorny durian skin. Authentic.

To me, what’s nice about these creations, apart from the scrummy flavour combinations and fun presentations, is they are not exclusive to high end retail outlets or fine dining restaurants. They are affordable and accessible. And, everyone can enjoy them.