Klepon

Klepon is a small sweet made by wrapping palm sugar in a glutinous rice flour dough, boiling it, and then coating it with grated coconut. When you bite through the green skin, the sweet sugar flows out. The chewy texture of the skin, the liquid center, and the fine shreds of coconut come together in a single bite.

It is popular in Javanese markets, and related sweets also exist on the Malay Peninsula and in Sumatra, Sulawesi, and Bali, where they are eaten under names such as onde-onde (ondeh-ondeh) and buah melaka. It is an everyday snack and is also brought to celebrations such as weddings and housewarmings.

Klepon from Bali. White grated coconut covers elongated pieces of green dough. Photo: Joseagush / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Original, unmodified.

Making a bite from which sugar flows out

A typical dough is made by kneading glutinous rice flour with pandan leaf juice or similar liquids. Pandan is a leaf that adds green color and fragrance. Some formulas mix in rice flour, and others add cooked, mashed tubers, so the softness and stickiness of the skin vary.

The palm sugar for the filling is cut into small pieces or shaved before it is wrapped. It is wrapped so that the corners of the sugar do not break the skin, and the seam is closed before the balls are put into hot water. Because the sugar inside melts as it heats, closing the seam properly is important for keeping the sweet center.

The hardness of the sugar also affects the result. Soft, pliable palm sugar makes a center that flows easily, while hard sugar may leave some texture. When the boiled balls are rolled in coconut mixed with a little salt, the outside gains a saltiness that balances the sweetness.

The palm sugar used is called gula melaka in Malaysia and Singapore and gula jawa in Indonesia. Differences in the color, aroma, and hardness of the sugar show up even in sweets that look like the same green balls.

An 1810 vocabulary, and Javanese wedding offerings

By the early 19th century, several names still in use today had been written down. John Leyden’s A Comparative Vocabulary of the Barma, Maláyu and Thái Languages, published in 1810, includes names in Jawi script corresponding to onde-onde and buah melaka in a table listing Malay sweets. Names written in an Arabic-derived script appear in a table comparing the sweets of different lands. What this vocabulary records are names; it is not a cookbook listing today’s ingredients and steps.

Klepon also appears in Serat Centhini, a long work of Javanese literature. This group of manuscripts, written between 1814 and 1823, contains rich descriptions of food, including meals during travel, hospitality, and festival offerings. The name klepon also appears in a list of offerings for a wedding held in Mataram.

One of these is an offering for preparing the patanen, the central room of the house where the bride and groom sit side by side at the wedding. In the relevant part of Canto 127 of Volume II, the name kalepon is listed together with sweets such as jadah, wajik, and jongkong. Klepon was one of the offerings that prepared the wedding space, along with rice, coconut, chicken dishes, flowers, incense, and other items.

Meanings attached to a celebratory sweet

In the Bugis-Makassar communities of South Sulawesi, the names onde-onde and umba-umba are used, and the sweet appears at gatherings held to give thanks for a new home or for acquiring something new. Umba-umba is associated with “appearing” and “rising,” and the name carries the hope that one’s livelihood or standing will improve. Further meanings are layered on: the round shape stands for unity, rice for strength, sugar for joy, and coconut for enjoyment. These are the interpretations of the sweet passed down in these communities.

Debbie Teoh, a Nyonya cook from Malaysia, also describes onde-onde as a wedding sweet. Nyonya is a term relating to Peranakan culture, in which Chinese and Malay ways of life came together. The small size of one or two bites is connected with an etiquette of eating without opening one’s mouth wide.

Teoh shares a method of wrapping sugar syrup and also recommends finely shaved sugar, which is easy to handle. A skin mixed with tubers stays soft even after cooling, supporting the texture of the small balls.

From green balls at the market to local forms

Klepon and tube-shaped putu served on one plate by a mobile vendor in Jakarta. Photographed on January 16, 2011.

Photo: Midori / CC BY 3.0 / Original. Full size, unmodified.

In Java, klepon is a market sweet alongside cenil, lupis, and others. In Yogyakarta, it is also counted among the sweets people buy in the evening to break the Ramadan fast. The onde-onde of the Minangkabau in West Sumatra also appears at markets when the fast is broken.

In Java, ordering onde-onde may get you a fried sweet with a sesame-coated skin enclosing mung bean paste. Even under the same name onde-onde, the sweet it refers to differs in this way between Malaysia and Java.

In Bali, jaja klepon has an elongated form, and on Lombok the name klepon kecerit has been handed down. The name is tied to the sensation of the sugar inside bursting out in the mouth. In South Kalimantan, it is called kalalapun or kalapun. While sharing the green color, the white coconut, and the melting sugar, each locality has kept its own touches in the shape of the balls, the dough, and the name.

Glossary