Burmese. Dessert. Served at I Still Call It Burma (#2 and #3).

Mont lone yay baw

Rice dumplings with molten palm sugar

Chewy glutinous rice balls with a chunk of palm sugar inside that melts when you boil them, so the first bite runs. I make the dough with pandan juice and serve them on banana leaf with shredded coconut, toasted sesame, and a drizzle of pandan syrup.

Sweet coconut cream with toasted sesame is the other way I've done them, and it's in here as the alternative.

You can form the balls up to three days ahead or freeze them for a week. The one thing you can't do ahead is boil them, because they harden as they cool.

Makes
Makes about 30–40 balls, serves 10
Do ahead
Balls up to 3 days in the fridge, or freeze a week. Boil at the last minute.

Ingredients

Scale

Pandan syrup

  • 5–6pandan leaves
  • ½ cupwater
  • ½ cupsugar

Pandan juice

  • 10–12pandan leaves (fresh or thawed), chopped
  • 2–3 tbspwater, as little as possible

Filling

  • 350–400 gjaggery or palm sugar (solid discs, not paste), in generous ½" chunks

Dough

  • 400 gglutinous rice flour
  • 116 grice flour
  • 4 tbspplain flour
  • ~400–450 mlwater, starting at 400 ml
  • about ⅓ cuppandan juice, from above

Garnish

  • 1 mediumfresh coconut, grated (or 2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut plus a splash of warm coconut milk)
  • pinchsalt
  • 1 tspsugar
  • 3 tbspsesame seeds, toasted
  • banana leaves, cut into 6–7" squares
  • sweet coconut cream, for the alternative version (optional)

Method

  1. Make the pandan syrup: simmer the 5–6 pandan leaves in the ½ cup water and ½ cup sugar for 10 minutes. Strain and cool. Keeps in the fridge a week.
  2. Make the pandan juice: blend the chopped pandan leaves with 2–3 tbsp water, as little as possible. Strain hard. You need about ⅓ cup.
  3. Chop the jaggery or palm sugar into generous ½" chunks, bigger than you think. One piece per ball.
  4. Make the dough: combine the glutinous rice flour, rice flour, and plain flour. Add the pandan juice and about 400–450 ml water, starting at 400 ml; the pandan juice replaces some of the water. Knead until smooth and not sticky, like Play-Doh.
  5. Form the balls: take a 1" piece of dough, flatten it, wrap a palm sugar chunk, seal, and roll smooth. You should get 30–40.
  6. To freeze, lay them on a parchment-lined sheet pan, not touching, freeze solid, then bag. To refrigerate, wrap tightly so they don't dry and crack, up to 2–3 days.
  7. Prep the coconut: grate a fresh coconut, or rehydrate 2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut with a splash of warm coconut milk for 5 minutes. Season with a pinch of salt and 1 tsp sugar. Toast the sesame if not already done.
  8. Prep the banana leaves: keep frozen, thaw 30 minutes, wipe, and cut 6–7" squares across the veins. A quick pass over a flame makes them flexible.
  9. Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. Cook in batches of 10–15. They sink, then float: 3–5 minutes from fresh, 5–7 from frozen.
  10. Serve immediately, 3–4 balls per plate, with the coconut and sesame and 1–2 tsp pandan syrup.
  11. If you're making the coconut cream version, spoon sweet coconut cream instead of, or under, the shredded coconut.

Notes

  • They harden as they cool. Hold boiled balls in the cooking water with the heat off for at most 15 minutes.