🍰 DESSERT
Klepon
Pandan-green rice balls with a molten palm-sugar center, rolled in fresh coconut, a favorite Indonesian sweet snack.
Indonesian · medium · serves 6
prep 30 min · cook 15 min
~336 cal · 3g protein · 64g carbs · 8g fat · 3g fiber · 27g sugars · 7g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Klepon are one of Indonesia's most beloved traditional sweet snacks (jajanan pasar), little green rice-flour balls that hide a delightful surprise. Bright green from pandan and coated in coconut, they look innocent until you bite in.
Glutinous rice flour is coloured and scented with pandan, then wrapped around a nugget of gula jawa, dark palm sugar, and boiled. As they cook, the sugar melts into a molten liquid centre, so the first bite releases a burst of warm caramel. Rolled while still warm in freshly grated coconut, they are chewy, fragrant, and impossible to eat just one of.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
- 2 cups glutinous rice flour
- 2 tbsp pandan extract (or juice)
- 3/4 cup palm sugar (gula jawa), choppedHard to find? dark muscovado sugar - gula jawa is unrefined and darker than the pale Thai palm sugar discs; muscovado carries more of that than white or light brown sugar does
- 1 1/2 cups grated coconut
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- 1Mix the glutinous rice flour with the pandan and enough warm water to make a smooth, soft dough.
- 2Wrap small pieces of dough around a little chopped palm sugar and seal into balls.✎ Chef’s noteSeal the palm sugar in completely with no cracks, so the molten centre stays trapped inside instead of leaking into the water.
- 3Boil the balls gently until they float, about 4 minutes.
- 4Roll the warm balls in grated coconut mixed with a pinch of salt, and serve.
Indonesian jajanan pasar tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Yogyakarta (Java). Gudeg takes hours and looks like nothing else. Young unripe jackfruit is simmered with palm sugar and coconut milk until it collapses, teak leaves turning it deep brown, and it is served with egg, chicken and a fiery krecek of buffalo skin to cut the sweetness. It comes dry, kering, for daytime and eating later, or wet, basah, for the evening.
🗺️
Indonesia. Rendang belongs to the Minangkabau of West Sumatra rather than to Indonesia at large, and Malaysia lays its own claim; it is defined by cooking the coconut milk down until the liquid is gone and the meat starts to fry in what is left. Sambal, meanwhile, is not one recipe but hundreds, changing island by island with what grows and what is fermented locally.
🌍
Asia. Fermentation is the thread that runs the whole way across: soy sauce and miso, Korean doenjang and kimchi, Southeast Asian fish sauces, the soured batter behind an idli. Chilli is the newcomer among them, arriving only after 1500 with Portuguese and Spanish traders, which makes the heat in Sichuan, Thai and Korean cooking far younger than the fermenting underneath it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Indonesia
Nasi Goreng KampungVillage-style fried rice, smoky and sweet with kecap manis, crowned with a crisp-edged fried egg.
Gado-GadoJakarta’s "mix-mix": blanched vegetables, tofu, tempeh, and egg under warm peanut sauce.
Beef RendangBeef simmered for hours in coconut milk and spice paste until the liquid vanishes and the meat turns dark, dry, and intense.
Browse all Indonesia recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Cool leftover rice quickly and refrigerate within an hour. Keep up to 2 days and reheat until piping hot all the way through.
Make it an Indonesia meal
Nasi Goreng KampungDinner
Es CendolDrink
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Frequently asked questions
What is Klepon?
Pandan-green rice balls with a molten palm-sugar center, rolled in fresh coconut, a favorite Indonesian sweet snack.
Where does Klepon come from?
Klepon is an Indonesian dish from Yogyakarta (Java), Indonesia.
Can Klepon be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Klepon recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. It cannot be made nut-free without changing what the dish is, so the recipe does not offer that version. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Klepon safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Klepon take to make?
About 45 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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