Japanese food is a big passion of mine.
When it comes to mochi, this passion increases seven-fold.
When it comes to mochi, this passion increases seven-fold.
Mochi, mochi, mochi.
The gooey, soft, and sensual bite of supple, steamed sweet rice flour, dusted lightly in starch, giving way to a bite-ful of perfectly sweetened red bean paste. With beautiful mouth-feel, bringing back memories of Japanese mochi festivals, but mostly memories of my mom and her Japanese friends sitting down to make huge batches of multi-colored mochi cakes, all in hues of pink, matcha green, and the light, powdery blonde of Kinako roasted soybean powder.
Mochi is comfort. Mochi is home.
And now you can make it in your home :).Thanks to my mom, who took most of the mochi process pictures, and who gave me this recipe! All you mamas out there, you always deserve more credit than we give you <3. Some of these photos are also from my recent mochi class.
The recipe is as follows, and is so simple, you will be in disbelief.
Ingredients & Equipment:
- 1 box mochiko
- water
- sugar
- ready made sweet red bean paste, called "anko". You can buy this at basically any Asian grocery store, and it usually comes in a plastic bag. Snip the corner off the bag for easy use.
- cornstarch, for dusting
- tightly-woven kitchen towel, for steaming the mochi
- steamer (any kind, doesn't have to be fancy
- plastic gloves, if you want to work with the mochi while it is very hot (totally optional)
1. Buy a box of mochiko (sweet rice flour), you can get one at any local Asian store (Chinese, Japanese, probably Korean stores too)
2. Pour the box of mochiko into a bowl, and after emptying the box, fill half the box up with sugar (granulated, not powdered). Throw that in the bowl too. Next, fill the entire box, up to the top, with water. Pour that in the bowl too, and mix all together, until smooth. What? Fill a BOX with water?? Weird!
Trust me, it works.
3. Lay a tightly-woven kitchen cloth or cheesecloth over the steaming section of a steamer. Pour the well-stirred mochiko-water-sugar mixture into the steamer, on top of the cloth.
4. Steam the mixture on high heat for 30 minutes, until, when poked, mixture is pretty much solid. Give it 40 minutes if your doubtful. Meanwhile, spread out a large amount (1 cup) of corn starch on a table or cutting board. This will help you be able to work with the mochi so that it doesn't stick.
5. Once finished steaming carefully remove the kitchen towel from the steamer, making sure the mochi mass doesn't spill out of the cloth. Flip the cloth over and let the mochi mass land onto the cornstarch-covered surface. Cover the mochi mass with corn starch, under and on top of it. Optionally, let the mass cool for a few minutes, or start working immediately on making mochi cakes.
6. Cover your fingers with corn starch and quickly pinch off a piece of mochi, smaller than a fistful, and, using your fingers, flatten it out into a small disk, about 1/2 inch thick. Do this until all of the mochi mass is gone.
7. Using the red bean paste bag, and optionally, horizontally sliced strawberries, fill the mochi with about 1 tablespoon of red bean paste, and a strawberry slice. As can be seen in the picture above, you can pre-portion small balls of red bean paste, which will make it easier. Make sure that the strawberry slice in on the bottom and anko paste on top, so that the end result will show case the beautiful color of the strawberry.
Done! Let them cool for about 30 minutes for maximum enjoyment! They will last for about 24 hours, so if you are saving them, leave them in a tupperware container on the counter, as refrigerating mochi cakes causes them to toughen up, and changes their consistency. Stay tuned for more recipes!!
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