November 2, 2006

Making Mochi

Mochi....squishy, adorable tiny lumps of sweet gooey goodness!My first encounter with mochi was at a Japanese supermarket in Malaysia where candy and all sorts of snacks were sold. Being young and curious about all things "cute" I purchased a tray of 6 pretty pink mochi. I couldn't read the Japanese labels and didn't have a clue what they were filled with or even if they were sweet or savory. I didn't really care;...they were soft, round and cute; I was sold! *laughs*
I dusted the tasteless excess flour off the surface and took a satisfying bite right thru the center. Red bean paste!!! It's been my favorite mochi filling since.
Mochi is the Japanese variant of Chinese rice cake, which, like its Chinese origin, is made of glutinous rice, pounded into paste and molded into shape; however, unlike the Chinese variety, it is molded right after it is pounded, whereas the Chinese variety is baked once again after to solidify the mixture as well as sanitize it. Traditionally in Japan, it is made in a ceremony called mochitsuki. It may also be made in an automatic mochi machine, similar to a breadmaker. In fact, mochi can be made using a breadmaker if the rice is soaked and steamed separately and the machine can be started in a kneading mode. In Korea, a nearly identical food is called chapssaltteok . chapssal meaning "sticky rice," and is also spelled tteok, duk, dduk, duek, or d'uk. (wikipedia)
I had my first attempt at homemade mochi today....it doesn't take more than 10 minutes to make...but forming 6 perfect little round mounds could possibly take more than 30 painful minutes. Fellow Malaysian chefs who find "onde-onde" difficult to make...I suggest you get your mochi from the asian grocer. Haha. It's STICKY...and difficult...I personally feel im alright with handling all sorts of dough, cookie doughs, soft pastes, dumpling making, pastry dough kneading and the like, but making mochi is a different category all together. I wasn't exaggerating with the word sticky in bold....even with fingers, work surface, spoons and palms dusted with tapioca flour, I had difficulties keeping everything neat, pretty and ROUND! Out of frustration, I whipped out my mini muffin pan, dusted it with flour and pushed hot filled mochi's into tiny holes *proud grin* I love how resourceful I am *wink*
1 cup glutinous rice flour
1 cup water
1/4 cup castor sugar
food colouring (if you like)
Pre/home made red bean paste cooked in syrup(store in refrigerator to make it easier to roll)
Beat all ingredients in a bowl with a balloon whisk till free of lumps. The mixture should be runny and pale. Pour mixture into a silicone loaf mold and cover with clingfilm. Cook in Microwave on high for 3 1/2 minutes. Remove and tear off cling wrap. Leave to cool for 1-2 minutes before handling. Dust hands GENEROUSLY with potato flour/tapioca flour before handling hot mochi. Make round balls of ready made red bean paste and set aside to make wrapping and filling more convenient.
Dust rolled and filled mochi's with a light dusting of flour before storing. I placed mine onto pretty paper doilys and made tiny parcels of mochi with some ribbon.Tip: use a clean and dry paint brush to dust off excess flour from surface to neaten.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Loooks soooo gooooood!!! I love dorayaki - pancake stuffed with red bean paste. I made an effort to try some when I was in japan~ sooo goood and not too sweet! I had mochi tooo .. its like muah chee to me~
and yeh shd edit the tempura recipe, hahaha got confused with the flour for sure .. i think its the flour picture too~ hehhee but hey, its an excellent recipe!!!

Anonymous said...

Hi Su, what an innovative way to pack the mochi! You're always full of ideas.

Anonymous said...

Nice mochi! :D I am dreaming of some mochi ice cream now! :D

Brilynn said...

I've only ever had the chinese version, I love red bean paste!

Anonymous said...

Okie..shall stick to store bought version or try ur style :P am bad in rolling as per my onde onde incident :P

Sammy said...

I'm a HUGE fan of mochi! totally love it and I've been wondering how the skin is made or issit similar to the chinese style. Thanks alot for the recipe!

Anonymous said...

hello su yin,
been reading for a couple of months but this time is my first time commenting.
good job for this excellent blog and thank you for generous sharing of the tips and tricks of cooking.

as regarding to the current post, i would like to know when should i put the coloring to the flour mixture?

thanks again, keep up the good work. :)

Su-Yin -Décorateur said...

michie: I'll work on the eidting soon..Haha ive been too lazy >< *giggle* so very me...*blush*

jacelyn: *blows kisses* ty...ty...LOL

white_poplar: Mochi icecream is DA BOMB! want to try making that one day.

brilynn: *thinks of making red bean icecream

quavadis: hahaha...yea its can be tricky

the_yummie_dummies: the skin isnt similar to anything CHinese...erm..I would say it's similar to "muar-chee" (glutinous rice pieces covered in crushed peanuts)

joey: thanks :) I'll be giving the ice cream one a go soon.

laydiefa: WOw...great to hear from you! I love it when I get to feedback from people; be it good or bad...haha >.< I usually put the colouring into the beaten mixture when I use liquid food colouring, but i guess you could add colouring (powder form) into the flour first if you like. It's just harder to gauge the intensity of colour that way.

Anonymous said...

hi su-yin,

first time i came across your blog. came across as a link from aunty yochana's blog. i have to say i'm very impressed with your work. especially that you have a mochi recipe! for that alone i've bookmarked your site! (as you can tell i feel strongly about mochi(s))

have exams at the moment but will try the mochi recipe ASAP after exams.

keep up the good work.

;p
jp

Anonymous said...

Hi, I love mochi, and can't wait to make it, although I will do so using the stovetop method. I'm also going to make the red bean paste from scratch. I'm always up for making something from scratch.

I was curious if you know how to make rice cake from scratch? They are used to make Dduk Gook, a Korean soup. Ingredients are rice, water and salt. Any help would be appreciated.

Let's be an Inspiration said...

you're a legend :) I made my first batch - after spending hours on the adzuki bean paste... i got them whipped up... it was a lot of fun getting all floury and playing with them. they are delicious, thankyou for sharing your recipe! and good luck with your other cooking!

purplplatypus said...

wow. i am quite impressed. both with your recipes and your food photography. was searching for images for red bean mochi so i could blog about it, and came across yours. you're kinda my hero now. =)
don't worry, i won't bite your fotos.

Anonymous said...

Hi

I have also had a recent attempt at making homemade mochi.

What i did was place the mochi mix in a steamer for approx 15 mins instead of the microwave since it will keep for a few days. And insead of dusting everything with starch i coated it in oil until i filled the mochi and shaped them. This way there isnt such a big sticky mess ... just some oil to clean up.
When you have finished shaping then coat with some cornflour or starch.
There shouldnt be much oil on the mochi once they have been shaped.

Smurfette said...

Instead of dusting your hand w/ flour, try water.

Anonymous said...

I tried making mochi last night from this recipy however i dont have a microwave (yes there are people who still dont own microwaves lol)... i cooked the mochi mix over boiling water and it worked realy well! have bought it so often ready made but is realy fun and nice to make it yourself :D

Fx Trader said...

I was indeed trying to make mochi ice cream today but unfortunately the experiment failed...=(

I went to the grocery and bought glutinous rice flour, wheat starch and corn starch. Then I tried making the dough first trial with mixture of glutinous flour & wheat starch. I seperate the dough into 2, so the first one is less flour more runny & the 2nd one is more flour more thick. Then both I covered with transparent paper and put into the microwave high 3 minutes. The stuff came out so chewy & hard...hard to shape it nor can I stuff in the ice cream ball into it....failed!
Then I made another dough with just glutinous flour also thick one same process but failed.
Lastly I make the dough with glutinous flour and add in more water and the texture is more sticky and thin. Same process I did but ended up cant shape it too...failed!

Can somebody teach me how to cook the dough and be able shape it so that I can stuff in ice cream ball to make my mochi ice cream?

Really hope to make something like Lotte's yukimi daifuku which I tried it 20 years ago and recently I managed to bought one in Bangsar Village...really hope can make my own one at home. :)

Hannah Park said...

Mmmm!
I'm definately going to try to make some of these at home (even if it ends up in a sticky mess...)

❝ ❞ said...

I know this is a late comment but this is exactly what I was looking for! Now I can make my own mochis when I have my cravings XD Thank you :)

adorasbox said...

Absolutely lovely. Made mochi today
(the fried one) and have more red bean paste. I shall follow your recipe to make more. Wish me luck as I'm a bit unlucky with handling sticky stuff.

Lyka Tan said...

Wow.. Your mochi is so yummy... I love mochi Ice cream.. I craving of it.. BTW: Thanks for sharing your own recipe with us..