Japan Food Hour: Mochi

We'll be labeling food from the Country of the rising sun, Japan as Japan Food Hour. =D

---MOCHI---

Mochi (Japanese: 餅) is a Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice pounded into paste and molded into shape. In Japan it is traditionally made in a ceremony called mochitsuki.[1] While also eaten year-round, mochi is a traditional food for the Japanese New Year and is commonly sold and eaten during that time. Mochi is also a prominent snack in Hawaii, South Korea, Taiwan, Cambodia, and Thailand. [With thanks to wikipedia!]

The traditional way to make mochi is to pound cooked rice into a sticky white dough.
Now, you can make mochi in your own kitchen without going through all that hard labour of pounding the rice. Here's how to make your easy mochi!

Ingredient List
=================

- 1 Cup of Glutinous Rice Flour
- 3 1/2 tablespoons Sugar
- 1 1/4 Cup Water + extra water
- Potato starch/Corn starch/tapioca starch

Yes, that's all you need to have to make mochi, sounds rather cheap to get. well It is! *super thumbs up(Y)!*

*~As for fillings, it;s entirely up to you, from chocolate chips, to red bean paste, to even ice cream.~*

!-! For ice cream mochi, shape ice cream into proportioned balls and let it freeze for at least 2 hours. It would be certainly easier to handle when you wrap the mochi around the ice cream !-!

Instructions
==============

(Y): Dissolve sugar into water first, it would much easier to mix the sugar water with the rice flour.

1. Mix the rice flour, sugar and water together until there is no lumps is present.

2. cover bowl with cling wrap/plastic wrap and pop it in the microwave, on high, for 3 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare a small bowl of water and spoon/spatula/rice paddle that you used to mix the ingredients together.

3. After 3 minutes, remove from microwave. Remove cling wrap/plastic wrap. With a moist spoon/spatula/rice paddle, mix the pre-cooked mochi, damping the spoon/spatula/rice paddle every mix.



This should be what you'll get.

4. Cover with cling wrap/plastic wrap again and pop it back into the microwave for 4 minutes. During this 4 minutes, prepare a baking tray or a big plate or even your table, dust with generous amount of starch

(Y): The starch will help you in separating/molding the mochi without getting your hands burnt.

5. After 4 minutes, remove from microwave and remove cling wrap/plastic wrap. Mix well for a few times and transfer the hot mochi onto the dusted baking tray/plate/table and dust the top of the mochi with starch.

6. Dust your hands with starch and proceed to make mochi balls.

!Caution! Always starch your hands, and if the mochi is too hot to handle, you can let it cool down for a bit and continue. OR constantly dust your hands while shaping your mochi balls !Caution!

7. You may start wrapping your desired filling with your mochi. To seal filling(s) in, gather the sides of the mochi to the center and pinch the folds in together. Lightly dust and shake off excess starch. Serve cold or room temperature with tea or other delicious beverages.

Enjoy making your mochi!

Printable Recipe Available here! : Print Page

With love,

Sheila<3