Friday, 4 January 2013

Iron Chef: white mochi

Tumblr_lmde0qaanl1qdiiydo1_500_largeMochi are Japanese rice cakes made of glutinous rice pounded into paste and formed into spheres or cubes. They are traditionally made in a ceremony called mochitsuki, and eaten on the Japanese New Year (or all year round). Similar snacks are found in South Korea, Hawaii, Taiwan, and Indonesia. Mochi are used in the making of other types of Japanese sweets - daifuku is a soft round mochi stuffed with sweet filling such as red bean paste or fruit. Yukimi daifuku is mochi with ice-cream inside.
 
Cooking difficulty: low
Clean-up difficulty: medium

Preparation time: 2 hours
Cooking time: 15 minutes
 
Ingredients:
- 1 cup glutinous white rice (raw)
- 1/2 cup starch powder
- 1/2 cup flour

Preparation:
Soak the rice in cold water for 45 minutes and then cook it as you normally would. Keep it on slightly longer (about 30 minutes) and add about 1/2 cup of water. Make sure you do not put in too much as the rice may then crumble easily. Cook until the rice becomes sticky and resistant to being moved around with a spatula.
Mix the dry starch powder and flour together on your table top (make sure to clean it beforehand!). Ready a bowl of water beside your cooking area.

Tumblr_mdg424f9fd1rfe2dlo1_500_largeLet's cook!
Place one teaspoon of the starch/flour mixture into a mortar, and one cup of the cooked rice. Using a pestle, grind the rice into a sticky dough. This takes several minutes and is good exercise for your arm. Once the dough is consistent and looks like paste, dip your hands into the bowl of water and mould the paste into a sphere about 1-2 inches in diameter, coating the finished product in powder. Make as many as desired, and place them on a frying pan at medium heat. Use a non-stick pan or extra powder on the bottoms of the mochi. Cook for 5 minutes, checking that the bottom does not turn brown but stays a light pasty colour. Flip onto the other side and cook until another lightly coloured shell develops. Serve warm and enjoy with soy sauce, laver, or plain!

Notes: While making this particular dish yesterday, I had a partner. It is not necessary as the recipe is quite simple, but fun is always an essential ingredient. Although our first try was a miserable failure and the end product looked more like rice-cakes than the picture above, we enjoyed cooking together nevertheless~

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