PREPARATION
35 minutes
MAKES
4 rice cakes
COOKING
12 minutes
Ingredients
Filling
4 strawberries
120g anko (red bean paste)
Mochi paste
70g glutinous rice flour*
75ml (1/3 cup) water
10g (2 teaspoons) white (granulated) sugar
For working the dough potato starch or cornflour
*This recipe does not work with normal rice flour. Glutinous rice flour can be found in Asian or Japanese grocery stores (called ‘mochiko’ or ‘shiratamako’ in Japanese).
Directions
Prepare the filling. Wash the strawberries, pat dry and hull. With wet hands, form four balls of anko. Flatten them to form four small rounds, place a strawberry in the middle of each and close the rounds to enclose the strawberries.
Prepare the mochi dough. Mix the rice flour and water together well in a bowl that fits in a steamer basket. Add the sugar and mix. Heat water to prepare the steamer, place the bowl in the steamer basket and cook for 12 minutes on high heat. At the end of the steaming process, remove the bowl from the steamer basket. Mix the paste with a silicone spatula while it is hot. It is a little difficult at first, then the dough becomes elastic after 1 minute.
Liberally sprinkle a clean surface with potato starch. Place the mochi dough on the starch and coat well. Always make sure to have starch on your hands as the dough sticks as soon as it touches a surface without starch. Cut the dough into four pieces. Flatten each piece to get four rounds, removing any excess starch from the palm of your hand. Place an anko and strawberry ball in the middle of each round of mochi paste. Fold the dough over the ball and pinch to close securely. Turn the daifuku upside down with the closed side underneath.
Eat the same day.
Microwave mochi dough
Put the mixture in a glass bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Cook for 2 minutes at 600W.
Mix the dough well using a silicone spatula.
Cook again for 2 minutes, then mix well.
Recipe extracted from Japanese Home Cooking by Maori Murota
Published by Murdoch Books, RRP $55
