02.11.09
Mochi Feast!
There are so many different kinds of traditional sweets (wagashi) in Japan, but when you don’t live there, you have to do what you can to satisfy your taste buds.
Because I missed the Japanese New Year feast (Osechi) and Zouni (clear soup with rice cake), I was craving for something very Japanese. So, I decided to challenge myself to make Mochi (rice cake). I’ve made Anko (sweet azuki bean paste that is typically used with Mochi) before, but making Mochi was my first time.
My only excuse for not making Mochi in the U.S. was because I don’t own a Mochi maker. But when my friend assured me that I could use my bread machine, I thought I had to give a try;
I cooked Mochi rice (Japanese sweet rice) in a rice cooker after soaking it over night. I transferred it to the bread machine and let it knead for a while (as soon as I opened the lid, I could immediately smell and feel the steam of sweet rice, and that made me smile). I put potato starch all over my hands to keep it from sticking, and quickly formed individual small pieces of Mochi in my hands. As a hot Mochi ball started to form in my hands, I was feeling grateful to be Japanese and able to enjoy this unique food. I was also excited and proud to accomplish this task that I’d never done before. I’d never thought that I would make Mochi when I was Japan. It was something that you would buy at a store.
To make this Mochi production be worthwhile, I decided to use this dough for various items:
Daifuku: Flatten a Mochi ball, put a spoonful of Anko in a middle and close it.
Ohagi: Cover Mochi with Anko. You’ll have to use saran wrap to form the shape. It’s opposite from Daifuku where Anko is in the center.
Kinako Mochi: Put Mochi in warm/hot water for a few seconds to get it wet. Cover it with Kinako (roasted soy powder) and powdered sugar mix – you can use regular sugar, but I don’t like the texture when everything else is smooth and powdery.
Ohagi with Kinako: Cover Ohagi with Kinako powder.
Oshiruko: Put Mochi in hot Oshiruko (sweet azuki beans soup). It may sound weird to some people when you hear “sweet”, “beans” and “soup” altogether, but this is a popular sweet dish in Japan. My favorite desert in winter!
Norimaki: Cover with dry seaweed and dip in soy sauce. I like to put butter on hot mochi and add cheese for more flavors!
I stopped counting how many I was eating after a while…..kind of scary to know…. All I know is I was stuffed and my stomach was VERY happy. It’s a good thing that I’m not on a diet…. I can not be, especially when I see Japanese food in front of me…
You can buy pre-made Mochi at a Japanese store, but the big difference is the softness of fresh mochi. Fresh ones are soft and gooey – just the way it should be. I was especially happy with the way that Daifuku and Ohagi turned out. I could’ve eaten 10 of them if I hadn’t been careful. See the photo- don’t they look delicious!
I thought I made enough Mochi to last for a while, but all disappeared very quickly. hummmm…… There are still many other Mochi dishes that I can make with limited ingredients in the U.S. I’m sure my kitchen will smell like yummy Japanese Mochi again soon.
Adelle said,
September 4, 2009 at 1:06 am
Oh could you please tell us how you made mochi using the bread machine? I am wondering how many cups of rice you used, what kind of setting you used on your bread machine and how long did you knead with the machine. I would love to make mochi with my bread maker.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful news with us!
jflairhomestyles said,
September 13, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Hi Adelle,
Thank you for your questions! The mochi season is right around the corner and I cannot wait to start making mochi again!
To answer your questions, I use a rice cooker to cook mochi rice (glutinous rice or sweet sticky rice). You can use how ever much you like (1cup, 5 cups, or more depending on the capacity of your rice cooker), but I like to make a lot to make my mochi production worth while. If I have any leftovers, I put them in the freezer right away, but of course, eating fresh ones is the best!!
Anyway, I usually use 5 “rice cups” of mochi rice and cook it in my rice cooker. I never use a regular measuring cup when I cook rice, so I had to see how different the measuring was. The result: 1 “rice cup” = 2/3 regular measuring cup.
You need to wash and rinse the rice first. Then soak the rice in water over night. The amount of water you need is the same as when you cook regular rice. You can either steam the rice or cook it in a rice cooker. Once it’s cooked, the surface may look slightly browner than regular rice, but it’s normal. If it’s too brown, you might have used old rice or cooked too long.
With a bread machine, you just need to knead the mochi rice. If you don’t have a setting for just kneading, select basic one and watch it until it stops kneading in the process -stay close to the machine so that you don’t end up baking it! It usually takes 10 minutes or so. Your bread machine might stop kneading for a couple of minutes or 5 minuites, but don’t take the dough out yet! It should start kneading again for the second round. It’s hard to be patient when it stops, but patience will make a beautiful and silky mochi. If you take it out too soon, you can feel the grain’s texture when you eat it instead of being melted in your mouth…. I’m drooling as I’m writing this…
When the kneading process is done, the rice ball should be nice and smooth. When you take it out from the bread machine, you need to have enough katakuriko (potato starch) all over your hands and plates. The fresh mochi is really hot, so be careful. You need to move your hands quickly to form the shape before it gets too dry.
Mochi making is a messy process. Having an apron and a lot of counter space will make things easier.
I hope I’ve answered your questions. Let me know if you have any more.
Enjoy your mochi making!!
Adelle said,
September 15, 2009 at 1:04 am
Thank you. Thank you. I can’t wait to try it this weekend. I’ll let you know how it works for me.
jflairhomestyles said,
September 16, 2009 at 1:49 am
I forgot to mention…. 5 cups of rice usually feeds about 8 (+/- )people, depending on how much everyone eats.
Yes, please share your mochi experience with us. Have fun!
Adelle said,
September 30, 2009 at 2:11 am
So I made a cup of rice in the rice cooker with a little bit less water than I would use for regular rice with half a teaspoon of salt. I think it may have been too much water because my mochi “dough” came out a little bit runny from the bread machine. I was told by my mom to maybe wrap it up and put it in the refrigerator to make it a bit firmer which I did and it turned out ok. It was extremely sticky and was only able to cut it and roll it around some toasted bean powder. I guess i made Kinako mochi. I didn’t need to add any water though. It was very yummy.
I think I can make it much better next time.
Even 1 cup was too much for myself to eat at once so I froze my Kinako mochi and ate it the next day after putting it in the microwave for 30 seconds.
Do you think I should add less water in the rice cooker next time? Should the dough after kneading look a little bit like bread dough? (because mine didn’t) Do you have any tips on how best to put red bean paste inside the mochi?
Thanks so much!
jflairhomestyles said,
September 30, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Thank you for sharing your mochi making experience! This is great!!
When you cooked mochi rice, did it look like regular rice and each grain looks puffy? You should be able to eat the mochi rice and feel the texture like regular rice. If it’s too flat or looks too watery, you might have put in too much water.
Remember, after you soak the mochi rice overnight with a regular amount of water, you take it straight to a rice cooker without draining the water or adding more to it. Because rice absorbs the water overnight, it may look like there isn’t much water level above rice, but each grain has already absorbed enough water by then.
The best way to take the sticky dough out of the machine is to use a wet shamoji (rice scooper). If you don’t have a shamoji, any spatula or big spoon should be ok. Just wet it really good every time you touch the dough until you take it out to a pan with enough katakuriko. You can use your own hands if it’s easier, but again, you need to wet them or put katakuriko powder. In any event, you need to move really fast here.
The dough does look like a bread dough, but has more shine to it and lot stickier.
As for red bean paste, it’s a good idea to make balls of paste first. The size of ball is upto you. If you want to make a big daifuku, you can make a big one, but usually small ones (3/4″-1″diam.) are easier to handle. The shape of your daifuku can be like a ball or a little flatter.
When you make Ohagi, you might want to use saran wrap to put anko around the rice ball.
Hope this helps. Please feel free to ask more questions!
Adelle said,
October 20, 2009 at 5:45 am
Success! I’ve had success with making mochi this time. It was so delicious. I made red bean paste mochi and they were super yummy. I have to thank you so much for all your help and detailed explanation of the process. I’m going make some more this week.
Thanks again!
jflairhomestyles said,
October 20, 2009 at 2:50 pm
That’s wonderful, Adelle! Glad to know that you enjoyed it! I should make some soon!!!
Did you take any pictures of your mochi? I’m thinking about putting some photos on Flicker. Let me know if you’re interested.
Also I’ve found this fun video clip from Youtube. I thought you might like it. This is how to make mochi without a machine in Japan. These people are super fast, though! The guy on the right is adding water really fast without getting hit by a wooden hammer!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R6CAN3IznM&feature=related
Enjoy!
Adelle said,
October 22, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Sorry… I didn’t take pictures of the mochi. My family and I ate them as soon as they were made.
They were super yummy. Right now, I can’t seem to find my camera. I have a toddler so I think I may have left it somewhere or he my have hidden it somewhere in the house.
Thanks for the Youtube link. It was fascinating.
mmMmmm… mochi.
Son said,
January 8, 2010 at 10:58 pm
Can you use brown sweet glutinous rice?
Also what brand and model bread maker
Do you use or like?
jflairhomestyles said,
January 11, 2010 at 4:26 pm
Hello Son! Thank you for your questions!
I’ve never tried to use brown “sweet” rice, so I don’t really know how it’s going to turn out, but I would think that you’d make it the same way. When I cook regular brown rice for dinner, I would have to soak it in water longer and cook it with a special setting in a rice cooker, so maybe you’d have to do the same?? But not sure… Sorry….
As for a bread maker, I think you can use whatever you have. I was given this machine called Breadman model# TR888 as a gift about 5 years ago. But as long as the machine has a kneading feature, you can use it for mochi fine. Just make sure that you don’t take the dough out after one kneading process. It will stop for 5-10 min or so, but just wait for another kneading process.
Enjoy!!
teresa said,
February 9, 2010 at 10:15 pm
Me and my older daughter are crazy about Japanese mochi. I am so glad to find your site. I really want to make mochi at home but don’t have a bread machine. Do you think I can use the standmixer with the rice I cook?
jflairhomestyles said,
February 10, 2010 at 2:26 pm
Hi Teresa!
Thank you for your questions and I’m glad to know that you guys love mochi! Yay!!
I don’t own a stand mixer, so I’ve never tried to make mochi with it. But I doubt that you can use it because the cooked rice needs to be pounded or kneaded. You might want to experiment with a small portion first if you want to give a try.
Also, if you don’t own a bread machine, just try to mimick the “real” mochi making process like you see from the Youtube link I’ve provided in my previous comment. I have not personally tried this, but I saw an article somewhere that you can put cooked mochi rice in a ziplock and just pound and pound…. until it gets the texture (this will be a quite exercise, I think….). I guess people would do whatever to satisfy their cravings.
I’ll be posting a new blog about winter desserts with shiratama dango (mochi ball – use rice flour) soon, so stay tuned! This should be easy.
Sui said,
June 6, 2010 at 1:55 am
Heys I just wanted to know if we could put chocolate or other flavourings to make the Daifuku?
by the way i love this blog:D
jflairhomestyles said,
June 7, 2010 at 2:13 pm
Hi Sui!
Thank you for your message!
Sure, be creative and add your favorite flavors to your mochi. A green tea flavor would be great too. Also, if you don’t like Anko (sweet red bean paste), you can put chocolate, peanut butter balls, etc… However, when you use a different filling, you might want to make it like a paste or something similar. It’s easier to handle and it goes with the smooth mochi texture. My favorite is “Ichigo Daifuku” – strawberry covered with anko. Yummm
N said,
December 29, 2010 at 11:19 am
Hello! Thank you for this article & message post! I would love to make mochi today with my bread maker, but have a quick question… Before you put the cooked rice into the bread maker to knead, do you spray the pan with oil or add starch/rice flour or water into the pan before/ during the kneading process so the mochi doesn’t stick to the pan and the bread machine turning blade?? Thank you – I was so sad to find no mochi for sale at the local Asian store… Unfortunately, there is no Japanese Mamet here in Baltimore
…
jflairhomestyles said,
December 29, 2010 at 11:41 am
Thank you for your question!
Your bread maker should have a coating (non-stick pan), so you don’t need to spray anything. When you take the dough from the pan, make sure that your utensil is wet and you need to put potato starch (corn starch is fine too) on your plate or bowl. Hope this helps! Enjoy making mochi today!!
N said,
December 29, 2010 at 2:15 pm
Thank you for your quick response!!!
Ji said,
January 4, 2011 at 8:09 am
Thank you for your recipe. My daughter loves mochi and the machine was too expensive. But I have a bread machine and a rice cooker!. Thanks.
Rick said,
September 1, 2011 at 12:47 am
Hi Everyone!
There is a meshy towel they use in Japan for steaming rice; not sure if it’s sold in the US. I’ll wrap the rice in that and place it in a steamer for 40 minutes or so, I guess! We’ll see.
Thanks so much for this blog. It inspired me to give it a try with my bread maker while in Japan recently. We soaked the rice over night, then cooked it in a rice cooker before beating it with the knead cycle of a bread maker. What we found was that even using the amount of water the rice cooker suggested for sweet rice, and even though it came out like normal rice, my Japanese mother-in-law felt convinced that the only way to cook rice for mochi is to steam it. I wondered if a bit less water in the rice cooker would do the trick, but she was adamant. So hey, I’ll try it her way tomorrow and we’ll see how it goes
Thanks again for the confidence!
(random side note: another thing from Japan I like that I’ve recently made on my own is roasted sesame ice cream. Maybe doesn’t sound [or look] good, but it’s a wonderful [acquired?] taste. I recently bought some suri-iri-goma (ground black/roasted sesame seeds) and in a mixer, blended a few tablespoons with a couple cups of vanilla ice cream. Refreeze and enjoy! It’s great!)
Rick
Rick said,
September 1, 2011 at 12:52 am
What I forgot to mention above was that it was a little bit…not runny really…but just a little too soft when cooked in the rice cooker. Trying to form into firm balls wasn’t very successful. They’d all blah all over the place, melting into cookie shapes
Still tasty, just not perfect. That said, they were still good and soft a day or two later, so maybe that’s a plus.
jflairhomestyles said,
September 1, 2011 at 10:15 am
Hi Rick,
Thank you for your comments! I just want to point out that after you soak the sweet rice over night, you’re not supposed add any water when you transfer it to a rice cooker. Each grain needs to be puffy like regular cooked rice when it’s done. Another person had a similar experience (please see our older comments from 09) and her dough was too soft. When she tried again without adding extra water, her mochi turned out great. So give another try and see how that goes, but steaming might be good too.
Your sesame ice cream sounds great! We’ll have to try that
Thank you for sharing!