yomogi mochi

I've been on some kind of "wa" (japanese) kick these days. For some reason I want to eat mochi or a Japanese type of sweet. Maybe it was my success making these, but today I wanted to try something a little different. Yomogi mochi. Yomogi is mugwort, the Japanese word sounds much nicer than the English translation. Yomogi is actually a weed (no, I don't think you can smoke it), and you can often find it amongst other weeds outside. Sometimes yomogi mochi is also called kusamochi (literally weed rice cake).

I bought the yomogi dried. You have to reconstitute it in hot water to get it to the consistency to use for mochi making.

I followed the daifuku recipe which I posted previously and added the reconstituted yomogi after cooking the mochi for 4 minutes in the micro. I then put a dollop of koshian in the middle and sealed them up.

The mochi was so soft and the sweetness from the koshian was just enough. I think next week I'll make a western version mochi. Stay tuned!

ichigodaifuku (part 2)

Today I met my friend Kathy in Takatsuki. We get together about once a month for lunch and shopping. We always have fun talking about different things that we find while living in Japan.

On our way home, we went past a fruit stand and he had baskets of strawberries for only 200yen (about $2) a basket. You might think that that is expensive, but in the supermarket, the price is nearly double. These precious jewels were very ripe and made the train ride home very pleasant with their sweet aroma.

When I got home, I tried making ichigo daifuku (strawberry rice cakes with sweet bean paste), I made them earlier this week and decided to make the mochi (rice cake) from scratch.

It is really easy to make, but kind of messy.

Ichigo Daifuku makes about 12

150 g mochiko (rice flour)
170cc water
12 small strawberries, washed and tops cut off
koshian (smooth sweet bean paste)
katakuriko (cornstarch)

Cut the tops off and wash the strawberries, drying them with a paper towel. Leave aside.
Mix water with mochiko and zap in microwave at 500W for 5 minutes.
When it comes out, be careful, it is very hot.
Sprinkle some katakuriko onto a board or in a pan and pour hot mochi out onto it.
Knead a bit to get mochi soft.
Break into 12 pieces (about 20-30g each).
Flatten a piece add some koshian and then invert the strawberry into the koshian.
Bring up the mochi sides and seal in the center.
Round between your palms, adding katakuriko as needed.
Repeat until all mochi and strawberries are gone.

NOTES: If the koshian that you use is a bit stiff then you can "pre-wrap" your strawberries in them. My koshian was a bit wet, so I scooped it onto the mochi as I made the daifuku. I only zapped the mochi for about 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Be careful, you need to work with the mochi while it is still hot. Sprinkle katakuriko onto your hands so the mochi won't stick too much. I only put about a teaspoon of koshian, but you can put more if you'd like. Just don't too much that you won't be able to seal up the daifuku at the bottom or rip the mochi. Goes well with hot green tea or cold mugicha (barley tea).

ichigodaifuku

Yesterday it rained all day, Satoshi had to work and I debated about what to do. I flipped through a couple of cookbooks and came across a recipe for daifuku(rice cake filled with sweet bean paste) made from kirimochi (rice cakes that are cut into squares). I didn't have kirimochi, but I did have some leftover mochi in my freezer. So, I took it out and decided to use it to make the daifuku.

I put on my jacket and went to the grocery store. There were tons of people as Sundays are especially crowded not only because most families are together on this day, but because if you shop at their store during the week, the store has a 10% coupon to use on everything except liquor. I usually use this day to purchase items that are expensive like rice, meats, cheeses.

I bought koshian (smooth sweet bean paste) for the inside of the daifuku. And I also bought ichigo (strawberries).

After coming home, I put all the groceries away and washed a couple of strawberries and took off the tops. Then I took out the koshian and put some in a piece of plastic wrap and started to wrap the strawberry inside of the bean paste. Using the plastic wrap saves your hands from getting dirty.

I usually don't use my microwave, but this recipe calls for you to zap the mochi for about a minute and thirty seconds--to get the mochi soft and pliable. I only zapped it for thirty seconds.

On another piece of plastic wrap, I sprinkled some cornstarch and put my piece of mochi onto it. The cornstarch helps the mochi from sticking to your hands. I then put the bean paste wrapped strawberry in the middle and brought up the sides and pinched everything in the middle.

It was fast, easy and delicious. This is the inside of the one I made for Satoshi. He thought I bought it! I'm going to try to make the outside from scratch, will post the recipe later.

Have a nice week.