Red Bean Mochi (Daifuku)

Making mochi was intimidating at first, but with the help of Cooking with Dog on YouTube, it was actually pretty easy and fast. With a mimimal amount of pantry ingredients I can make a quick treat.

Pink Mochi!

Since attempting this first mochi, I've since tried several variations, like:

Mochi covered strawberries (Ichigo Daifuku)
Chocolate (or cocoa) mochi
Mochi ice cream
Chocolate Mochi with Nutella Filling

The Guy, who refuses to eat many other sweets, actually likes gooey chocolate mochi. He describes the texture as "flabby". According to him, chocolate, what's not to like?

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup glutinous rice flour
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 100 ml water
• 1 drop food coloring, optional. Try pink or green.

Instructions:

• Start a few inches of water boiling in a steamer. Wrap a towel around the lid of the steamer pot.
• Stir up the rice flour, sugar and water in a bowl; mix in food coloring if using. The mixture should be like a thick glue consistency.
• Transfer mixture into a heatproof bowl, oiled or sprayed with cooking spray. Place in steamer. Cover with wrapped lid.
• Steam for 15 minutes, or until the mixture turns from opaque to translucent.
• Transfer mochi dough to a pan dusted with potato starch or tapioca starch.
• Immediately cut mochi into 6 equal pieces.
• Using your hands dusted with starch, form warm mochi dough into flat round discs. Add a spoonful of red bean paste in the center and work the dough around it, pinching until the red bean paste is fully enclosed.
• Brush off excess starch. Serve mochi fresh (within a day or so). Store tightly wrapped in plastic.

Watch the oddball combination of poodle, Japanese narrator, cook, and Chopin Minute Waltz in the background? So silly, yet so entertaining.