Ok, So Angie, pay attention so you can make this for Mom when she's better. It's really easy & should be no prob getting the ingredients at the Japanese food store. Actually any Asian store would have these things because they have mochi in Taiwan, Korea & China.
STEP1 ) Ingredients: Water ( 1 cup), Ask the store guy for Mochi-ko or Dango-ko(glutinous Rice flour), it has to be this kind of flour.(1 cup), Sugar (about 1/2 cup depending on how sweet you like it), dash of vanilla. (Some people use some coconut milk in place of some of the water)
STEP 2) Preparation: Ok So you mix the mochi flour, the sugar & the water in a microwaveable dish until well mixed (no clumps.) If U want the mochi to be pink or green put food coloring in too. This mixture sorta has the consistency of pancake batter.
Cover the dish with saran-wrap & put in the microwave for a few minutes. When you take it out it shouldn't be drippy or move around but be firmly set. (My microwave is strong so only 3 minutes did the trick.) Remove the saran wrap carefully as soon as you take it out but don't burn your finger like I did. This is what it should look like. I'm not sure how long you should cool it down but we were so eager that we just started making balls as soon as we could hold it without burning our hands & it turned out fine.
Next you get a tray ready with some potato starch or cornstarch on it & put some starch on your hands too so it wont be sticky. Take a spoonful of the cooked rice gew & roll it on some starch then take it in your hands to make balls or disks. Work quickly & gently with plenty of starch & don't smash it or your hands will get sticky you'll get a big gewy mess. The cooked mochi when in your hands should feel soft like an earlobe, if it's too rubbery or hard perhaps there wasn't enough water to begin with. One book suggests using water after you cook it, during the kneading process if it's too dry, but it might get really messy.
This is a disk & you can fill it with chunky sweet bean paste rolled into a ball coated with cornstarch, or a strawberry & whip cream, or ice cream once the disk cools down, whatever you like. Then pinch the edges closed.
And if you want to go for a real Japanese taste get some of this KINAKO (soybean flour)
Roll your mochi in the kinako & you have some delicious mochi.
Or here's Kiki making dango san kyodai (3 mochi ball brothers)
Anyway, it's supereasy, but now we are ready for:
And if you want to go for a real Japanese taste get some of this KINAKO (soybean flour)
Roll your mochi in the kinako & you have some delicious mochi.
Or here's Kiki making dango san kyodai (3 mochi ball brothers)
Anyway, it's supereasy, but now we are ready for:
