Cookasmic by Gunjan – Creating a Mochi

Mochi is a Japanese dessert made of a special kind of rice called Glutinous rice flour. I can have Mochi everyday..!

The first time I ate Mochi, it was when I was traveling back with family from Hawaii, a few years back, at China airport. We had had this lovely trip with extended family and we were dog-tired. We needed to replenish our energies and reluctantly I approached a kiosk that was swarming with people. I guess it was both, the curiosity and the need to eat something reliable and predictable. The crowd somehow validated the approval of quality and taste of the food being sold there.

I bought these two pieces of Mochi. Ah…I could never forget that gooey, ‘pillowy’ dessert! The experience was a mix of awe, satisfaction, and strange inquisitiveness.

Lately, I was in a state of reminiscence and decided to learn and make the Mochi. I gladly admit that my experiment was ultra-successful. I would like to share the Mochi recipes with LexiconWorld readers.

So, as I have said before, there is a Mochi for every occasion, not only in Japan but also in other South East Asian Countries. Mochi is chewy rice cakes, stuffed with different kinds of filling.

The glutinous rice flour I used, is available online. There are many ways to make it. Traditional method is detailed and cumbersome which I will try soon but till then, I am sharing the one with glutinous rice flour in microwave.

Recipe for Mochi

The preparation time is 1 hour. The two fillings I used are

• classic peanut jaggery (natural brown sugar) &
• chocolate 

Ingredients : for 9 Mochis

120 gms of glutinous rice flour or sweet rice flour

120 gm sugar

120 ml water (may be a little more)

Cornflour

Chocolate

100 gms peanuts

50 gms jaggery

Vanilla essence

Food colouring optional

Step 1: Fillings

• Roast the peanuts, grind them coarsely with jaggery and make balls to stuff in the mochis.
• Cut pieces of dark chocolate depending on how much chocolate you want in the Mochis and the size of the Mochis you want to make.

Step 2: Preparation of Dough

Take the flour in a microwavable bowl, add sugar, water, colour, vanilla essence and mix it well. Microwave it for a minute. Take the mixture out. Beat this gooey mixture till it becomes smooth. Microwave again for a minute. And then again. So, total of 3 minutes but if you see the dough is still a little watery, microwave again for half a minute. (Refer to the video)

This final dough is hot so handle with care. It will be stretchy, gooey. Pour it on butter paper sprinkled generously with corn flour. Sprinkle corn flour on top of the dough too, and also on your hands.

Step 3: Filling

Now, pull out small portions of the dough. Pat them to make a circular shape. Place the stuffing (peanut jaggery ball or chocolate pieces) in the middle and gently fold the dough just the way momos are folded.

Dust off the extra corn flour and voila!!! They are ready to devour.

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Video Editing credits: Pallavi/Delhi Galiyara

Channel Art by Alia Sinha

You tube channel: cookasmic