Mushy mochi :3
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Black sesame mochi
I swung by the library last tuesday and was delighted to find my faithful cooking aisle replenished with plenty of new recipe books. It had been so long since I last set foot in there!
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Amongst the collections of turkish, portuguese, greek and italian cuisine... I fell on a cute japanese bento book featuring, on its cover, cute piles of pastel-colored mochi aligned like good as gold little munchkins on their first day of kindergarden. (oh. right. I like to call kids munchkins :) Just thought I should clarify that )
.It reminded me of how awful my first try at mochi turned out. However, browsing through the recipes, the quick-stir-microwave method seemed pretty easy so I figured I should give those japanese rice cakes a second try.
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Amongst the collections of turkish, portuguese, greek and italian cuisine... I fell on a cute japanese bento book featuring, on its cover, cute piles of pastel-colored mochi aligned like good as gold little munchkins on their first day of kindergarden. (oh. right. I like to call kids munchkins :) Just thought I should clarify that )
.It reminded me of how awful my first try at mochi turned out. However, browsing through the recipes, the quick-stir-microwave method seemed pretty easy so I figured I should give those japanese rice cakes a second try.
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1rst dusting: sesame seeds
2nd: cocoa powder
2nd: cocoa powder
3rd: tapioca starch
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Not too bad huh? :) Since i've recently converted into a big fan of black sesame (and that i
think with hungry eyes instead of a wise stomach) I bought an industrial load of black sesame lotus paste which I ultimately had to use all by stuffing the heck out of those mochis.
They don't beat the store kind (yet), but i'm hoping that they'll have developed a more intricate flavour after a few days' stay in the fridge.
They don't beat the store kind (yet), but i'm hoping that they'll have developed a more intricate flavour after a few days' stay in the fridge.
I'll have to try doing them the traditional way next time (pounding and pounding mounds of fuming steamed glutinous rice) instead of using the sweet rice flour and a radioactive cooking machine. Maybe it'll give a fresher and more authentic flavour.
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Black Sesame Mochi
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3/4 cup water
1/2 cup black sesame powder
2 tbsp sugar
3/4 cup + 1 non-packed tbsp sweet rice flour (Mochiko)
Black sesame lotus past
Tapioca starch/sesame seeds/cocoa powder to dust
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1) Make small balls with the black sesame lotus paste. The size of the balls will depend on how big you want your mochis to be. Those will be the fillings. I like to place them on a plate and stick it into the freezer while I work on the mochi skin to firm them up.
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2) In a fairly large bowl that goes to the microwave, combine all the dry ingredients together and mixt well to get a greyish powdery mixture.
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3) Add water. Mixt until you get a light grey paste spotted with dark grey speckles.
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4) Put the bowl into the microwave and bip-set it to 2 minutes on high heat.
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5) Take the bowl out to churn the paste a bit. The mixture should be less gluish-white than 2 minutes ago.
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6) Put the bowl back and microwave it 1min15. This time, the mixture shouldn't be white at all anymore. It should be a shiny black with eeny black sesame spots. Churn it to make sure that the paste is uniformely black shiny. If you find some pale whiteish blot, just squish it into the black mixture until it combines with it.
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7) Work fast while it's still hot! Once the paste cools it'll be much chewier and harder to handle.
Take a piece out of the mochi skin paste (I usually fill up to half the inside of my wooden spatula's bowl) and flatten it on your palm. Put a black sesame filling ball in its center and close up the mochi. Roll it between your palms to create a smooth sphere. Set aside on a pre-dusted dish of the components you want to cover your mochis with (that's to dust the mochis' butts to prevent them from sticking to the plate)
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8) When you're completely done shaping, you can dust the mochis at your liking (it'll stick less to your fingers and be less messy if you don't do this step while shaping and filling your mochi)
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9) Cool your mochis in the fridge (I put them in an airtight sandwich box to keep their humidity and restore the softness that they might have lost by staying exposed to the air for too long)
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