Daifuku mochi (Mayan hot chocolate style)

[chibirisu]

Daifuku mochi (Mayan hot chocolate style)

Serves 12 as Side.

Daifuku mochi (rice cakes stuffed with something else) are very traditional Japanese food. What's not so traditional about this recipe is the chocolate! If you want a more traditional version, leave out the cinnamon and almond and chocolate and fill the mochi with something like anko (sweet bean paste) and strawberries.

I got started developing this recipe from online daifuku mochi recipes from both the Tsuji Culinary Institute (in Japanese) and a person named Konny with a wagashi website, but I found the Tsuji method would take a lot of time and some of Konny's simplified microwave directions and proportions were a little difficult to follow (particularly how much sugar was supposed to go into how much water). So I played around until I came up with a version I could manage more easily.

• 
  

Mochi

• 1 c mochiko (glutinous rice flour)
  
• 1 c water
  

Flavored syrup

• 3/4 c sugar
  
• 1/4 c water
  
• 1 tsp almond extract
  
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon
  

Filling

• Semisweet chocolate chips
  
• (or more traditional ingredients)
  

Dusting powder

• Mochiko as needed
  
• Sugar and cocoa are tasty additions
  

A Silpat and heat-proof spatulas are very useful here.

<b>With the syrup ingredients:</b>

Microwave 1/4 cup water for about a minute, then add 1/4 cup sugar and stir. Microwave for another 45 seconds. Add another 1/4 cup sugar, stir, microwave another 45 seconds. Add the last 1/4 cup sugar, stir, microwave 45 seconds. (It should be bubbling at this point.)

With a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon, mix in the almond extract and cinnamon. Don't worry when it crystallizes like mad; just mix it together until it's the color of fudge and set it aside.

<b>With the mochi ingredients:</b>

Mix together a cup of mochiko and a cup of water and a pinch of salt in a microwavable bowl. Cover with saran wrap, microwave for one minute and stir; repeat until it starts getting puffy (about 5 shots in my microwave; it may take longer or shorter at a different power).

At this point you have unflavored mochi that you can use by itself if you want.

Rewarm the sugar syrup for about 20 seconds (because it's probably set up into a solid mass while the mochi is being microwaved), then pour the syrup over the mochi and stir like mad for a long time until it's turned smooth and brown-sugar-colored again. (It'll look like a gloppy mess at first but it does mix up fine... just keep at it. I've discovered a heat-proof silicon spatula is REALLY useful when mixing mochi.)

<b>For shaping and filling the mochi:</b>

Scatter the cocoa-mochiko-sugar mix all over your Silpat or whatever you're using for a catcher. Pour the mochi-napalm over the mix. Scatter more coca-mochiko-sugar on top and put a piece of Saran wrap over it and roll it flatter to cool (take the Saran wrap off when done, it's just there to keep the mochi-napalm from adhering to your hands and burning you).

When it's cool enough to handle, cut or tear off bits and make thin palm-sized disks out of the mochiko. (If you cut them in rectangular shapes, you can get little mochi pillows instead of balls, and they're a bit easier to handle and shape.)

Either way, put some chocolate chips in the center and pinch the edges closed and roll into a ball shape and then re-roll in the cocoa-flour-etc mix. (Stop and reroll everything whenever anything starts sticking, actually.) I get about a dozen of them out of this proportion of ingredients.

When you're done rolling them, put them in a pile on a small plate and put them back in the microwave for two or three 15-second shots. The chocolate melts in the center but doesn't get scalding, and you bite into this oozing chocolate center. Yum...

Keywords: Dessert, Vegetarian, Intermediate, Rice, Snack, Japanese

( RG1489 )