The Rice Cake of Death

[Jinmyo]

Every New Year elderly Japanese, usually men, succumb to mochi, the rice cake of death. Mochi is rice pounded into a paste that is then grilled or served in soup. It is very sticky and difficult to chew but a beloved treat. By taking too big a bite, one winds up with a ball of goo that sticks in the throat.

Hm. Drunken old fart husband, New Year's treat, portion size matters...

[southern girl]

heh, heh, heh...I will have to remember this...you never know when it might come in handy (damn...there is no "evil grin" avatar)...

That said...I love ice cream mochi .

[kitwilliams]

I was reading an article in the LA Times about a 100-year old family owned Mochi business in LA's Little Tokyo.

New Year's Delicacy is Bittersweet for Family

They do a version with the mochi balls topped with a tiny tangerine, filled with sweet red bean paste, etc. As much as I love sushi, tonkatsu, udon, etc., I've never had a fondness for Japanese sweets.

HOWEVER:

I'm sure this is probably an Americanized version (correct me if I'm wrong) BUT has anyone tried the ice cream mochi at Trader Joe's? The gummy rice exterior takes some getting used to but I've become very attached to the Green Tea and the Mango ice cream mochi!

[Nick]

Hm. Drunken old fart husband, New Year's treat, portion size matters...

Jin, That's some hard trip. Although women used to control their men by what they cooked for them.

Edit: removed an unnecessary "did"

Edited January 4, 2003 by Nickn (log)

[PNW]

As a caucasian who married into a Japanese family, I was a little overwhelmed at the first Japanese New Year's feast when I was given this soup that had the moochi in it and it took me a little over an hour to get it down. I got two peices because I was a BIG man! Lucky me!

Seven years have past since that orginal New Years and I can tell you that it is an aquired taste as I have come to really like this dish and I now eat it many more times a year than on January 1st. The sweet moochi with the red bean centers took a little while longer to get a taste for, but even they are now enjoyable. For beginners I would recommend taking the moochi, rolling it in sesame seed and deep frying it as it makes it much more paletable.

Enjoy!

[Steve Plotnicki]

For us wheat sensitive, mochi filled with ice cream at Nobu is the dessert of choice.

[Jinmyo]

For us wheat sensitive, mochi filled with ice cream at Nobu is the dessert of choice.

Careful, Steve. That's information some would pay for.

[Sandra Levine]

I love grilled mochi, but never see it on menus. Does anyone know where it is served?

[Steve Plotnicki]

Doesn't the ice cream melt and spill out of the mochi when you put it on the grill?

[Sandra Levine]

Think, "baked Alaska," Steve.

Years ago, there was a Japanese restaurant in the East 50's with a counter facing an open grill. I can't remember the name of the place, but it served the grilled mochi that I mentioned earlier. I haven't seen it offered anyplace else.

Edited January 4, 2003 by Sandra Levine (log)

[jaybee]

Didn't a Kyoto Doctor Heimlosan invent a technique for expelling mochi balls stuck in old Japanese men?

[gknl]

I haven't had this in years, since before my uncles died. They used to make huge batches of it around New Year's. My mother would freeze some and saute them until there was a crust on both sides, then serve them with soy sauce. I remember being told each was the equivilent of a bowl of rice as my cousin and I had an eating contest.

Now I want one. . . .

[Lord Michael Lewis]

I have some of this stuff in a cupboard. It's in squares, it's rock hard and it tastes of little or nothing.

Any preparation suggestions?

[Jinmyo]

LML, grill it. The exterior gets toasted and the interior puffs up.

[Bond Girl]

Sandra, if you are in NYC, there is a little place on East 9 street next to the Cloister cafe that serves grill Mochi for $1 a piece. Red bean center though.

[thelastsupper]

Here is a New Year cartoon/commercial that shows a kid (or small blue ball creature) choking on rice cake:

http://newtown.hi-ho.ne.jp/raibo/raidersei...ncy/cm/hatu.swf

It is amazing and rather baffling.

Edited January 4, 2003 by thelastsupper (log)

[Sandra Levine]

Sandra, if you are in NYC, there is a little place on East 9 street next to the Cloister cafe that serves grill Mochi for $1 a piece.  Red bean center though.

Thanks, Bond Girl. That's right near my office. I'll try it soon.

[ivan]

Last night, I saw Iron Chef Chen Kenichi and his challenger do some pretty neat stuff with mochi. However, I still don't understand it. Does one acquire a taste for it and begin to crave it? Or is it just one of those things that someone persists in manufacturing, so you have to do something with it like it or not, sort of like Spam?

[Sandra Levine]

It's a texture thing. If you like wide rice noodles, the kind used in chow fun, you would probably like mochi.

[torakris]

LML, grill it. The exterior gets toasted and the interior puffs up.

After grilling it brush it with soy sauce and wrap it in a piece of nori.

One of my favorite winter snacks!

It is also great plopped into a bowl of soup either miso or dashi broth based after grilling.

This is known as ozouni the traditional soup eaten in Japan on New Year's morning.

The version we always eat is a dashi based broth with thinly sliced beef, daikon, carrots, burdock root and topped with mistuba and a huge piece of grilled mochi in the middle.

In Japan the the newspapers during the first week of the new year run daily counts of the # people dying from eating mochi. Usually it ends up being around 15-20 people, you think they would learn to take smaller bites?!!

[201]

...In Japan the the newspapers during the first week of the new year run daily counts of the # people dying from eating mochi. Usually it ends up being around 15-20 people, you think they would learn to take smaller bites?!!  

Do they have a similar section for blowfish-related deaths?

What is the number one killer food in Japan?

[torakris]

...In Japan the the newspapers during the first week of the new year run daily counts of the # people dying from eating mochi. Usually it ends up being around 15-20 people, you think they would learn to take smaller bites?!!  

Do they have a similar section for blowfish-related deaths?

What is the number one killer food in Japan?

I think they just do the mochi at the new year because that is when it is most commonly eaten and there are a lot of deaths in a short period of time.

They do a similar thing during the 1 week summer holiday with reporting the # of deaths by drowning.

Cases of fugu poisoning would be random occurances and would probably make a small note in the newpaper although I never never seen one, of course I don't read the newspaper cover to cover.

A couple years back there were quite a few deaths of young children dying from eating a small molded jelly made from konnyaku. The kids would pop into their mouth whole and then get it lodged in their throat, killing them because unlike jello it doesn't dissolve.

I have no idea what food causes the most deaths but from what I have seen I think mochi is a much bigger killer than fugu.

[msp]

My Japanese friend, an accomplished "housewife" cook, made mochi for her children by rolling it in sweet soy flour, then toasting it in her toaster oven. We love it as a dessert prepared that way.

[GaijinGirl]

Just curious (since grilled mochi is now on my radar of things to try....) Anyone know the name of the place on East 9th? Thanks in advance...!

--Janet (GG)