Mochi

[Hiroyuki]

According to today's Yomiuri Shimbun, at least seven people, all elderly, died choking on mochi in the Kanto area alone. In Japan, everyone knows this risk, but these fatal accidents are repeated each year...

[torakris]

We visited my husabnd's grandmother during the Golden Week holidays and were sent home with a couple packages of the local dangos.

[SheenaGreena]

I grew up eating homemade mochi, but it was Korean style mochi...not japanese

are korean and japanese sweet mochi similar? I remember as a child, my mother used to make mochi stuffed with sweet red beans and roll them in cornstarch (?).

I absolutely love the stuff, I remember when I was little I used to squeeze out the fillings of the mochi and throw them in the trash and just eat the mochi itself.

Is it difficult to make the stuff homemade? My mother has a homemade mochi maker that pounds the rice for you electronically. She hasn't used it in like 10 years though

[nagitokyo]

I am not a professional about Korean cuisine, but I've hardly seen stuffed Korean mochi. It seems they use a lot and variety of toppings compared to Japanese mochi.

You can check the variety of Korean mochi in the following site.

http://www.east-01.com/ripo_kr/kr-71.htm

And I think Japanese mochi is more sticky and Korean sweet mochi is soft as marshmallow.

Same as SheenaGreena-san's home, we made mochi at home especially before oshogatsu(new year's day) and in spring(the season of Yomogi) Usually our relatives gathered biggest room in my grandma's house and made tons of mochi(both plain and anko stuffed ones) in cooperation.

As I was a little girl and main role was tasting(ahaha), I don't know the difficulty, but every one of my relatives could make stuffed mochi. So I guess it's not so difficult for elder generation to make them.

[SheenaGreena]

nagitokyo, I loved the link by the way...thanks

it brought back alot of memories. I especially loved the mochi coated in the powdery tan stuff. I think the coating is either mung bean or roasted soy bean powder

In japan, do you pound your mochi traditionally or do you use an electric machine?

[Hiroyuki]

In japan, do you pound your mochi traditionally or do you use an electric machine?

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Making mochi the traditional way, with a kine and a usu, has become quite rare even in rural areas like mine, but it's still popular at some events, fair, and festivals.

[GlorifiedRice]

About the American brown rice mochi from Grainaissance?

They suggest putting it in a WAFFLE IRON and making waffles.

They also have a CHOCOLATE FUDGE BROWNIE flavor.

Whole Foods Market sells it.

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

About the American brown rice mochi from Grainaissance?

They suggest putting it in a WAFFLE IRON and making waffles.

They also have a CHOCOLATE FUDGE BROWNIE flavor.

Whole Foods Market sells it.

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This product is actually quite popular with people with wheat allergies or celiac disease here in the US.

It's a completely different creature from the Japanese mochi I'm accustomed to. You have to bake or grill the Grainaissance stuff for it to be edible. It's closer to the shelf stable mochi that you buy in blocks... definitely not fresh.

I tried it once, and didn't much care for the texture.

[torakris]

Please be careful with that mochi!

mochi deaths for New Years 2007

[miladyinsanity]

I absolutely love the stuff, I remember when I was little I used to squeeze out the fillings of the mochi and throw them in the trash and just eat the mochi itself. 

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Sheena, you're a girl after my own heart! That's exactly what I would have done too.

I have a recipe for the Korean style mochi that can be made in the microwave if you want it.

Now, Dango.

I loooooove dango.

Can I make it at home myself? I'm talking about the little round balls of dough that they sell on skewers, in case dango means more than one thing. And it's sometimes grilled and rolled in sesame seeds, kinako or dipped in soy sauce.

I think it's what Torakris posted on the previous page?

[miladyinsanity]

I finally found the time to go dig for dango recipes.

But some of them ask for rice flour, and others for glutinous rice flour. Are they two different recipes, or is that one correct one and one wrong one?

Thanks in advance!

[JasonTrue]

There are probably more recipes for dango than dango-makers.

OK, that's perhaps an exaggeration. But I've had them made from rice flour, pounded rice, glutinous rice, joshinko, with and without yomogi, with various kinds of sauces such as mitarashi dango, or dusted with kinako, or almost plain, sometimes with nori. At home I've made them with a dough including nagaimo and snuck them into suimono.

I must have them all!

I finally found the time to go dig for dango recipes.

But some of them ask for rice flour, and others for glutinous rice flour. Are they two different recipes, or is that one correct one and one wrong one?

Thanks in advance!

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[miladyinsanity]

There are probably more recipes for dango than dango-makers.

OK, that's perhaps an exaggeration. But I've had them made from rice flour, pounded rice, glutinous rice, joshinko, with and without yomogi, with various kinds of sauces such as mitarashi dango, or dusted with kinako, or almost plain, sometimes with nori. At home I've made them with a dough including nagaimo and snuck them into suimono.

I must have them all!

I finally found the time to go dig for dango recipes.

But some of them ask for rice flour, and others for glutinous rice flour. Are they two different recipes, or is that one correct one and one wrong one?

Thanks in advance!

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Maybe it would have helped if I had thought to specify what I'm looking for.

I usually buy the one (sometimes from Minamoto Kitchoan) that comes 3 on a stick, and each one's a different color, green, white and pink.

Does that help? And is yomogi mugwort?

And I might be crazy enough to grind sesame seeds by hand, but I'm not going to pound rice.

[sanrensho]

And I might be crazy enough to grind sesame seeds by hand, but I'm not going to pound rice.

You can also make mochi in a breadmaker (after steaming the sticky rice).

You should be able to find rice flour for making dango at a Japanese grocer.

Yes, yomogi is mugwort. We have a few plants in the yard, but I have yet to make anything with it.

Edited March 13, 2007 by sanrensho (log)

[Hiroyuki]

There are probably more recipes for dango than dango-makers.

OK, that's perhaps an exaggeration. But I've had them made from rice flour, pounded rice, glutinous rice, joshinko, with and without yomogi, with various kinds of sauces such as mitarashi dango, or dusted with kinako, or almost plain, sometimes with nori. At home I've made them with a dough including nagaimo and snuck them into suimono.

I must have them all!

I finally found the time to go dig for dango recipes.

But some of them ask for rice flour, and others for glutinous rice flour. Are they two different recipes, or is that one correct one and one wrong one?

Thanks in advance!

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Maybe it would have helped if I had thought to specify what I'm looking for.

I usually buy the one (sometimes from Minamoto Kitchoan) that comes 3 on a stick, and each one's a different color, green, white and pink.

Does that help? And is yomogi mugwort?

And I might be crazy enough to grind sesame seeds by hand, but I'm not going to pound rice.

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So, you mean sanshoku (3-color) dango like this? I did some googling and found they are usually made with joshinko (rice flour). You can make them with shiratamako (a type of mochi rice flour), but the texture is different.

[Domestic Goddess]

so do you any of you pound it old school in one of those huge mortar and pestles that are about 3 feet tall?  I got to use one when I was very little.

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This has been discussed before. Making mochi from scratch has become rare even in rural areas like mine, but mochi pounding is a popular event at some fairs and festivals.

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This made me realize I have a picture of the mochi pounding taken last early winter when we went to Ilsan City for a holiday.

[Hiroyuki]

so do you any of you pound it old school in one of those huge mortar and pestles that are about 3 feet tall?  I got to use one when I was very little.

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This has been discussed before. Making mochi from scratch has become rare even in rural areas like mine, but mochi pounding is a popular event at some fairs and festivals.

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This made me realize I have a picture of the mochi pounding taken last early winter when we went to Ilsan City for a holiday.

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How different!!

I posted two photos of mochi pounding here. Scroll all the way down to the second and third photos from the last.

Sheena, I have no idea, but I found one webpage that says the 3-color dango represents cherry. The pink one represents the bud, the white one the petal, and the green one the leaf. I can't be sure whether this interpretation is universal throughout Japan.

●桜を意味する三色だんご。ピンクは桜のつぼみ、白は花びら、緑は葉桜を表しています。どうぞ、この季節にご賞味ください。

[JasonTrue]

The "pounded" ones I've had often had a coarse texture. I keep forgetting the name for them (and each region probably has a different name), but the one on my mind is often oblong rather than ball-like.

Yomogi (mugwort) or matcha could theoretically be used for the green dango in sanshoku dango, but yomogi is more common. I think the red ones are usually just food coloring (as was the case in the recipe Hiroyuki referred to), but you could use a bit of beet juice.

[miladyinsanity]

So, you mean sanshoku (3-color) dango like this?  I did some googling and found they are usually made with joshinko (rice flour).  You can make them with shiratamako (a type of mochi rice flour), but the texture is different.

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That's exactly it!

I've been to the Japanese supermarkets here but I've not seen shiratamako, so ordinary rice flour will have to do.

What's the difference between kushi dango and sanshoku dango, other than sanshoku dango coming in three colors? The pictures I've seen online...the kushi dango looks the same to me. Because I've only managed to dig out kushi dango recipes.

The "pounded" ones I've had often had a coarse texture. I keep forgetting the name for them (and each region probably has a different name), but the one on my mind is often oblong rather than ball-like.

Yomogi (mugwort) or matcha could theoretically be used for the green dango in sanshoku dango, but yomogi is more common. I think the red ones are usually just food coloring (as was the case in the recipe Hiroyuki referred to), but you could use a bit of beet juice.

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Is there a distinct flavor to it? I don't remember the green ones tasting noticeably different from the white or pink ones.

I could go ask in the China forum whether anybody knows what mugwort is in Mandarin. I know it's used in Chinese medicine, so it should be the same thing.

Or I could be an utter heathen and use pandan juice.

Edited March 14, 2007 by miladyinsanity (log)

[SheenaGreena]

correct me if I'm wrong, but mugwort is really grassy tasting. I love the taste of it and it's so hard to explain. It grows all over the place in korea, even in the city and I bet it's all over the place in japan too

[Hiroyuki]

What's the difference between kushi dango and sanshoku dango, other than sanshoku dango coming in three colors? The pictures I've seen online...the kushi dango looks the same to me. Because I've only managed to dig out kushi dango recipes.

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Kushidango is any dango on a skewer. Kushi means skewer.

Sheena, yomogi is all over Japan. Is it grassy tasting? Probably it is, but in a good way. Is moxa common in Korea? See this Wikipedia entry for details.

[JasonTrue]

I don't find it grassy, but it is hard do describe.

蓬 is the rarely used kanji for yomogi, which may help your Chinese grocer, if the same kind of yomogi is used. I've found that for some herbs and vegetables common in Japan, China, and Korea, there are often fairly substantial differences; also, some kanji have slightly different meanings... the kanji for yuzu seem to be understood as grapefruit in China.

correct me if I'm wrong, but mugwort is really grassy tasting.  I love the taste of it and it's so hard to explain.  It grows all over the place in korea, even in the city and I bet it's all over the place in japan too

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[miladyinsanity]

Can someone translate "上新粉" for me?

Google tells me it is upper new powder. The sad thing is, that's what I would have read it as--it translates the same way in Mandarin.

Also, I bought dango today (I simply cannot resist) that was dipped in some sort of black sesame sauce. Yummy! I think the sauce is just black sesame seeds, sugar, a touch of salt ground with a little water and will be off shortly to experiment.

[sanrensho]

Can someone translate "上新粉" for me?

It's "joshinko." You should be able to find it at any Japanese grocer. It's very common.

[JasonTrue]

My blog has a black sesame sauce recipe describing how to make godoufu. I more or less stole that from a Japanese recipe.

I think Jo-shinko just translates as rice flour. It's non-glutinous.

Can someone translate "上新粉" for me?

Google tells me it is upper new powder. The sad thing is, that's what I would have read it as--it translates the same way in Mandarin.

Also, I bought dango today (I simply cannot resist) that was dipped in some sort of black sesame sauce. Yummy! I think the sauce is just black sesame seeds, sugar, a touch of salt ground with a little water and will be off shortly to experiment.

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Edited March 16, 2007 by JasonTrue (log)