A Mochi Maker

Posted April 10th, 2010 in Food

I have been making mochi - Japanese sticky rice cakes  since I came back from Japan.  I bought this SEGA toy called “kururin-mocchi” which is a mochi making toy for kids.

When I was little, my grandma used to make mochi with a big mochi machine (proper one) at home on New Years Eve, and we ate fresh made mochi on the morning of New Years day every year.  The machine we had was automatic, so we didn’t do the traditional mochi making method (with huge wooden equipments) but dividing hot mochi rice into small pieces and shaping them were such hard job to do.  

Now, here in Perth, I’m making mochi again :p  Since this Sega machine is pretty small, I can only make small portion at once.  But, it’s enough for two of us :D

I looooove fresh mochi with vanilla ice cream!  I normally make mochi in bulk, and portion them in plastic wrap so that I just need to heat up one in the microwave whenever I want to eat.  Warm mochi and melty vanilla ice cream … yummy!

You can make mochi without this Sega toy, and it is pretty cheap to make :)  You can also enjoy mochi in azuki bean porridge.

Cooking azuki beans from scratch does take time, but it worths when making a big portion.  Buying tinned azuki paste is pretty expensive here.

<Mochi>

  • 140 g mochi rice (sticky rice)
  • 150 cc water
 

  1. Wash rice, and soak in water for 30 minutes.  Cook rice in the same way you cook normal rice.  (I cook in the microwave as this is such a small amount of rice)
  2. Pound steamed rice into a piece of sticky cake while the rice is hot.  It should be smooth, and very sticky. 
  3. With hands dusted with corn flour, divide the mochi into small balls.  
　　

You can keep them in the room temperature (covered).  If you keep in the fridge, the mochi will become hard.  You can microwave them before eating to make softer.

       
    <Azuki Bean Porridge>
    • 1 cup azuki beans, uncooked
    • 1 cup sugar (I use raw sugar)
    • a pinch of salt
      
    1. Wash azuki beans.  Place beans to a large pot filled with water.  Bring to the boil, and simmer for 5 minutes.  Discard the water, and fill up with water again.  Bring to the boil, and discard the water.  Repeat this for 3~4 times.
    2. When the beans are soft enough to squash with two fingers, drain the beans and place in a clean pot with sugar and salt.  Turn on the heat, stir constantly,  and cook until the sugar dissolves.  Turn the heat to very low and cook, stir constantly, until most of the liquid is gone.  Turn off the heat.
    3. Pour azuki beans in a serving bowl, and add hot water to make it soupy.  (adjust the water amount to your liking)  Enjoy with mochi.
      

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