make mochi

My friend Jessica and I are going to make mochi in 2 days. I’m really excited about it. She made it recently at the Waldorf school she used to work at. We are going to go to Uwajimaya and buy the necessary ingredients and then make it at my house. Yay!

cherry & apple filled mochi …done

It’s not hard to do, but it seems like it would take a couple of tries to do it right. I made mochi filled with green tea ice cream. The ice cream turned out great- but the the mochi was a sticky, gooey, mess. For some reason I couldn’t get the dough consistency right. It was too thick, and not as chewy- I think I added too much flour. I think I also dusted too much flour on top. They say to use food coloring to dye the mochi on the recipe I used, but I used the green tea powder (Matcha) I used to make the ice cream. A quick trip to Trader Joe’s is probably easier, but it was worth trying it out.

I did it on the morning of New Year’s Day, when I lived at the Sansui building in Kobe.

I love mochi—that doughy texture is right up my alley. But for the life of me, I don’t know why it’s so expensive. It’s just blobby rice, with some flavors or fillings.

This is not as easy as we thought it would be. While tasty, these chocolate turds left a little to be desired aesthetically. We’ll have to try this again.

my friend sent me a great hawiian cook book for making mochi. the first mochi i made was peach mochi. it was beyond good, it was not the traditional way to make it, but it was a whole lot easyer but just as good

Fresh mochi is the best, of course, but it is a waste of time and energy if you don’t make a lot of it, which requires a group effort and the right equipment. I made it with a group of students from my daughter’s school, which was fun for the kids (until one got her finger pinched by a hammer blow). It can be dangerous. Do it at a Japanese festival for the fun of it, perhaps. Otherwise, it’s just too much work. Not something to do at home.