Mochi 101

What to do with a mochi ? That’s a post about “New Year mochi”, post 102 is in the lab for other types of mochi…

Well check the map to see where you are to see what laws apply to you :

mochi map
(source, go visit for more mochi science) It’s the Japanese Mochi Union it seems, so be nice to your mochi…

Circles are 丸餅marumochi. Squares are 角餅kakumochi (rectangle board shaped mochi). In white, boiled mochi, in yellow grilled mochi (yakimochi).
These marumochi and kakumochi are made a while before New Year and sold still soft or a little dried. That’s 生餅namamochi (fresh, unprocessed), even if it can be kept months in modern packaging.

So that’s about Japanese tradition and regional variation. But you may wonder what is mochi ? Long story short :

Blocks of pounded cooked sticky rice.

How they make mochi (not me, people do, particularly strong men…) :

Source with other videos… making mochi in Nagano with explanation in English.

DIY mochi :

That I do, but… well, the result is a little different. I can’t be so violent in my little mortar. Well some Japanese families have the big stone mortar, but these days it’s mostly used to entertain the tourist at marketplaces and fairs. There are “home-bakery” machines that have a program to pound mochi, and they are popular. Well I buy my New Year mochi. Just for the fun, try it some day :

cooking mochi rice
DIY mochi for ohagi

STORAGE :
Most of the mochi are sold sealed plastic bags with a stuff to control humidity. You can keep them a while, but as soon as you open, expect them to dry (if let unpacked) or get molds (if you reclose the bag) within 3 to 7 days. So if possible open a pack for what you can eat soon.
Fresh mochi are sold unsealed, well, you have 3 to 7 days…
In case, you have leftovers, it’d better to let them dry (you can still cook them) than get mold (you’d have to throw away).

THE 2 WAYS OF COOKING MOCHI

To boil : place the mochi about 5 minutes in boiling or near boiling water or broth.

To grill : place the mochi about 5 minutes under the broiler/grill of your oven at 250 degree celcius. That can be done on a barbecue or brasero. As the mochi will become soft and nearly liquid, it would fall from a large net or a skewer, so place it either on a thin metallic net, or a metal plate.

Then eat your mochi :
-like that
-with a little soy sauce, with nori, with… your choice
-use it in recipes below

NB : You can grill or boil a piece of mochi not too big, that you could keep inside your hand. If it’s bigger, cut the big mochi with a knife.

Cut mochi is called and sold as 切り餅（きりもち）kirimochi.

zenzai (sweet soup with grilled mochi)
zenzai with boiled mochi
New Year soup O-zoni Kyoto style
o-zoni, colorful
O-zoni can be made with grilled mochi too.
nabe hot pot with boiled mochi

Modern mochi

You can cut dices of mochi and bake :

mochinammon bun

mochi pizza

You can cook mochi in a waffle-maker :

moffle recipe

You can grate mochi and roll a sweet in it :

Hari-nezumi, hedgehog

BUT Japanese people make their hedgehogs…well, close-looking sweets with another type of mochi. Some processed or dried mochi. See you in a “mochi 102” post.

Japanese warming soup with mini daikon

A little tutorial of Japanese cuisine today. It’s a soup with sake lees that has the property of warming up the body. It’s ideal for the cold season.

I like daikon, the huge Japanese white radish… but my favorite bit is the leaves. So I’m very happy with this type.

Very small radishes, sweet and tasty.

Tons of greens !

Other recipes with this plant :
Daikon sesame unohana (click here for recipe)
Mini-daikon miso soup
Nameko eggs with daikon leaves
Water tsukemono with mini daikon
Leafy miso
nanakusa okayu

Besides the mini daikon, I had cooked kabocha pumpkin, onion, dry shiitake mushrooms. Then tofu and sakekasu.

酒粕 sakekasu is a by product of sake making. It arrives on the market in this season. The taste ? It’s like unsweetened goat cheese with a little sake… Well, you should try.

Amazake, a drink with sake kasu

Sake kasu soup recipe

1. Dashi stock : put a 1 tbs of dry fish flakes (kezuri katsuo) and water, bring to a boil.
2. Season with soy sauce and miri, simmer a few minutes.
3. Add veggies or whatever items you want (optional, veggies, fish and tofu are common choices)
4. At the end, cut the stove and blend in the sake kasu paste. Slightly reheat without boiling, and serve.

For vegan dashi stock click here.

This is the way to blend in pastes into Japanese soup. The technique is similar for miso. We have this set “sieve + spoon” but you can get them separately. Put pate in the sieve, plunge it in the stock and stir with the spoon till all the paste has melted in.

So I’ve cooked progressively the onions, then the radish, then the leaves and just reheated the tofu and kabocha, finishing with the paste.

Dozo meshi agare !

GOHAN Japanese rice, A to Z

RICE

The most important ingredient of Japanese cuisine is rice. Japanese rice are of the japonica style, they are round and firm. Outside Japan, you can get some sushi rice, or Italian arborio that are of japanica cultivar too. Sticky rice is a different type, it’s called mochigome in Japanese. Rice has different names in Japanese. Kome, okome, the plant. Gohan, meshi when it’s cooked…

how to cook Japanese rice (without a rice cooker)
genmai brown rice(healthier)
sticky rice