Simple Mochi

Secret Teenage Chef's Note:

Simple recipe. You only need a microwave. Very versatile with dough and fillings. Not too sweet either. Here's a small batch which can be multiplied, but if you make more, experiment with the microwave times.

• Total Time: 4 mins
• Prep Time: 2 mins
• Cook Time: 2 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 1 cup mochiko sweet rice flour (glutinous rice flour)
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• katakuriko, for dusting (potato starch)

Directions:

1. Mix mochiko and sugar in a bowl.
2. Add water and mix thoroughly. (will be watery).
3. Put in a microwaveable dish. Cover with plastic wrap.
4. Microwave on high for 4 minutes. Take off plastic wrap. Cool for a few minutes, if you want. Cut. Serve.
5. Opt. Dust with katakuriko or kinako to prevent mochi from sticking everywhere. If you don't have these, you can just put the mochi on cellophane.
6. Variations for Filling: You can add red bean paste, ice cream, chocolate, etc. in the middle if you want BEFORE you dust. add a teaspoon of filling and pinch edges closed.
7. Variations for Dough: Add a few drops of food coloring into batter for color variation. A few drops of flavoring (strawberry, grape, orange, blueberry, etc.) may also be added. >> For chocolate flavor, stir about 1/4 cup melted chocolate chips into mochi batter before cooking.

Reviews

[Ashtears]

Thank you for this recipe! It is so easy and it can be tweaked for anyone's liking. I used coconut in mine after reading it in another recipe. I use 2 parts flour, 2 parts liquid (coconut milk, water, evaporated milk, etc), and 1 part sugar. I also add butter and rum flavoring to mine. Very tasty! It's even easier to microwave in a ceramic casserole dish with a glass lid so there's no messing with/wasting of plastic wrap. The one thing that bothers me is that no matter what I do it still has a floury flavor.

[CasMarino]

I would say my teenage son and I are "Mochi Snobs" except, considering the wildest version of this has all of half a dozen ingredients, there's not much to be snobbish about. At best, Mochi is (let's face it) a mildly sweet, mildly satisfying, rice-based gummy... thing. And at its worst, well, it pretty much gets the same description.

That said, I live near enough to Manhattan's midtown "Korea Town" and we frequent the Asian market there which sells mochi in ever permutation and incarnation imaginable. So we've tasted hundreds of gut-busting pounds of the stuff over time, and decided this holds up and works well in a pinch when you NEED mochi.

We found it too pasty so it's not getting my highest rating. We did it stove top to avoid some of the uncooked aspects most of you had offered as downfalls of this, and I think it helped with the extra heat time (total: 5 or 6 minutes) and mixing. However next time I will double the water to extend the dough's open-time thus giving it more of a chance to really cook through.

A Pam-sprayed ice cube tray makes the perfect interesting bite-sized bits, and freezer time will just help it set that much more quickly.

For a good saturday evening "why not, let's try it" thing, I give it an extra star above the 3 I'd normally grant. Thanks for sharing!

[Seedbeads]

Wow, what a mess. :) I made this because it was quick and easy and I wanted to try mochi for myself. This was fairly easy but I made a big mess. I used cornstarch and I got it everywhere because I stuffed my mochi balls with chocolate chips while it was still warm. Easy, yummy, the kids love it.. but I made a mess. :) I think I'll make orange or cherry flavoured next time, and find something better to cook it in than a casserole dish!