Ichigo Daifuku (Strawberry Mochi)

I love eating mochi because of it's chewy texture and have always thought that it would be most difficult to make. When I did find out how easy it was and with so few ingredients, I could not help by giving it a try. I used strawberries and azuki bean paste as the filling and to me it so resembles Japanese desserts. I can once you have mastered a perfect mochi, you could put any type of filling inside. The possibility of different flavours is pretty much endless I think!





Ichigo Daifuku (Strawberry Mochi)
Recipe adapted from Here
Makes about 6 - 8 mochi

Ingredients:
1 cup glutinous rice flour
1/4 cup icing sugar
2/3 cup water
1/2 cup adzuki bean paste (home made or store bought)
6 to 8 strawberries
For dusting, corn flour

Method:

1) Wash strawberries and remove the calyxes. Wrap a strawberry with about a spoonful of adzuki bean paste and rounds to make a ball. Make 6 to 8 balls depending on the size of your strawberries.

2) Put 2/3 cup of water and 1/4 cup of sugar in a microwave bowl and mix well. Add glutinous rice flour in the bowl and mix well. Put the bowl in microwave and heat the dough for two minutes. Remove and stir quickly. The dough will be somewhat heavy and very sticky.

3) Dust a flat tray with corn flour. Also, dust hands with some flour. Remove the hot mochi from the bowl to the pan by hands. Dust hands with more flour and divide the mochi into 6 to 8 pieces, depending on the size of the strawberries.. The mochi is hot and sticky, so be careful not to burn your hands. Make 6 to 8 flat and round mochi.

4) Put a piece of strawberry and adzuki filling on a mochi piece and wrap it by stretching mochi. Pinch the ends tightly to ensure that they stick together. Lay each mochi, seam downwards, onto a plate lightly dusted with cornflour Repeat the process until all the dough has been used up.