Posted on: Wednesday, December 29, 2004
 |
LIGHT & LOCAL
Homemade mochi delightful
By Carol Devenot
Some of my fondest memories of New Year's Day are centered around invitations by my friends to celebrate in the Japanese fashion. I loved joining the family in the kitchen to help roll, shape, and fill the mochi cakes. Families used to pound the soaked and steamed sweet rice to make the mochi "dough" — a rather tricky and potentially dangerous process involving a huge stone mortar and wood pestle with one person pounding and the other turning the ball of mochi and feeling for lumps. The silky smooth dough was then filled with a paste of sweetened red azuki beans.
However, mochi made in this way is becoming more and more rare. Today, there are mochi-making machines.
But most folks just buy mochiko (rice flour) and make mochi cakes the easier way. And Western-style baked "butter" mochi, kind of like Asian bar cookies, has become very popular, too.
Advertiser library photo • Dec. 29, 2001 Look for fresh sweet potatoes with no brown blemishes. I have found great buys at Chinatown and in open markets. Scrub the potatoes with a brush and cut in half. Cover with water and simmer until soft. Keep a close eye on the pot to prevent the potatoes from sticking to the bottom and burning. Pierce the cooked sweet potatoes with a fork to check for tenderness.
Use only fresh poi and eat the rest (so 'ono with canned salmon, raw onions, and Hawaiian salt). The poi helps to smooth out the texture in this recipe and adds a little more substance to the filling. The water thins it out for just the right consistency.
Combine all the ingredients for the mochi and place in a sprayed microwave tube pan (available in kitchen shops and department stores). After the mixture is microwaved, cool, roll out, cut into rounds, and dust with potato flour. I have used cornstarch in a pinch but it isn't the same. Fill with the sweet-potato filling, and you're ready for the New Year.
Akemashite omedeto gozaimasu. (Happy New Year!)
Okinawan Sweet Potato Poi Mochi
Filling:
Mix fresh poi and water thoroughly. Add sweet potato. For a smooth filling, place all the ingredients for the filling in a food processor and process until smooth. Set aside.
Mochi:
Combine mochiko flour and sugar in a medium bowl. Slowly add water, stirring until smooth. Add vanilla and mix well. Spray a 5-cup microwave tube pan with cooking spray. Pour batter into greased pan. Cover with plastic wrap. Microwave on high for 10 minutes, rotating pan several times during cooking. Don't cook the mochi too long or you won't be able to form it into cakes.
Turn out into a plate dusted with potato starch. Cool. Cut into 3-inch rounds and roll flat with a rolling pin dusted with potato starch. Place 3 to 4 tablespoons of filling into the middle of the flattened round. Gather up the sides to the middle of the round and pinch to seal. Smooth out any rough edges. Roll rounds in potato starch.
Serves 8.
• Per serving: 378 calories, 3 grams protein, 0 gram fat, 91 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams dietary fiber. Want a local recipe lightened up? Write Light & Local, Taste Section, The Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802; or taste@honoluluadvertiser.com. Carol Devenot is a Kaimuki-raised kama'aina, teacher and recipe consultant, and author of "Island Light Cuisine" (Blue Sea Publishing, paper, 2003). Learn more at www.islandlightcuisine.com.
This Okinawan sweet-potato poi mochi recipe is for old-fashioned round, filled cakes. It's from my cookbook, "Island Light Cuisine."
Old-fashioned made-from-scratch mochi is getting harder to find.
