Caramel Mochi

Yaaay, mochii! As probably everybody knows, mochi is an authentic oriental (japanese, chinese, korean) snack. Usually mochi-making or mochizuki festival is held around the festival of lunar year. In Indonesia we have also 'moci' really similar to the one from Japan, but this one is made from glutinous rice flour. We don't make it from scratch by pounding rice with a giant wooden hammer.

Nowadays we often find mochi as topping for frozen yoghurt products, and in my taste it's a little bit different. The topping mochi has a more firm, jelly texture if compared to the original.

This note is a basic recipe for sweet mochi and i add notes for different use. Here it is.

1 cup glutinous rice flour
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup water at room temperature
3/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking soda

For dusting: tapioca flour

I used 1 cup of granulated sugar because i want to make it sweet to balance the sour taste of yogurt. If you want to make mochi with fillings, you can reduce sugar to 1/2 cup.

Mix together all of the ingredients above. Line your 16x16cm baking dish with parchment paper, pour the liquid into your dish and cover with alumunium foil. Bake in an oven at 180° celcius for 1 hour. After it's done, cool it overnight if you want to make it as yogurt topping. Pur tapioca flour to a surface where you want to cut the dough. Take the dough when it is still on the paper, put it upside down that the top surface will face the dusting. Slowly peel the paper. Cut into the desired size. If this tiny chunks are still sticky you can always dust themagain with flour.

If you want to make mochi with fillings, you better do this while it's warm. Take 1 tbsp of mochi dough and fill with filling of your choice: red bean paste, sesame, or even ice cream, then shape it into ball. Let it cool. For ice cream mochi, better to hurry, put them into fridge!

Smakelijk!