How to cook daifuku with strawberries. Japanese food

And yet, apparently, I was carried away to Japanese cuisine, although I hadn’t noticed it before myself, well, God bless him, the kitchen doesn’t seem to be a sawdust bath, I hope this food doesn’t prick from the inside))) Especially since everything seems to be how decent. True, the video shows that the very process of preparing these miracle sweets is very traumatic all the same, and requires professional skill. But there is a safe homemade way to make these rice cakes. Everything in order:

Mochi are such rice cakes that are customary to eat on holidays, and especially on New Year's Eve. "Daifuku mochi" - translated from Japanese "rice cake for great luck."

The very process of making the classic "mochi" is called "mochi-tsuki" and is clearly demonstrated in the video material below (the spectacle is not for the faint of heart in my opinion)

How are you?

In the West, "mochi" are usually perceived as sweets, but in Japan, these rice cakes can even be found in soup. Historically, they came to Japan from China a long time ago (they were mentioned in Japanese literature of the 8th century), but they did not immediately become a mass dish: initially they were made only on special occasions, for special people of the upper classes. Gradually, "mochi" seeped into the lower strata of the population, because it is tasty, does not deteriorate for a long time, and it is relatively easy to cook.

The current "mochi" in Japan is one of the varieties of "wagashi", traditional sweets served with tea. Usually, "wagashi" is made exclusively by pastry chefs, using a technique that has been passed down from generation to generation for many centuries. It is believed that making wagashi at home is a bad idea due to the complexity of the process, and this applies to any kind of wagashi, except perhaps mochi pies.

The most common type is "daifuku mochi": a ball of rice flour stuffed inside. Anything can be used as a filling: adzuki bean paste (called anko), various fruits, berries (ichigo daifuku), and even ice cream.

Daifuku Mochi Recipe

So, let's go directly to the process. Making your own mochi is very easy, and to make daifuku mochi, we need the following ingredients:

300 grams (2 cups) glutinous rice flour (called "Mochiko" in Japan)
350 grams (1½ cups) water.
150 grams (¾ cup) sugar
1 not a full teaspoon (¾ volume) of vanillin.
2.5 tablespoons of corn syrup.
It will take a little potato starch so that our dough does not stick anywhere.
It is also necessary to think about the filling in advance, whether it is the traditional adzuki bean paste (250 grams, found in cans in Asian stores), or something else to your taste.
You can also make gluten rice flour yourself, just finely grind the corresponding rice, since you don’t need so much of it. Corn syrup - can be bought at the store. Here it acts as a thickener and sweetener.
Step one: You can use both a gas stove and a microwave oven to prepare the dough. Mortar and hammer, save for later. Choose any of the options:

For the microwave - mix all the ingredients (except for starch and toppings) in a glass dish suitable for heating. We cover the dishes (preferably with cling film) and expose to microwaves at the maximum available power for about 2 minutes. After the set time has passed, mix the substance and charge it in the microwave for another 4 minutes.

For a gas stove - pour water into a medium-sized saucepan, let it boil, and leave it on "medium heat". Add sugar, vanillin and corn syrup to the water, stirring until they are completely dissolved. We add flour in small portions, constantly stirring: it is necessary to achieve a homogeneous consistency. Upon reaching the result - remove from the fire.

Step two: The resulting mass is dumped onto the surface of the table, boards, pre-sprinkled with starch. We do not regret starch, because if it sticks to the table, you will have to eat along with the table. Joke. :)
The dough must be divided into 20 equal pieces, each of which subsequently must be rolled out to a flat pancake. The filling chosen by you is placed on the pancake, the pancake is closed like a bag, by “pinching”.

Step three: It is advisable to lightly roll the finished product in starch so that it does not stick to your fingers, and then turn it over (so that the “closing” place of the ball is at the bottom) onto a plate flavored with the same starch.

If you decide to give your “mochi” some form, make a curly pattern on them by pressing - know that this procedure is best done immediately before serving. Depending on the consistency of your dough - sooner or later, under the influence of gravity - the balls will want to spread out on a plate - whether you like it or not.
But the most delicious Moti is probably stuffed with ice cream, all the same, for this, just put a teaspoon of ice cream inside, and immediately put the product in the freezer for a couple of hours. The product must be removed from the freezer a few minutes before serving. Also, do not forget to supply all surfaces with starch, otherwise the “mochi” will have to be eaten along with the surfaces on which they lie. :)

They look awesome appetizing from the outside!))) - in general, here is such a dessert from Japan.
And another video where a Karen woman shows how to cook it using a microwave oven and everything step by step. From myself I will add that she added cane sugar, a pinch of salt and corn syrup to the beans. Below I put a link with a photo from her site there is a translation. And also what she cooks from a mixture of sweet rice flour glutinous or mochiko powder http://www.maangchi.com/ingredients/sweet-rice-flour,
on the first one it is what she uses herself, and on the second picture, the one from which you can also portray it quite successfully for yourself.

And a link to the site with translation and step-by-step actions if something in the video is not clear. http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/chapssalddeok
Well, that seems to be it! the plot can be considered complete (about corn syrup later)

Good day, colleagues and readers! Today I suggest that you get acquainted with Japanese cuisine, or rather with the most common type of sweet desserts in Japan (and in many eastern countries) called "Daifuku Mochi" and, accordingly, cook it yourself using the necessary products, which are not many here and my explanations and explanations. The dish turns out to be magnificent, festively colorful and delicate in its characteristics, and its taste will pleasantly surprise you.

So, to prepare this dessert

We will need these ingredients, the exact amount of which you will find at the top of this recipe. Naturally, you can choose the toppings yourself according to your taste and guided by your taste preferences.

1. First, first of all, we take Anko pasta (how to cook it, you can see in my recipe Anko Bean Paste - Sweet Japanese Bean Paste with an unusual taste ... Minimum ingredients, maximum ease of preparation) and cleaned of extraneous green berries. We separate the grapes and free them from the twigs, remove the green leaves from the strawberries, and generally peel the kiwi from the peel with a knife. We flatten the Anko pasta with our hands in the form of a flat cake (it is unlikely that it will be possible to roll it out with a rolling pin - it is quite sticky, therefore it is sprinkled with starch). Arrange prepared berries on top.

2. And wrap them in Anko paste. Fortunately, this paste is very plastic and malleable and it is a pleasure to work with it - like with children's plasticine. Just try not to forget, but somehow note for yourself where your figures (more precisely, the berries) have the top and where the bottom is - this way you will make your Daifuku more beautiful when you cut it. If, of course, you are preparing them for yourself, then it is not necessary to cut them and you can not remember and not mark the position of the berries in space.

3. And now, after you have finished wrapping the berries in Anko paste, cover them with a plastic bag or a lid so that they do not dry out and you can prepare Mochi sweet rice dough. You can read how it is prepared in my recipe here Mochi dessert - sweet rice dough. Adapted recipe. We spread the finished Mochi dough on starch, as it is very sticky and sticks to everything it can, and sprinkle it on top with the same starch.

4. We distribute the dough evenly and thinly over the surface of the dish, abundantly sprinkled with starch, with our fingers, constantly sprinkling them with starch (of course, after the dough has cooled slightly and it will be possible to work with it with bare hands) and divide it into several equal parts of the size that we will be needed to wrap berries with Anko paste in them.

5, Wrap prepared balls with Anko bean paste in Mochi dough. Rice dough is just as plastic and molds well as this paste, so don't worry - everything will work out easily for you.

That's all - our dessert from Japan, China and other neighboring countries is completely ready and you can already taste it and taste its unusual, but at the same time pleasant and delicate taste, combining in its bouquet such a variety of tastes as a light taste of sweet beans, a taste of sweet rice and the flavors and juiciness of the various berries you used in this dessert. I am sure that you will be not only pleasantly surprised by this dessert, but also pleased with its unusual taste.

Well, according to tradition, I wish you bon appetit and creative culinary success!

Cooking time: PT00H20M 20 min.

Mochi (urine) - japanese sweet in the form of a kolobok or cake, made from rice dough.

These are very special sweets, different from the Western desserts we are used to. They can be called the "oldest" Japanese desserts. At the same time, their popularity is only growing.

Origin story

Story mochi in japan begins around the 8th century AD.

Traditionally considered an elite meal for the ruling nobility. It was explained quite simply. To make mochi, a lot of short-grain varieties were needed. mochi-mai. This variety, in its viscosity, was more suitable than the medium-grain rice familiar to Japanese cuisine. plantations with mochi-mai was less, and the consumption of this rice was greater. That's why mochi were expensive.

According to some sources of the Nara period in Japan (710-794) mochi considered sacred food. Confirmation of this is the legend of a man who decided to use mochi as a target when training in archery. When he fired an arrow at the mochi, it miraculously turned into a white swan and flew away. Shortly thereafter, all the rice fields in the area dried up and the people had to starve. The main message of this story is that rice and products made from it should be valued and protected.

For the first time in written sources, mochi is mentioned as part of the New Year festivities during the Heian period (794-1185). At the festival there were long plaits of mochi as a symbol of the long life of the courtiers of the imperial court. It was also said about the useful hardness of the dried mochi. Then it was believed that good teeth are the key to health and longevity, and dried mochi Helps make teeth stronger and more durable. Mention of New Year's mochi even in the oldest Japanese novel, The Tale of Genji.

For cooking mochi Mochigome short-grain rice is traditionally used. In Europe, it is known as "glutinous" or "sweet" rice.

Traditionally mochi Made by hand from whole rice. This is a very tedious and time consuming process. Now it has been replaced by special automatic rice dough machines, and most Japanese people use them.

But the cooking tradition mochi - Mochitsuke still exists in Japan today. And every year is held as a symbolic ritual of preparation for the New Year.

Traditional Mochitsuke is carried out as follows:

1. Rice soaked overnight is boiled.

2. Boiled rice is pounded with wooden mallets (kine) in a traditional mortar (usu). For this procedure, 2 people are required: one crushes the rice, and the second manually mixes and moistens the mochi. They must work in concert in a clear rhythm so as not to injure each other. This procedure takes about 40 minutes.

3. Various shapes are formed from the sticky mass. Ready-made in the east and north of Japan mochi laid out on trays, dried and cut into squares ( kiri mochi). In other parts of the country - they form small round cakes ( maru mochi). These mochi should be enough for a few days of celebrations.

Have an ideal mochi there should be a special structure - viscous and soft, but at the same time elastic, elastic, but not fragile.

Nowadays, mochi can be made quite simply - from special rice flour (mochiko). The flour is mixed with water to the consistency of a viscous white mass and cooked in a double boiler or microwave until it becomes elastic and slightly transparent.

Mochi in cooking

Now mochi sweets popular throughout the year, but traditionally mochi ate for the New Year. And to this day there are a few mochi-symbols of this holiday.

One of the most important symbols of the New Year - kagami-mochi(kagami-mochi). It is made of two mochi balls, a smaller ball is placed on a larger one, a small kumkuwat crowns the design on top.

The name translates as "mirror mochi". The name comes from the shape mochi, which should symbolize the round bronze mirrors of the aristocracy, which had a sacred meaning in Shintoism.

Usually kagami-mochi placed in the house on December 28, because the number 8 is considered special in Japanese numerology, but in no case on December 29, since the number 9 can be interpreted as "Suffering".

Interestingly, the procedure for turning rice into mochi took place on December 29 - it symbolized the conquest and cessation of suffering.

Most of mochi, consumed on New Year's holidays, is prepared for ozoni(ozōni) - soup with mochi pieces, vegetables and other products. There are many recipes for this soup, but it always contains mochi. It is believed that the first dish in the New Year should be ozoni soup, as it will help welcome the advent of a happy new year.

Since rice has a religious symbolic meaning in Japan and is considered a symbol of happiness, it is also consumed at new home celebrations, weddings and other important events.

Besides mochi widely used in almost all forms. It can be fried and eaten with nori, sugar or soy flour. Can be boiled with noodles or added to pizza. Also mochi grilled.

And, of course, from mochi prepare a huge variety of sweets.

There are many varieties mochi- plain mochi, mochi with various fillings, fried and moistened with sweet soy sauce - "kinako-mochi" and steamed with various toppings and coatings (for example, wrapped in a bamboo leaf or glazed with jam, chocolate). One of the most famous mochi is daifuku, a soft, round mochi with a sweet filling.

Mochi ice cream has been especially popular in recent years. These are small balls of ice cream wrapped with a piece of mochi.

Mochi for diet and fasting

Mochi fit for diet food, as they contain about half less sugar compared to other sweets. in pieces mochi you can sprinkle ice cream, add for diet breakfast- in yogurt or whole-grain porridge.

The Japanese tradition says that mochi brings warmth to the body and recommends it for people with anemia, blood sugar imbalances and weak intestines. It is also recommended to use it for those who are often ill, because rice gives the body additional strength and tone.

Mochi you can feast in post They don't contain milk or dairy products.

Features of Asian tea drinking

The correct tea ceremony involves not only the use of good green tea, but also the correct selection of sweets. Tea is consumed either without them, or with those desserts that will enrich and shade the taste of the drink.

Usually mochi sweets served immediately before drinking good green teas and matcha powdered green teas. The fact is that these drinks have bitterness, and the use mochi gives an amazing balance of flavors.

Here you can draw a parallel with the art of choosing wine for a certain dish. The right dessert will help you get even more pleasure from your favorite tea.

Daifuku is a type of Japanese sweet confection. It is a small cake made of glutinous rice paste filled with a sweet filling. Sometimes it is also called mochi. In general, "daifuku" is an abbreviated word for "daifukumochi" (daifukumochi), which means "big white luck cake."

In Japan, they believe that this cake really brings good luck, so it is a traditional gift in this country (including for the New Year).

Most daifuku recipes call for mixing rice flour and water, then heating the mixture in the microwave. The result is a thick, sticky dough that is rolled out hot and formed into a thin layer. After that, the dough is cut into rectangles. Each rectangle will then become a separate daifuku.

The cook takes each rectangle and wraps it around the filling, then sprinkles it with flour or sugar. After baking, the dough is cooled and it hardens a little.
Making cakes using a microwave oven or a double boiler is quite simple. If you cook them in the traditional way, it will take much longer, since this is all a certain kind of ritual. Cooks first soak the rice in water for several hours, often overnight, then steam it and then grind it into a paste with a mortar.

The resulting paste is then formed into round or square cakes. Daifuku cake is a traditional Japanese New Year's dish. The most common filling for daifuku is a paste of red adzuki beans and sugar or honey. True, there are other filling options, consisting of strawberries, pieces of fruit or melon paste.

Adding a variety of dyes to daifuku makes the cake colorful. It can be pink or even green. Some natural dyes, such as wormwood, can add flavor to cakes. One type of daifuku, yukimi daifuku, uses ice cream as a filling.

The ice cream ball is usually wrapped in rice dough. Such a cake remains soft, even if it has just been taken out of the refrigerator.

Source:

________________________________________ __

2. Japanese mochi recipe

After returning home from Japan, I really missed this country. And so I immediately took up culinary experiments. After all, it is the cuisine that conveys the character of the people, its customs and mood.

Through trial and error, I managed to get the perfect mochi recipe. The sweetness prepared according to it is in no way inferior to the Japanese counterpart. And this recipe includes products available to everyone!

Ingredients:

50 gr cornstarch

250 gr glutinous rice flour (a special type of rice, sold in Russia on the Internet, moderators)

300 g adzuki beans

Salt 15 gr

Sugar 3 cups

Water 4 tsp

Powdered matcha green tea

Cooking method

Adzuki beans must be boiled with 100 g of sugar for 45 minutes. This will take 2 cups of water. After beans cool and beat until a paste with a blender.

In a ceramic saucepan, separately mix the rest of the sugar with salt, matcha tea and glutinous rice flour with 1 cup of water. Mix thoroughly until a homogeneous mass is obtained.

After the stewpan is tightly packed with cling film and put in the microwave for 3 minutes at maximum heat. The Japanese recipe implies a homogeneous and viscous dough for mochi. If you get such a consistency - leave it aside to cool. If not, place in the microwave for another minute.

While the glutinous rice flour dough is cooling, shape the bean paste into balls.

Thoroughly knead the cooled dough. After all, it is precisely the carefully kneaded dough that is the main secret of delicious mochi. Moreover, the Japanese even tap on it with a rolling pin for 4 minutes to get the right consistency.

The dough is ready, which means it's time to prepare a place for modeling. I sprinkle starch on the table. You should not forget about your hands either, so the dough will not stick. After we roll out the sausage and cut it into 8 equal parts.

Since the glutinous rice flour dough dries quickly, wrap all parts in cling film.

We take one of the pieces of dough and knead it to the state of a round thin cake. We put the stuffing from the bean paste inside and wrap it up.

Repeat this procedure with the remaining pieces. If you do not add powdered tea, then the Japanese mochi dessert will look light (photo at the end of the recipe).

This sweet is usually served with green tea. Although I have tried them with coffee. And I can say that it is very tasty!

Mochi is a traditional Japanese flatbread. Mochi is made from a special type of mochigome glutinous rice that is pounded into a paste and becomes sweet when chewed for a long time. The traditional process of making these flatbreads is called mochitsuki. Mochi is eaten throughout the year, but the greatest demand for this dish occurs on the eve of the New Year, when it is customary for the Japanese to distribute this delicacy to all relatives and neighbors. It is believed that when a person eats mochi, he joins the divine grace.

Mochi is made from round-grain matted mochigome rice. Rice of this variety after heat treatment becomes dense and sticky. Traditionally, mochi is made by hand. The mochi-making ceremony in Japan is called mochitsuki and consists of several steps.

Polished glutinous rice is soaked overnight and boiled or steamed.

Boiled rice is pounded with a wooden hammer in a traditional mortar (usu). In this process, two people are involved, alternately replacing each other. One of them pushes the mochi, and the second one stirs and wets it.

The resulting viscous dough-like mass is given a certain shape - spherical or cubic, or they form cakes from it, which are grilled or boiled.

Mochi can also be made with flour and sweet rice (mochiko). The flour is mixed with water until a sticky opaque white mass is obtained. Further, this mass is prepared to an elastic translucent state in a conventional or microwave oven.

Many types of traditional Japanese sweets (wagashi and mochigashi) are made from mochi. For example, daifuku is a soft, round mochi with a sweet filling, such as red (an) or white (shiro an) bean paste. Ichigo daifuku has a strawberry filling. Kusa mochi is a type of green mochi flavored with tansy (yomogi). Daifuku made from mochi kusa is called yomogi daifuku. In addition, small balls of ice cream are wrapped in mochi to make mochi ice cream.

"Daifuku Mochi"

Ingredients:

300 grams (2 cups) glutinous rice flour (called "Mochiko" in Japan)

350 grams (1½ cups) water

150 grams (¾ cup) sugar

1 partial teaspoon (¾ volume) vanillin

2.5 tablespoons corn syrup

A little potato starch, so that the dough does not stick

The filling can be traditional azuki bean paste or something else to taste.

You can make your own gluten-free rice flour by finely grinding the appropriate variety of rice and adding corn syrup to act as a thickener and sweetener.

Step one:

To prepare the dough, you can use both a gas stove and a microwave oven. Mortar and hammer, save for later.

for microwave oven- mix all the ingredients (with the exception of starch and filling) in a glass dish suitable for heating. We cover the dishes (preferably with cling film) and put in the microwave at the maximum available power for about 2 minutes. After that, mix the substance, and charge in the microwave for another 4 minutes.

For gas stove- Pour water into a medium-sized saucepan, let it boil, and leave it on “medium heat”. Add sugar, vanillin and corn syrup to the water, stirring until they are completely dissolved. We add flour in small portions, constantly stirring: it is necessary to achieve a homogeneous consistency. Upon reaching the result - remove from the fire.

Step two:

Put the resulting mass on a surface sprinkled with starch in advance. We do not spare starch so that the dough does not stick. The dough must be divided into 20 equal pieces, each of which will need to be rolled out to a flat pancake. The filling is laid out on the pancake, the pancake is closed like a bag, by “pinching”.

Step three:

It is advisable to lightly roll the finished product in starch so that it does not stick to your fingers, and then put it on a plate with starch.

Mochi with ice cream inside

You just need to put a teaspoon of ice cream inside, and immediately put the product in the freezer for a couple of hours. Mochi should be taken out of the freezer a few minutes before serving. All surfaces will also need to be sprinkled with starch so that the "mochi" does not stick.