Warabi Mochi

Recipe originated from this site http://www.ytower.com.tw/recipe/recipe.asp (search under 日本点心, Page 24, 厥饼) Made some adjustments myself. 

Ingredients 
(A) : 
Lotus Root Powder - 100g 
Sweet Potato Flour - 25g 
Water - 100ml 

(B) : 
Black/Dark Brown Sugar - 130g 
Water - 300ml 

(C) : 
Soy Bean Powder (Kinako) for sprinkling 

Method 
1) Mix (A) well and set aside. 
2) In a saucepacn, boil (B) till sugar dissolves. 
3) Pour mixture (B) into mixture (A), stir well before returning mixture to saucepan. 
4) Heat up mixture over slow fire, stirring constantly till mixture becomes translucent. 
5) Turn off heat and continue to stir to get a QQ consistency (elastic). 
6) Pour into a pan and steam over high heat for 25 minutes. (I steamed for 20 minutes only) Leave aside to cool. 
7) In a tray, sprinkle soy bean powder and transfer the gooey glob to the tray. Sprinkle some more soy bean flour on top. 
8.) Press the mochi till it is quite even and cut into pieces (I use scissors). Coat the pieces with soy bean powder as you go along. 
9) Best served with green tea or barley tea (Mugi cha). 

In Japan, they either use Warabi powder or use the root of the Warabi plant to make this dessert. You can see the plant here :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiddlehead 

These are the ingredients used. 
   

Lotus Root powder ($5 per 300g pack) can be found at medical halls or Yue Hwa. Sweet Potato flour ($1.20 per 500g pack) at Econ minimart. Black Sugar at Daiso, 1 packet just nice, 130g. Kinako powder can be found at Cold Storage ($1.35) or Daiso. 

*Note : Do not recommend doubling the recipe. You will have a hard time stirring in the later stage. The mochi is not that sweet, just nice.


by reirei