Homemade Mochi Filled with An Sweet Red Beans

Monday, January 3, 2011

Mochi - Homemade An (Red Bean) Mochi
Sweet Mochi with An or Sweetened Red (Azuki) Beans
Fresh Mochi.
Soft.
Chewy.
Filled with An or Sweet Red Beans.
Delicious.
And now...made at home!

Mochi - Homemade An (Red Bean) Mochi
I went over to JustJenn's house on New Year's Eve and Jenn taught me how to make homemade anko filled mochi. Yay, that's how us party animals celebrate!

As you know, my family makes a boatload of "unsweetened" mochi for New Year's celebrations. However, I haven't made sweet mochi. This is the one you find in Japanese confectionery stores like Sakuraya (in Gardena...THE BEST), Fugetsu-do, and Mikawaya. It is filled with anko or an - sweetened red or azuki beans. You can get the beans "rough" or "smooth" - we used smooth or koshi an today.

Sweet Mochi Making - Ingredients
The ingredients:
1. Mochiko sweet rice flour from Koda Farms. They are the best makers of mochigome. I would never use anything else. The Japanese grocery store sells it for $1.10 - $1.60, and I've seen it for almost $4 at Vons. Crazy. It is gluten free.
2. Food coloring. Jenn used a couple drops of the gel food coloring. We made a batch of pink and purple mochi.
3. Potato starch. Before you ask, I don't know if there is a substitute. It is super duper soft stuff and doesn't really have a flavor...making it a perfect coating to the sticky mochi.
4. Sweetened Red Bean Paste (Smooth or Koshi) An. Jenn prefers the one in bag over the cans (she believes it is smoother).
5. Sugar. You'll need some sugar to make this sweetened mochi.

Sweet Mochi Making - Process 1
I think mochi making is definitely a team sport! For the "stir, stir, stir" part, it is helpful if you have someone hold the pot steady with a good grip and oven mitts. The other person takes a wooden spoon and stirs, stirs, stirs until the whole batch is smooth. Mochi is RICE and RICE is sticky...thus it is hard to stir. I had to stand on a step stool (curse of being short) to get good leverage and hold the wooden spoon with two hands to stir. Everything goes quick...so make sure everything is ready to go.

sweet Mochi Making - Process 2
The hot mochi blob goes on a heavily covered potato starch board. Cover the mochi with more potato starch and you have a mochi baby. So soft, warm and cushy.

Sweet Mochi Making - Process 3
Mochi - Homemade An (Red Bean) Mochi
How to make mochi: Cut off a piece, flatten it out, place a piece of an in the center and pinch close. Put the closure seam on the bottom, shape into a round and perfecto! Mochi! Make sure the entire mochi (and your hands) are covered in potato starch...or it'll stick.

Jenn made a few filled with peanut butter, peanut butter and jelly and Nutella. I stuck with traditional an or sweetened red beans. I found it helpful to make little balls of an prior to making the mochi.

Mochi - Homemade An (Red Bean) Mochi
You can also make the mochi "dough" in the microwave, but I like the stove top method. I don't have to go to the gym. Check out this book Hawaii's Best Mochi Recipes by Jean Watanabe Hee for more ideas.

Sweet mochi making - Funny faces
Then we got silly with our mochi and made some old man faces. Jenn has these candy eyes...totally edible!

Mochi - Homemade An (Red Bean) Mochi
Perfectly soft and chewy mochi. Sweet.
Mochi is Rice. Mochi is Nice.
Recipe:
justJENN recipes has the full recipe for Sweet Mochi
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17 comments:

vanillasugarblog said... [Reply to comment]

one of these days i am so making mochi. everyone has made it with excellent results. happy new year to you!!

Unknown said... [Reply to comment]

super cool, I love it. What a nice treat.

kirbie said... [Reply to comment]

Your mochi came out so pretty. I've made these before, but with a microwave method rather than stirring on the stove. Btw, if you don't have potato flour, other flours that work for the coating are tapioca flour and corn starch.

Yuko said... [Reply to comment]

Happy New Year, Mary!
Your home made mochi looks so pretty.
I bought organic azuki beans yesterday to make homemade anko this coming weekend.

beyondkimchee said... [Reply to comment]

That is so awesome. I love Mochi Thanks for sharing.

Julie said... [Reply to comment]

Wow, I'm totally impressed! I love the ones with faces :)

Vivian said... [Reply to comment]

Ditto on the corn starch! I used it before and it wasn't very different

Viv said... [Reply to comment]

haha true party animal indeeed :) lol at those old man faces :D
i love making those mochi balls with anko fillings...the ones i buy from the stores are usually too sweet so its def good to make them at home so i can adjust the sweetness!

Samantha said... [Reply to comment]

I love Mochi!

Christina of Form V Artisan said... [Reply to comment]

LOVE this.
I had these on a Korean flight on my way back from Thailand. So good.

Stop by my blog if you have a chance for more great recipes!
www.form5artisan.blogspot.com

Kelsie said... [Reply to comment]

Ahh but how much of everything should I use!?

The Food Librarian said... [Reply to comment]

@Kelsie

Please see the last line of the post - it has a link to JustJenn's recipe for mochi with all the measurement.

hannah said... [Reply to comment]

Gosh, I absolutely love your blog, my dear.

Coco Cake Land said... [Reply to comment]

YES to mochi!!! love it! ^__^

Anonymous said... [Reply to comment]

I made this recipe and it worked wonderfully!

bethel said... [Reply to comment]

Hello, I just came across your wonderful blog. I'm thinking these mochi would make great christmas gifts for my gluten free friends. I'm going to try the red bean ones. I was also wondering if it would work to use matcha in the mochi paste, with a different filling. If it does, what filling do you think would go well with that flavor. Then I could make two different types.

Anonymous said... [Reply to comment]

I am in search of a mochi recipe that stays soft and gooey. Does yours do that? Meaning will it stay soft & gooey for even a couple of days? Matcha powder does work well in the mochi (for your readers info) and lastly... when mocha is filled, it becomes, Manju. Happy Cooking!!

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