Matcha Mochi: Eight Bites Filled with Anko

Want to bite into a soft mochi? These eight matcha daifuku enclose anko, sweetened azuki bean paste, in glutinous rice dough. Microwave cooking and cooling bring the total time to 44 minutes.

• Preparation 25 minutes
• Cooking 4 minutes
• Cooling 15 minutes
• Total time 44 minutes
• Makes 8 mochi
• Tools a 600 W microwave, a microwave-safe bowl and plate, two bowls, a fine sieve, a spatula, a spoon, and a knife

The sweet dough uses Essence matcha, which Kura-ge sells for cooking. These rice sweets are eaten by hand; the sliced cakes among our Japanese matcha desserts call for a different approach.

Ingredients for eight matcha mochi

• 4.2 oz (120 g) glutinous rice flour
• About 2/3 cup (160 ml) water
• 1.8 oz (50 g) sugar
• About 3 tsp (6 g) matcha
• 5.6 oz (160 g) sweetened azuki bean paste, or anko
• 1.1 oz (30 g) kinako, roasted soybean powder, for shaping

How to shape matcha mochi

1. Divide 5.6 oz (160 g) anko into eight portions of 0.7 oz (20 g) each.
2. Roll each portion into a small ball.
3. Sift about 3 tsp (6 g) matcha into a bowl.
4. Mix the matcha with 2 tbsp (30 ml) taken from the about 2/3 cup (160 ml) water.
5. Mix 4.2 oz (120 g) glutinous rice flour and 1.8 oz (50 g) sugar in the microwave-safe bowl.
6. Pour the remaining about 1/2 cup (130 ml) water over the dry ingredients.
7. Add the matcha mixture.
8. Stir until no pockets of dry flour remain.
9. Cover the bowl with a microwave-safe plate.
10. Heat for 2 minutes at 600 W.
11. Stir the dough with a spatula.
12. Heat for another 2 minutes at 600 W, until the dough is glossy and cooked throughout.
13. Cool in the bowl for 15 minutes.
14. Dust the work surface with 1.1 oz (30 g) kinako.
15. Put the warm dough on the kinako.
16. Cut the dough into eight pieces.
17. Flatten each piece into a disk with your fingers.
18. Put a ball of anko in the center of each disk.
19. Fold the dough edges around the filling.
20. Pinch the edges together to seal each mochi.

For filled daifuku, glutinous rice flour forms the dough. Shape it while still warm: it stretches better around the anko. If it's too hot, it sticks to your fingers and can burn them.

Which matcha should you choose for mochi?

In this sweet, filled rice dough, we choose our Essence matcha for mochi to flavor all eight pieces. The anko already brings sugar; the nuances of a matcha reserved for drinking with water would have little room here.

Strawberry mochi: replacing the anko

You can replace the 5.6 oz (160 g) anko with eight small strawberries of 0.7 oz (20 g) each, washed and dried very well. Keep the same dough disks and fold them around the fruit. Eat this variation soon: strawberries moisten the dough.

Our tip. An opaque patch after the four minutes of cooking? Heat the dough for another 30 seconds before cooling it. The total time increases accordingly; the dough must be cooked throughout before shaping.

Allergens. Soy from the kinako. Check the ingredients of purchased anko too.