Arai Sweets

Arai's rice is very flavorful. So the cakes made from it are delicious. We have many kinds of rice cakes. There are various sweets with sweet bean paste too. Sweet bean paste is the most general material of the Japanese sweets.
Spit-roasted rice cake It has the taste of soy sauce, but it's a little sweet.	Sweet bean paste wrapped in bamboo leaves It looks like the chimaki [rice dumplings steamed in bamboo leaves] of local dishes, but it has sweet bean paste inside instead.

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Rice Cake Gratin

Rice Cake with Chinese Sauce

Ingredients: (4 servings)

4 pieces         rice cake
Oil              for deep-frying
2 Tbsp.          oil

1 small piece    ginger, cut into thin strips
80g ribs         of pork, cut into 5mm wide strips
1 Tbsp.          sake
Dash of          salt
150g             komatsuna, cut into 6cm sections
3                fresh shiitake mushrooms, cut into thin strips

300cc            water
2 tsp.           soy sauce
1 tsp.           oyster sauce
Dash of          sugar and salt
1/2 stalk        spring onion, cut into thin rings
Dissolved        potato starch
                 sesame oil

1) Deep-fry rice cake at 140 to 150 C. until slightly brown.
Drain oil.
2) Heat oil in a Chinese wok and add ginger and pork strips.
Quickly and completely saute.
Add sake and salt and mix well to coat with the seasonings.
Add the komatsuna stalk and fresh shiitake mushrooms and saute for a while.
Add green part of komatsuna and lightly saute.
3) Add water, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, salt and spring onion and
quickly saute.
Add dissolved potato starch to thicken soup and drop in sesame oil and stir.
4) Divide the deep-fried rice cake into serving bowls and pour over the starch sauce.

Steamed Mochi Dressed with Silver Starch Sauce

Ingredients: (4 servings)

 400cc     dashi (Japanese soup stock)      
 200cc     milk
 30cc      mirin, boiled off 
 2/3 tsp.  salt
 6         eggs, beaten  
 4 pieces  mochi (rice cake), each halved
 1 piece   atsuage (deep-fried tofu), oil drained by pouring boiled
                            water over it and cut into 2 cm squares
 1/4 bunch chives, minced
 1 piece   ginger root, grated

300cc dashi (Japanese soup stock) 100cc sake, boiled off 15cc mirin, boiled off 1/3 tsp. salt 15cc light soy sauce 4 Tbsp. cornstarch dissolved in water

Recipe:

1. Mix well Japanese soup stock, milk, mirin and salt in a mixing bowl.
2. Add the eggs and mix thoroughly. Pass through a mesh strainer.
3. Grill the mochi until lightly browned.
4. Put 2 pieces of the mochi, some atsuage pieces and egg mixture in each
serving bowl and covered with plastic wrap.
5. Place the bowls in a preheated steamer and steam over high heat for
3 minutes or until the surface turns white. Reduce the heat and steam for 20 more minutes.
6. To make the Silver Starch Sauce, put the Japanese soup stock in a saucepan
and bring to a boil. Add the sake, mirin, salt, light soy sauce and bring to a boil again.
Pour in the starch dissolved in water to thicken the mixture.
7. Check that the egg is just firm and remove the bowls from the steamer.
Pour on the starch sauce and top with the chives and ginger root.

Add the milk after the eggs are well beaten. Pass through a mesh strainer, and the egg mixture becomes smooth. Steam it over high heat at the beginning to mold quickly. When the surface turns white, reduce the heat and steam further for quite a long period of time. Steaming over high heat for a long time results in a porous finish.

Browned Rice Cake with Vegetable Starch Sauce

4                 rice bowls of cooked rice
Dash of           vegetable oil
200g              lean pork, sliced and cut into bite sized pieces
1/2               onion, cut into long thin strips
2 (med. size)     green peppers, cut into bite sized pieces
1                 Hakusai (Chinese cabbage), cut into bite sized pieces
60g               carrot, cut into thin rectangles
80g               bamboo shoot (commercially boiled), cut into thin rectangles
1 can             sliced mushrooms, drained
10                quail eggs, boiled and shells removed
Dash of           oil, salt, pepper
                  Cornstarch dissolved in water

Recipe:

1. Warm the rice to the level that it can be shaped into balls by hand.
Take a small amount in your palm and rub with both hands lightly until
it is "half-killed" (a state in which individual rice grains are visible) and sticky.
Spread flat and make an oval shape of an appropriate thickness in your palm.
Make 4 cakes.
2. Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan and
slowly fry the both sides of the flat rice cakes until they are crisp and golden brown.
3. Heat the oil in a Chinese wok and stir-fry the carrot and pork.
When the pork has changed color, add the hakusai and onion.
Cook longer and add bamboo shoot, green peppers and mushrooms.
When the vegetable pieces are tender, add the quail eggs, salt and pepper to taste.
Stir in the cornstarch dissolved in water to thicken the liquid.
4. Transfer the browned rice cakes and vegetable starch sauce into separate serving dishes.
Top the rice cakes with the starch sauce canape style individually before serving.

Rice Cake and Usuage in Japanese Soup

Ingredients: (4 servings)

1 piece           usuage (fried thin soybean cake),
                  parboiled to remove of oil and cut into thin strips
8 pieces          rice cake
Dash of           oil
4 leaves of       hakusai (Chinese cabbage),
                    [soft sections roughly shredded and hard sections narrowly shredded]
1/4 carrot,       peeled and cut into very thin strips
1,000cc           dashi (dried bonito stock)
1 can of          boiled scallop, crumbled and reserve excess juice 1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp.           soy sauce
1 stalk           green onion, diagonally sliced
1 piece           ginger, cut into very thin strips
                  Pepper

1) Bake the rice cakes in a toaster oven.
2) Heat oil in a frying pan and quickly saute the white sections of hakusai and carrots until tender.
Add the remaining soft sections of hakusai and saute together.
Remove from pan.
3) Boil dashi in a saucepan and add scallop and juice.
Bring to boil and add hakusai, carrots, usuage and season with salt and soy sauce.
Add green onion, ginger roots and rice cake.
Divide into serving bowls and sprinkle with pepper.

How to keep rice cakes(mochi) fresh

Kibi Mochi

Sakura-mochi

Mochi Makers

Pan-fried Mochi

What you'll need:

     6 pieces of mochi, 3 inches by 2 inches 
     tamari soy sauce 
     chopped scallion, for garnish 

Place the mochi in a heated cast iron or heavy stainless steel skillet.
Reduce the flame to low, cover, and brown one side of the mochi.
Remove the cover, turn the mochi pieces over, and brown the other side.
As the other side is browning, the mochi will puff up slightly.
When puffed up and both sides are browned, remove and place on a serving platter.
Before eating, sprinkle 1 to 3 drops of tamari soy sauce over the mochi.
Garnish with fresh chopped scallion.

Mochi Waffles with Lemon-Walnut Syrup

     1 lb           mochi
     1/2 cup        brown rice syrup
     2 to 3 Tbsp    water
     1/4 cup        walnuts, roasted and finely chopped
     2 to 3 tsp     lemon juice, to taste

What to do:

Slice the mochi into quarters, about 3 1/2 inch by 2 1/2 inch by 1/4 inch thick.
Place 1 piece of mochi in each section of a dry (do not oil) waffle iron.
Cook until puffed up and slightly crispy but not hard and dry.
Repeat until all mochi has been cooked.
Place on a serving platter.

To prepare the topping, place the rice syrup in a saucepan with
the water, roasted walnuts, and a little freshly squeezed lemon juice.
Place over a medium flame.
When the syrup is hot, pour over each waffle.

Abekawa Mochi Poem

From Shizuoka pages | in Japanese

Freeze Dried Mochi

Yomiuri Newspaper: Words in the News

Isawa : Sightseeing : Hot Springs : Local Cooking

Isawa's dishes are really country style. How about trying "mochi" (kneaded rice cakes) made from Isawa Rice grown by the pure waters of the Isawa River. You can eat these rice cakes by dipping them in various flavors such as sweat red bean paste, sweat soybean jam, sesame, or walnut. Another variation, "zunda mochi", is to dip "mochi" into sweet green soybean jam. You won't forget the taste once you eat this one. There are other food like the "Tsumeri-batto", "Azuki-batto" (red beans taste) and traditional pickles using the "Koga (bucket)". These food will surely bring you back to your childhood days.

Please visit the Isawa homepages

Round rice cake offered in September

Yubeshi

3 Color Mochi

Custard Mochi

    1/2   cup   butter
    1 3/4 cups  sugar
    4           eggs
    4     cups  milk
    2     tsp   vanilla
    2     cups  mochiko
    3     tsp   baking powder

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in one egg at a time.
Add remaining ingredients and pour into greased 9x13" pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hr and 15 min. Top should be browned.
Let cool before cutting.

From Island Fresh Recipes Elloha Palolo, Oahu now Grand Rapids, MI

Custard Mochi #2

Cherry Blossom Festival - February 1999
Guest Demonstrators - Mike Noguchi (HJJCC) and Queen Lori Joy Morita

Custard Mochi #2

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 lb mochiko (glutinous rice flour)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla 
4 cups milk

Preheat electric oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan. In large bowl of electric mixer, combine butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the remaining ingredients; mix well. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour or until golden brown; cool. Cut into serving pieces. Makes 24 servings.

With permission from:
The Electric Kitchen; Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc.
Last Revised: February 1, 1999 (Click below to return to HEI home page)
Return to The Electric Kitchen Home Page

Mochi & Sekihan

From: tzi1@slosh.com (Tzigane) 
Newsgroups: rec.food.recipes 
Subject: COLLECTION (3) Japanese Sweet Rice Recipes 
Date: 19 Nov 1997 20:04:36 -0700 

-Mochi
-Coconut Rice Dessert (Mochi) - (Bibinka) [omitted, same recipe on mochi page 2]
-Sekihan

Japanese sweet rice is sometimes called Mochi [rice]. It [mochi] is also the name of rice cakes made with this sweet, sticky rice. Ohagi is a dumpling made with Domyoji mochi and bean paste. Most Mochi are made with Mochiko which is rice flour made from Mochi rice. Sekihan uses sweet rice as does one other dessert recipe I found. Mochi is a wonderful, sticky rice - much sweeter than American rice or even "Jasmine Rice" and very easy to cook. I found a few recipes with it as a main ingredient. Enjoy!

MOCHI

Ingredient : glutinous rice

Steam glutinous rice until done. (Done usually means soft, sticky, but not too soft.) Mash and pound the steamed rice fully so that no grain should be left at all. When pounding is completed, pluck it to bits and ball up. There are several ways to season: sugar with soy sauce, soybean flour (powdered), bean jam (covered or inside) and mugwort(mixed). However,when it is still fresh, no flavoring is needed and it is very enjoyable on its own.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SEKIHAN

Makes about 6 servings

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup             azuki (small red beans)
about 3 1/2 cups    water

3 cups              sweet glutinous rice (mochi gome), 
                      well rinsed, soaked for 1/2-1 hour, drained
3 1/2 cups          water
1 tablespoon        black dry-roasted sesame seeds
for garnish         Shiso or watercress leaf, if desired

DIRECTIONS:

In a medium saucepan, combine beans and water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; simmer 45 minutes to one hour or until beans are soft but not completely cooked. Cool to room temperature. Drain beans, reserving the liquid.

Mix the beans, drained rice, and water with 3 tablespoons of the bean's cooking liquid. Cook in rice steamer in the usual manner.* Spread the cooked beans and rice into a decorative shallow dish or lacquer tray. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds, garnish and serve.

* If you don't have a rice cooker, you can cook this in a pot on the stove as you would regular rice. Just use the proportion of water to rice given here, not the usual Western 2 parts water to one part rice. The rice has already been soaked, so it needs less water to cook.

From: www.neosoft.com

Broiled Mochi wrapped in Nori

Newsgroups: rec.food.recipes 
From: 606674@aisfin1.llnl.gov (Rick Millar) 
Subject: Mochi 
Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab 
Date: 4 Jan 1994 20:45:48 GMT 

Here are some recipes my mom used to make for me using Mochi.
Mochi is usually used as an accompaniment to other foods or as an
appetizer/snack. And the following recipes fall into that category.

INGREDIENTS:

Mochi     - 2 to 3 cakes per person
Nori      - 1 package.
              {Nori is the seaweed that is used to wrap around rice 
              cakes in Sushi.  It comes packaged in flat cellophane 
              bags and can be found in nearly all Asian stores and 
              usually in the International Food section of major
              supermarkets.}
Soy Sauce  - enough for dipping --- 3 Tbsp.

DIRECTIONS:

Broil the Mochi cakes.
A toaster oven seems to be the best for doing this,
but the broiler in a full-sized oven will do.
Keep the mochi 4 to 6 inches
from the broiling element or flame and turn the cakes often.
As the mochi cooks it will turn brown and begin to puff.
As it nears readiness, the crusty shell will crack and
more mochi will balloon or mushroom out from within.
When complete, the mochi cake will be at least double in size.
It is alright for some charring to ocurr, but don't go overboard.
Like most broiled items some charring enhances flavor,
but too much makes it taste bitter and nasty.
Its been a while since I've made this, but
I think the whole process should take five to ten minutes.
While the mochi is cooking, take your sheets of Nori and lightly toast it over
the open flame on the stove or above the cooking element of an electric range.
Keep the sheet about six to twelve inches above the flame and moving
constantly to prevent it from scorching.
The main goal here is to crispen the sheets up and remove moisture so
that the Nori will be crispy not tough.
Just a couple of seconds should do it.
Using scissors, cut the Nori into strips about 2 inches wide and 4 inches
long.

TO EAT:
Wrap Nori strips around the hot, broiled mochi, dip into soy sauce, and enjoy!

From: www.neosoft.com

Kinako Mochi

Mochi        - 2 to 3 cakes per person
Kinako       - 1 small bag.  
              [Kinako is a flour made from soy beans and can be 
              purchased from Asian food stores (Japanese stores 
              would probably be your best bet).  The amount is 
              not critical because the kinako is only being used 
              here to dredge the mochi through.]
Sugar        - Approximately 1 cup.
Water        - 2 Quarts

Combine Kinako and sugar. Put into a large shallow dish like a 9-inch pie pan.
Broil Mochi as described in previous recipe.
Bring water to a rapid boild in saucepan.
Dip mochi into boiling water for several seconds (about 5) then
roll mochi in kinako sugar mixture.
It is best to dip and roll one cake at a time to prevent them from sticking together.
Serve mochi in bowls. Sprinkle some extra kinako over the top as desire.
Makes a nice, sweet, chewy snack.

From: www.neosoft.com