Easy Sakura Mochi | Japanese Home Cooking #Shorts #sakuramochi #recipe #wagashi

By Just One Cookbook · 30 min

Ingredients

Instructions

1. Wash the glutinous rice: soak it in just enough water to cover, drain immediately, and repeat once. Then, with fingertips, gently rub the grains in a circle for 10–15 seconds in a little water, pour off the cloudy water, and repeat. Do this two more times until the water is almost clear, then drain very well in a fine-mesh sieve and shake off excess water.
2. Mix 2 tsp water with a tiny amount of red food coloring powder (a toothpick-sized scoop) until even. Aim for a soft, pale pastel pink, so do not add too much.
3. Put the drained rice in a rice cooker pot with ¾ cup room-temperature water and 1 Tbsp sugar, and mix well.
4. Gradually stir in the red water, ¼ tsp at a time, checking the color each time. Stop before using it all, leaving about ⅛ tsp; the rice water should be soft pastel pink.
5. Level the rice so it is evenly submerged, then cook on the regular setting. This cooker takes about 55 minutes including 10 minutes soaking and 10 minutes steaming; if yours has no soaking or steaming stage, add those times.
6. Meanwhile, dissolve 1 Tbsp sugar in 4 Tbsp water until fully clear; this syrup is for wetting hands and tools when shaping.
7. Weigh 15 g sweet red bean paste per piece (about 2½ tsp without a scale) into 8 portions. Wet your hands with syrup, roll each into a smooth ball, and chill until needed.
8. Soak 8 salt-pickled leaves and 8 salt-pickled blossoms in a large bowl of water for 20–30 minutes (up to 60 minutes) to remove the salt.
9. When the rice is cooked, set the pot on the counter. Dip a wooden pestle or rice paddle in syrup and pound the rice for about a minute until very sticky, keeping some grain shape. Level it and divide into 8 equal portions.
10. Wet your palms with syrup, shape each portion into a cylinder, and cover the rice balls with plastic wrap or a damp towel.
11. On a 12 x 12 inch (30 x 30 cm) sheet of plastic wrap, spread a little syrup and set one rice ball in the center. Fold the plastic over it, flatten with your palm, then press outward to an oval, thicker in the middle than at the edges.
12. Using the plastic to keep your hands clean, shape the rice into an oval 4⅓ inches (11 cm) long and 2¾ inches (7 cm) wide.

Summarized from Just One Cookbook's video. Watch it for the details.

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