MOCHI ARE A TREAT TO MAKE, BUT BE ATTENTIVE
To say I am persistent would be an understatement.
So when my first batch of Black Sesame and Coconut Mochi from Hetty McKinnon’s book, “To Asia, With Love,” wasn’t quite as pretty as the little snowballs on the page, I went back to it. Again and again.
Not quite like bread dough or cookie dough, mochi is a class in itself. Made with glutinous rice flour, this dough is hydrated and heated so that the starches absorb water, swell and burst. (The traditional method involves steaming and pounding cooked rice.) The result is a sticky dough that can be rolled and molded around fillings. While McKinnon grew up eating the Cantonese version known as lo mai chi, filled with red bean paste or peanut and coconut, here she uses the name for the popular Japanese treat. Her rendition is stuffed with ground black sesame seeds, coconut cream and desiccated coconut. It’s just the right balance of sweet and savory.
Here are a few tips:
• Pay attention. Making the dough on the stove top requires constant stirring to prevent burning and to
ensure that the glutinous rice flour (I bought mine at my regular supermarket) thickens evenly. I had the best luck on my electric cooktop on medium-high heat.
• Rolling the mochi balls needs the dough to be warm enough to be malleable and adhere to itself, but not so hot that you burn yourself. If it’s too cool, it won’t form neat balls. Let the dough cool on the counter for a few minutes, but try to work with it while it’s still fairly warm. Cut only a quarter or half of the dough at a time; smaller pieces cool faster.
• You want the right balance when it comes to the cornstarch. Too much on the board, dough or your hands, and the dough will dry out. Too little, and it sticks. Apply an even layer to the board, a little less on top of the dough and a light dusting on your hands when shaping, reapplying as needed. It may take one or two mochi to figure it out by touch.
• If you’ve never made fresh mochi and your first bite is chewy and gelatinous ... you’ve nailed it! It is a new sensation for anyone who has only had the frozen ones filled with ice cream. I’m a fan of the squishy texture, though not all my tasters were. The skeptics were all won over after freezing, which you’ll need to do after 24 hours. After a day, the mochi lose their shape.