Lazy summer days mean two things: lots of time to try new recipes and strawberry season. So, I decided to try making Strawberry Daifuku. I've wanted to try this for a long time, since I've been missing the tastes of Japan. Here's how it turned out:
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| Strawberries and anko |
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| Anko-covered strawberries |
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| Finished strawberry daifuku |
I used this recipe:
http://www.justonecookbook.com/recipes/strawberry-daifuku/
Here's my notes: I used homemade anko, 2/3 cup of Mochiko brand sweet rice flour, 2 TB of granulated white sugar, and 3/4 cup of water. I used a wet wooden spoon to stir.
The first stir after the microwave, I stirred until no lumps remained. The dough resembled thin cake batter. After the second stir, it was like a thick pancake batter. The third stir gave me a sticky, yet still lightly grainy dough. I microwaved it a fourth time for 30 seconds. The dough still had a slight grainy look, but was very sticky and glossy. I gave it a good, long stir before turning out onto a dusted board. At this point, the dough was so sticky that it was absolutely necessary to dust hands, tools... with cornstarch. I used a dusted wooden spatula to cut the dough into pieces. It worked really well--possibly better than a knife would have. It was a bit difficult and painfully hot to work the mochi over the strawberries, but the final result was a lightly chewy, delicate mochi. I was very satisfied with the taste and texture. My roommate agreed. We pretty much gobbled up all the daifuku in one shot.
Like I said, the flavor was great, but I really want to try a less painful, more traditional mochi method--without, of course, having to pound rice with a mallet for several hours. I'll be experimenting with that in the future...
