Mochi, The Medium For Another Wacky Project

My good friend Joy’s birthday was this past weekend and I wanted to make something for her. She’s witnessed and sampled a few of my hairbrained ideas over the years but none were specifically for her. Well, lucky for her she’s just a few miles down the road now and lucky for me, she’s not too hard to gift - especially when it comes to making things that are sweet.

She loves mochi and personalized things, so why not make her mochi in different flavors and spell out her name? I made four different flavors: coconut, green tea with red bean filling, plain with salted caramel chocolate filling, and plain with Nutella filling. The filled ones were in different pastel colors, to differentiate the flavors and because she’s so colorful (I normally would have made a chocolate mochi for the salted chocolate caramel filling but brown isn’t a color I associate with Joy). It turned out hilarious and over the top. Perfect for my sweet and over the top friend. 

Making mochi is easy; you just need some sweet rice flour or glutinous rice flour (which can be found in Asian markets. Koda Farms is the brand I used but other Asian flours work fine too).

MOCHI - makes enough to cover 15-20 balls
1-cup sweet rice flour
1/2-cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
3/4-cup + 2 tablespoons water
+/- 1/2-cup cornstarch for dusting
1-teaspoon extract, optional
2 drops food coloring, optional

In a medium-large bowl, add your flour and sugar. Whisk to combine and add all the water. Whisk until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 2 minutes. 

Using a sifter, sift a thin but generous layer of cornstarch on a surface.

Very carefully peel back the plastic wrap and mix with a fork or spatula. Add your extract and/or food coloring. Depending on the strength of your microwave, if it has cooked all the way through, cover it and cook for one additional minute. If it’s not uniformly cooked, cook for an additional two minutes. VERY carefully remove from microwave and REALLY very carefully peel back the plastic wrap - steam burns! Stir it up again. If you're making it sans filling, dump it out onto the cornstarched surface. Sprinkle a very thin layer of cornstarch over the top. With your fingertips, press and spread the mochi into a ½-inch high rectangle. Let it rest until it’s warm but not scalding. With a plastic wheeled pizza cutter or plastic knife, trim off the edges and cut into desired size pieces (I cut mine into 1/2-inch squares). Toss in the cornstarch, shake off the excess. 

Read below for filled mochi instructions.

OPTIONS:
Roll it out thin, cut it into tiny pieces, or cut it into strips. Use it as a topping for frozen yogurt or eat like you would Twizzlers. Maybe with some buttered popcorn? 
To make green tea mochi, use 2-tablespoons matcha or put 8 bags of premium green tea in a coffee grinder and pulverize into a powder. You should yield about 2-tablespoons. Combine with flour and sugar in the initial step.
To make coconut mochi, add 1-teaspoon coconut extract.
To make chocolate mochi, add 2-tablespoons cocoa powder to the flour and sugar. 

SALTED CHOCOLATE CARAMEL FILLING - makes enough for 20 balls

3 ounces or 1/2-cup dark chocolate chips
1/2-cup caramel sauce
1/2-teaspoon table salt 

Heat a bowl filled with the chocolate chips over a simmering pot of water over low heat. Once the chocolate has melted, add the caramel sauce and salt. Stir to combine. Remove from heat and put the bowl in the fridge to chill. Once cool enough that it’s pretty firm but not rock hard, scoop out a heaping teaspoon’s worth and place on a plate. Continue with the remaining mixture. Place back in fridge for ten minutes.

Very quickly, roll each into a ball. The faster you go, the less will stick to your hands. Place in freezer to harden.

NUTELLA FILLING - makes enough for 16 balls

½-cup Nutella or chocolate hazelnut spread

Follow the directions above for scooping and freezing.

TO MAKE FILLED MOCHI BALLS:
Take a tablespoon and scoop a slightly heaping tablespoon’s worth of mochi. Using another tablespoon, scrape the mochi off the spoon and onto the cornstarched surface. Repeat this three times so you have four scoops of mochi on your surface at one time. With cornstarched fingers, gently press the mochi into a small disk, about two inches in diameter, thinning the disk towards the edges. Repeat with the remaining three balls. Remove four filling balls from the freezer. Working with one ball at a time, place a mochi disk in your palm and place a frozen ball in the center. Quickly wrap the mochi around the ball and gather the edges up and around the bottom. Pinch the edges shut so the filling won’t leak once it’s at room temperature again. Quickly roll the filled mochi into a uniform ball and place in on the cornstarched surface, seam side down. Repeat with the remaining three disks and repeat until there’s no mochi left.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature and consume within two days or freeze up to two months. Do not refrigerate - the mochi will get hard and dry out.