SAKURA MOCHI

Hi everyone!

It is now a spring season here in Japan and spring season means Cherry Blossoms! 🌸 and Cherry blossoms means it’s time to make some Sakura Mochi! ☺️

I’ve been excited to make this since last year. It is also my first time to make Sakura Mochi so I’m a beginner too! Let’s make it! I made three kinds of Mochi. Sakura pink mochi, Sakura roll type mochi and Yomogi Mochi. (Mugwort)

First, we need to make some Tsubu an/sweet Adzuki paste for the filling. Normally here in Japan we can find a canned or packed Tsubu an in any supermarkets. But usually it contains lots of sugar and additives so I preferred a home made one.

TSUBU AN

Ingredients:

Adzuki beans-100g

Sugar(Brown)- 50g

Water for boiling

Instructions:

1. In a pot, boil the Adzuki beans in medium heat for 10mins. ( First boil)
2. After 10 minutes, strain the beans and disregard the water, bring back to the pot.
3. Put water again just to cover the beans and boil in a medium heat until the beans are soft. Make sure to check from time to time. If the beans are still hard, just add a little water.
4. If the beans are soft, add the sugar and continue to mix with spatula. Cook in a low heat until paste like.

SAKURA MOCHI

Ingredients:

Domyojiko(Pink)- 200g (It is a kind of glutinous rice flour) typically can be found in Japanese supermarkets or Amazon

Brown sugar- 1Tsp (The Adzuki filling is sweet so I just put a little bit amount of sugar)

Water- 200ml

Tsubu an/ Sweet Adzuki paste

Salted Cherry Blossom leaves

Instructions:

1. In a bowl with water, soak the salted Cherry blossom leaves for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, pat dry the leaves and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, put the Domyojiko, sugar and water then mix.
3. Cover the bowl with some wrap and microwave for 5 minutes (600W)
4. Without opening the cover, let it rest for about 10 minutes.
5. After 10 minutes, mix with spatula and put in a flat surface/chopping board
6. Portion into 10 pieces and roll into ball.
7. Flatten the rice mixture and put the Tsubu an balls into the middle and cover and do your best to make a nice round shape! If its too sticky, you can put some water into your hands.
8. Cover the shaped Mochi with Cherry Blossoms leaves! That’s it! ☺️

SAKURA MOCHI ( Rolled type)

Ingredients:

Shiratama(Rice Flour)- 20g

Water- 100g

Brown sugar- 5g

Cake flour- 42g

Tsubu an/ Sweet Adzuki paste

Salted Cherry Blossom flower and leaves

Instructions:

1. Soak the salted cherry blossom flower and leaves in water for 30 minutes
2. Strain and pat dry with a clean towel and set aside.
3. Prepare the batter by mixing the Shiratama flour with half of the water with rubber spatula. Mix until the shiratama dissolve.
4. Add the sugar, cake flour and the rest of the water and mix.
5. In a low heat, using a non-stick pan, cook the batter. You can use a measuring spoon. I used 1Tbsp per piece,
6. Cook both sides and set aside to cool down.
7. Put the Tsubu an filling and roll.
8. You can also roll with cherry blossom leaves or put the cherry blossom flower on top for garnish. Enjoy! ☺️

YOMOGI MOCHI ( Artemisia princeps)

Yomogi/Mugwort is a type of leaf usually harvested during early spring. It has a great aroma and can be use for making tea.

Ingredients:

Yomogi leaves- 40g

Mochiko (Sweet rice flour) – 120g

Brown sugar-120g

Water- 170g

Kinako powder/ roasted soy bean powder ( Optional)

Instructions:

1. Clean the Yomogi leaves by trimming off the stems. Wash with cold water thoroughly.
2. In a salted boiling water, blanch the leaves for about a minute and ice bath the leaves
3. Strain and squeeze out the excess water from the yomogi using your hands.
4. In a blender, put the squeezed yomogi and put half of the amount of water and blend, This is actually optional. If you don’t have a blender, you can just chop the the leaves using a knife. ( I blended it for more green color to come out)
5. In a chopping board, sprinkle some starch (Prepare this before cooking the flour mixture)
6. In a medium size pot, put the mochiko flour, sugar and the rest of the water.
7. Turn on the heat on medium heat and mix everything preferably with rubber spatula.
8. Keep on mixing until the mixture become sticky, that means it’s cooked
9. Add the blended/chopped Yomogi leaves and continuously mix.
10. Turn off the heat and put the cooked mixture into the chopping board and sprinkle again with starch on top
11. Portion with dough cutter or knife. (10portions)
12. Using your hands, make a flat round shape and put the Tsubu an paste in the middle and do your best again to cover everything and roll into a balls!

That’s it! It actually take some time to make this but I enjoyed it! It was a great experience and the hard work worth the taste! Hope you’ll try it too! 😊

For the video tutorial, you can watch it down below! Thank you so much!