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)
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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
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Ingredients:
Adzuki beans-100g
Sugar(Brown)- 50g
Water for boiling
Instructions:
- In a pot, boil the Adzuki beans in medium heat for 10mins. ( First boil)
- After 10 minutes, strain the beans and disregard the water, bring back to the pot.
- 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.
- If the beans are soft, add the sugar and continue to mix with spatula. Cook in a low heat until paste like.
SAKURA MOCHI
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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
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Instructions:
- In a bowl with water, soak the salted Cherry blossom leaves for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, pat dry the leaves and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, put the Domyojiko, sugar and water then mix.
- Cover the bowl with some wrap and microwave for 5 minutes (600W)
- Without opening the cover, let it rest for about 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, mix with spatula and put in a flat surface/chopping board
- Portion into 10 pieces and roll into ball.
- 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.
- Cover the shaped Mochi with Cherry Blossoms leaves! That’s it! ☺️
SAKURA MOCHI ( Rolled type)
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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:
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- Soak the salted cherry blossom flower and leaves in water for 30 minutes
- Strain and pat dry with a clean towel and set aside.
- Prepare the batter by mixing the Shiratama flour with half of the water with rubber spatula. Mix until the shiratama dissolve.
- Add the sugar, cake flour and the rest of the water and mix.
- In a low heat, using a non-stick pan, cook the batter. You can use a measuring spoon. I used 1Tbsp per piece,
- Cook both sides and set aside to cool down.
- Put the Tsubu an filling and roll.
- 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.
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Ingredients:
Yomogi leaves- 40g
Mochiko (Sweet rice flour) – 120g
Brown sugar-120g
Water- 170g
Kinako powder/ roasted soy bean powder ( Optional)
Instructions:
- Clean the Yomogi leaves by trimming off the stems. Wash with cold water thoroughly.
- In a salted boiling water, blanch the leaves for about a minute and ice bath the leaves
- Strain and squeeze out the excess water from the yomogi using your hands.
- 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)
- In a chopping board, sprinkle some starch (Prepare this before cooking the flour mixture)
- In a medium size pot, put the mochiko flour, sugar and the rest of the water.
- Turn on the heat on medium heat and mix everything preferably with rubber spatula.
- Keep on mixing until the mixture become sticky, that means it’s cooked
- Add the blended/chopped Yomogi leaves and continuously mix.
- Turn off the heat and put the cooked mixture into the chopping board and sprinkle again with starch on top
- Portion with dough cutter or knife. (10portions)
- 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!
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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!