toasted mochi

I found this package of mochi that I brought back from Japan last time... it might have been past due, but the pieces looked perfectly fine, and they were still super tasty.

Some of you know I really love mochi, especially the toasted ones!


Just out of the toaster oven.

Toasted mochi has a crispy skin, and a soft and gooey center. I love dipping toasted mochi in seasoned soy sauce (sometimes wrapped in seaweed.)

I must make some mochi with my mochi maker soon.

japanese noodle dipping sauce

I've told people that my favorite way (or one of the easiest way) to eat mochi is to heat the mochi, wrap it up in nori (seaweed), and dip it in bonito soy sauce. The "bonito soy sauce" was not its official name, but what I call it. It's like soy sauce with bonito in it, and is usually marketed as a Japanese noodle dipping sauce.

I usually buy a basic version of the sauce, and most of the time I use Kikkoman's Memmi.

The Memmi sauce is concentrated and needs to be diluted with water when you use it. On the packaging label the ratio of the sauce and water for making different bases/sauces such as udon soup base, somen/soba or tempura dipping sauce, and many other uses. When I use it as a mochi dipping sauce, I don't dilute it at all. It's yummy.


Gotta have a bottle in my fridge at all times!


I found this somen (Japanese thin and white noodles) the other day.


The somen noodles cook in 3 minutes! After the noodles are cooked, run them under cold water and strain completely before serving. A lot of times people would put a small bamboo mat underneath the strained noodles to make sure no water "stays" with the water. Use the Memmi (1:4 ratio) as a dipping sauce. Some people like to add grated ginger or chopped green onions to it.

mochi

After making the mochi, I placed the rolled-out piece on a tray and in the fridge to cool before I cut it into pieces.


It looked like this after it's cooled and hardened.

I might have left it in the fridge for too long, because it was a bit too hard for me to cut it into pieces easily. I think a couple hours should be enough next time. Oh, and the katakuriko was a big help... nothing was sticking on anything! :)


Apparently I didn't roll the mochi "dough" out evenly... some pieces were slightly thicker than the others... but they should be equally yummy. :)



After wrapping them in plastic wraps, you can then store them in zip-lock bags, or in a container, or stack them up!

mochi maker

When John and I travel we usually only have our carry-ons with us, but this time when we were coming back from Japan, we had a "luggage" we needed to check in... because we finally got a mochi maker!



I've always loved mochi. You can't find good and fresh ones here in Salt Lake, so I'm really glad I get to make my own mochi now.

Being the first-time mochi making person, I decided to use the least amount of mochi rice to make a smaller batch.


I used 1.4kg of mochi rice as recommended by the instruction book.


After washing the rice, you have to let it soak in water for 6 hours, and then strained for 15 minutes.


Then you place it in the cooker and add water to a little box that's next to the cooking hopper... and then the rice is steamed, and pounded, and the mochi is about ready. (approx. 20-25 minutes)


When the mochi is being pounded in the machine, I got the trays ready by sprinkling some takakuriko (potato starch) on it.


When the mochi is finally done I "poured" (and "dug") the mochi onto the cooling tray, flatten it with the rolling pin, and placed it in the fridge to cool. After it's cooked you can cut it into pieces for easy storage.

I didn't get to take more pictures after the mochi was out of the machine. It was just a bit too messy at the time with the sticky mochi, but I did get to taste some of the mochi and it was so delicious! John and I usually wrap the mochi pieces with grilled nori (seaweed) and dip them in Japanese soy sauce, but I've been reading about some exciting new ways of preparing mochi so I will try them out soon.

Hmm... mochi.