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Dango Made from Steamed Rice

Dango Made from Steamed Rice

This recipe transforms simple steamed rice into soft, chewy, mochi-like rice cakes. By mashing and cooking the steamed rice in a boiling water, it break down into a sticky, smooth dough that resembles traditional mochi in texture. Perfect as a base for both sweet or savory toppings, these rice cakes make a quick and satisfying treat. Kinako (roasted soybean powder) and sugar is the simplest topping for skewered Dango, but you can also use sweet red bean paste (Anko) or Mitarashi sauce. For a toasty flavor, try searing the cakes in a frying pan. No special tools or ingredients are required, making this an easy way to enjoy the taste and texture of homemade mochi using just cooked rice. Hope you give it a try!

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Chuka Okowa Recipe (Chinese-Style Sticky Rice)

Chuka Okowa

Chuka Okowa is mixed sticky Mochi rice (also called sweet rice), flavored with some of the ingredients and seasonings used in Chinese sticky rice. This chewy, savory rice dish with pork and vegetables boasts a deeper umami flavor from oyster sauce and a touch of sweetness from a small amount of sugar. Chuka Okowa is prepared in the rice cooker, eliminating the need to wrap it with bamboo leaves and steam it in a steamer like the Chinese version, making it incredibly easy to recreate at home.

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Warabimochi with Kuromitsu

Warabimochi

Warabimochi (Warabi Mochi, わらび餅) is a traditional Japanese dessert (wagashi) made from warabiko, a starch extracted from warabi (bracken) roots. The pure 100% warabi starch is rare today, but you can buy warabiko mixed with various kinds of starch such as sweet potato flour, usually sold as Warabimochiko (Warabi Mochi Ko).

We added more water and a bit more sugar than our original Warabi Mochi recipe and made it softer and sweeter. In addition to kinako (soybean flour) topping, kuromitsu (black sugar syrup) is poured on top. Served with green tea, it’s a fantastic dessert or a snack in the afternoon.

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Wakaayu – Japanese Cooking 101 in Kyoto

Wakaayu

In our mini-series of Japanese Cooking 101 in Kyoto, we are going to different stores from traditional to trendy, and show you a glimpse of the culinary scene of Kyoto in 2023. After we tasted delicious food at stores, we tried to recreate those dishes, not exactly but more in our own way, at home in Kyoto. We hope you enjoy our Japanese Cooking 101 food in a little different setting from our regular videos.

Our first episode is Wakaayu. Wakaayu (Waka-ayu, 若鮎) is a seasonal “Japanese confection” (Wagashi, 和菓子）that is available at many sweet shops during summer. Wakaayu in Japanese cakes is made from Sweet Mochi wrapped with a thin pancake, like Dorayaki, formed in the shape of a sweetfish, called Ayu. It is chewy and sweet, but not overly sweet, and it’s a wonderful reminder of the beginning of the new season.

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Sweet Mochi Recipe

Sweet Mochi Recipe (Daifuku)

Mochi (餅) is Japanese sticky rice cake used both in savory and sweet dishes.  Mochi is usually made from “sweet rice” (also called Mochi rice and it’s not actually sweet by itself) cooked and pounded until it becomes a paste that is very sticky and smooth, then formed into cakes or blocks.  It is often eaten in New Year’s Ozoni soup or baked with soy sauce.  Mochi made from cooked sweet rice doesn’t stay fresh and soft too long, and usually needs to be grilled or reheated to be eaten later.  Sweet Mochi, however, uses Mochiko (#ad) sweet rice flour and a lot of sugar, and it stays soft for an extended period of time at room temperature because of the large amount of sugar.  It is elastic and malleable, and it can be shaped the way you want for various desserts.  You may even see it at frozen yogurt shops in the US as a topping, which is actually Gyuhi (求肥) cut into mall bite size pieces.

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Abekawa Mochi Recipe

Abekawa Mochi

Abekawa Mochi is a famous regional food of Shizuoka prefecture, west of Tokyo. It is freshly cooked Mochi coated with Kinako soybean powder and sugar.  This simple Mochi dessert is popular in the area of course and everywhere in Japan.  Abekawa Mochi is found in Wagashi Japanese sweet shops and supermarkets, but it is quite easy to make at home too.

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Mochi with Mitarashi Sauce Recipe

Mochi with Mitarashi Sauce

Have you ever bought Mochi rice cakes for a New Years feast and had too many leftovers?  A lot of packaged Mochi today lasts a very long time, but you still may want to use it up in a reasonable amount of time. There are a lot of creative Mochi “recycling” recipes out there, but we suggest this sweet and soft Mochi with Mitarashi Sauce. Originally a Japanese sweet, Mitarashi Dango is skewered Mochi balls. They are grilled and browned first, then a Soy Sauce-based sweet sauce is poured over. Saltiness and a pleasant savory smell from Soy Sauce matches surprisingly well with the rest of the sugary sauce.

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