Strawberry Daifuku (Strawberry Mochi)

MARCH 20, 2012

Daifuku is a popular traditional Japanese sweet; it is soft mochi with anko (sweet red bean paste) stuffing. There are many varieties of Daifuku, but it’s the same soft mochi exterior with different stuffing. During the spring time, Japanese confectionery shops sells a seasonal Daifuku with a whole strawberry as the filling, called Strawberry Daifuku (Ichigo Daifuku in Japanese). The combination of fresh soft mochi, sweet anko, and juicy and tart strawberry is a match made in heaven.

Today I’m beyond excited to announce that my Strawberry Daifuku recipe is being featured on the spring issue of Flavour Fiesta Magazine!

Divya is the author/cook/baker/photographer behind Flavour Fiesta and she issues beautiful quarterly online magazine about food and her recipes with beautiful food photography. Looking at her blog and how professionally it’s laid out, it’s hard to tell that Divya’s blog just had its first blogiversary this month. I’ve been closely following her for about half a year and I continue to grow my admiration toward her and her blog. Her strong dedication to improve what she does amazes me and I wish I had similar artistic talents.

Visiting her blog over the past few months, I could recognize her hard-working ethics toward her blog, especially with the food photography. I think I already work very hard on my blog consistently thinking of ways to improve. But I learned that she works even harder than I do after working this project with her. Not only she’s very detailed and thorough at what she does, but she’s also a generous person to kindly share her advice and tips for my food photography when I needed some help to improve. Her food is always so delightfully presented; the colors, flavors and textures always catch my eye and I can already taste the food simply by looking at her photos.

I’m so truly happy for her that this spring issue is already the third release of her online magazines and wish her continued success. It was really pleasure to work with such a creative and talented blogger and I fondly cherish my experience working with her.

Now please prepare a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy Divya’s Flavour Fiesta Magazine!

* My Strawberry Daifuku recipe continues after the image below.

Strawberry Daifuku

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cook Time: 3 minutes

Yield: 6 Strawberry Daifuku

Ingredients:

6 Strawberries
150g (5.29 oz) Anko (Sweet Red Bean Paste) (I used premade "Koshian" today)
100g (3 ½ oz) Shiratamako (Glutinous Rice Flour)
20g (2 Tbsp.) sugar
150 ml water
Corn starch for dusting

Instructions:

Hull the strawberries and dry completely with paper towel. Divide anko into 6 same size balls. Anko gets sticky on your hands, so wash your hands and dry completely each time you make a ball.

Wrap the strawberries with anko. Leave the tip of the strawberry uncovered. Wash your hands and dry completely each time you wrap a strawberry with anko.

In a medium microwave-safe glass bowl, mix shiratamako and sugar with a whisk.

Using a silicone spatula, slowly add water in 3 parts and stir until the mixture has reached a thick consistency. Cover loosely with plastic wrap.

First, microwave 1 minute (for 1200W microwave). Mix well with a wet silicone spatula. The mixture is still whitish and floury.

For the second time, microwave 1 minute again, and mix well with the wet silicone spatula. Now it starts to resemble mochi, but there are still some floury parts.

For the last time, microwave only 30 seconds. Now the mochi texture should look translucent.

Sift corn starch on the tray and put the mochi on top.

With silicone spatula or kitchen scraper, fold the mochi in half one time so it won’t be as sticky and then divide into 6 equal pieces.

Put some corn starch on your hands and flatten and expand each mochi into a 3” round or square. Then put the anko covered strawberry on top of it, with the tip facing down.

Start covering the strawberry from all sides and use your thumb to hold the mochi on top.

When all sides of mochi meet at the top, twist and close. Hold the mochi with both hands and form into nice round shape. Repeat the process for the remaining mochi.