Sakura Mochi

• Pasta & Grains

  • 3/4 cup Rice/glutinous rice, sweet

• Baking & Spices

  • 1 drop Food coloring, red
  • 1 tbsp Granulated sugar

• Liquids

  • 3/4 cup Water

• Other

  • 3 Tbsp. (100 g anko/red bean paste – tsubuan or koshian ([Recipe
  • 6 Pickled sakura leaves (buy online

Found on justonecookbook.com

Description

Directions

• Gather all the ingredients.
• Rinse the sweet rice and soak it for at least 1 hour to overnight.
• Soak the sakura leaves in water for 15 minutes to remove salt. Then dry the leaves with paper towel.
• Wet your hands and roll anko into 6 small balls between hands.
• Drain well and put the sweet rice in a large bowl.
• Add water and red food coloring and mix well (don’t add too much as the color of the mochi will be too pink. I think I added a little too much.).
• Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 6 minutes. Mix once in between.
• Uncover the plastic wrap and mix. Then cover with kitchen towel for 5 minutes.
• Add sugar in the sweet rice and mix all together.
• Pound the sweet rice with pestle until sweet rice is very sticky (keep some rice shape). Divide the rice into 6 portions.
• On the prep surface, place a sheet of plastic wrap and spray a bit of water. Place 1/6 of sweet rice and spread into a rectangular shape. Make sure there is no void in the center area.
• Place an anko ball in the center and roll the sweet rice over it to cover anko.
• Tighten the plastic wrap and twist to make a nice oval shape.
• Lastly wrap with a sakura leaf. Leave it at room temperature for an hour or so till the mochi absorbs the flavors from the sakura leaf. Enjoy!