Ingredients
Mochi (makes 4)
Rice flour : 40g
Plain flour : 10g
White sugar : 30g
Water : 100ml
Salt : Pinch
小豆缶 (475g入り) : 1缶
Canned sweetened azuki beans : 475g
Potato flour : 1/2 teaspoon
Water : 1/2 teaspoon
This well-known sweet from Sadowara in Miyazaki Prefecture is different from your typical ‘yokan’ (bean jelly) – it has bean paste on the outside and mochi in the middle. It’s formed into a shape resembling a whale (‘kujira’) and steamed. It is said to originate from when the fifth lord of the Shimizu clan was a child, and his mother made the yokan into this shape for him so that he would grow up ‘as big and strong as a whale’. Since then, whale shapes have been a good luck symbol used every year on Boys’ Day in Sadowara. This recipe is an easy one, using a microwave and Korean canned azuki beans.
Preparation
Lay out plastic wrap on a heat-safe dish of about 19×13cm in size.
Method
- To make the mochi dough: put rice flour, plain flour, sugar and salt in a plastic bag and seal it with air inside. Shake well.
- Heat the water to around 70℃, then transfer to a bowl. Add the dry mix from the bag and mix well.
- Pour mixture through a strainer into the heat-safe dish lined with plastic wrap, and cover the top with wrap as well. Put some disposable chopsticks on the microwave turntable, rest the dish on them, and cook for 1 minute. If mixture is semi-transparent, it is heated through. Remove from microwave and turn over, still in plastic wrap. Leave to cool (photo 1).
- To make the bean paste: push the canned azuki beans through a sieve, then microwave without covering for 6 minutes. Stir, then test with a spatula to see if mixture forms peaks. If so, it is done. If too soft, cook for a further 1 minute and check again. Put in a container and cover surface tightly with plastic wrap (photo 2).
- Cut mochi dough into two halves, and between them sandwich a sausage-shaped roll of bean paste. Make the shape convex, leaving around 5mm of dough at the edges. Brush the whole surface with potato flour dissolved in water, then place in a frying pan lined with baking paper. Pour in boiling water under the side of the baking paper and steam for 5 minutes (photos 3 & 4).
- When completely cool, cut into 4cm lengths and lie them back to back.
