Monday, October 26, 2009

Have You Met Mochi?




I have an incurable sweet tooth and I realize I can't live on cake, cookies, candy bars and junk food most of the time.  A couple of years ago, I discovered sweet, satisfying mochi.  You might know mochi from the delicious mochi ice cream served at japanese restaurants.  Mochi is brown rice pounded into a rice cake.  You can buy it pre-made in sheets or you can be really adventurous and make your own.

What do you do with Mochi?  Here's a few suggestions:

  • Bake small cubes of it and serve with butter or honey almost like petit fours.
  • Stir fry cubes of it with apples, raisins, nuts and eat like a pudding.
  • Cut into strips, arrange in the waffle iron and cook until puffed up.  Serve the waffle with fruit, nuts and syrup.
  • Bake cubes in the oven at 450F for 8 to 10 minutes until puffed up.  Garnish as you like.

Mochi is delicious because it is sweet in a mellow way, crispy on the outside and warm and gooey inside.  It comes in original flavor or delicious flavors like cinnamon raisin.

If you are extra adventurous, you can make your own mochi.

Cook:

2 cups sweet brown rice
2 1/8 cups water

Once rice has cooked and is soft, turn into a large bowl.  Pound the rice until it gets soft, like taffy.  You can press on a cookie sheet into sheets, let them harden and then store in the refrigerator as sheets or you can cook right away like cookies.

So, branch out and meet your new friend Mochi.

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