April 23, 2017

Making Warabi Mochi for My Father/父に蕨もちを作る

The other day, my father surprised me again by saying he liked warabi mochi. He said it was transparent, and I understood he liked fake warabi mochi not the real one, which is grayish.
So, today, I made some fake warabi mochi using
6 tbsp katakuriko (potato starch)
2 tbsp sugar (the recipe calls for 4 tbsp)
300 ml water
先日、父は蕨もちが好きだと言って、また驚かせてくれました。透明な蕨もちだそうです。それで本当の蕨もち(灰色っぽい)ではなく、偽物の蕨もちが好きだということが分かりました。
というわけで、今日、偽物の蕨もちを作りました。
片栗粉 大さじ6
砂糖 大さじ2(レシピでは大さじ4)
水 300 ml

In a container, I mixed kinako (roasted soybean flour) and sugar at a ratio of 2:1 and added a pinch of salt.
容器にきな粉と砂糖を2:1の割合で混ぜ、塩を一つまみ入れました。
A common kinako to sugar ratio is 1:1.
きな粉と砂糖の一般的な割合は1:1です。

Warabi mochi:
蕨もち:
Both my parents liked it very much.
両親とも気に入ってくれました。

I skipped kuromitsu (black sugar syrup) because there was no black sugar in the house.
家には黒砂糖がなかったので、黒蜜は省略しました。

For more info about warabi mochi, search through my blog.
蕨もちに関しては、このブログで検索してください。

4 comments:

Sissi said...

It looks delicious! I wonder if I can do it without sugar or with a tiny amount... I don't like very sweet desserts... (the wasabi mochi I had in Tokyo was almost non-sweet, apart from the syrup served aside).

Hiroyuki said...

Sissi: Thank you! My parents said it was delicious. I think I'll try to make it with no sugar and reduce the amount of each ingrediant by half the next time my father craves it.

Your comment reminds me of store-bought coffee jelly. All the brands are sweetened with sugar, while my version contains no sugar and is quite bitter. I like the combination of bitter coffee jelly, syrup, and cream!

starch said...

Hello Hiroyuki, thank you for writing this article!
How long do you need to cook the mochi so that it gets the right texture? I'm not very knowledgeable about mochi but I ate something while traveling in Japan which really looked like your version of warabi mochi,so I wanted to try your recipe. I couldn't fine potato starch so I used corn starch instead. I wonder if this is because of a wrong starch, or because I stopped cooking too soon, but the result is not good, it has got the texture of a paste :(

Hiroyuki said...

starch: I remember having used rice flour (mochiko in Japanese) instead of katakuriko, which turned into a paste that was hardly inedible. I just had to toss it after all.

I googled to find that corn starch can also be used instead of katakuriko.

This recipe
https://cookpad.com/recipe/1740396
(Japanese only), for example, calls for either corn starch or katakuriko. (This particular recipe is simpler because it uses a microwave, not a frying pan.)

This blogger
http://cabbitincanada.blog79.fc2.com/blog-entry-322.html
(Japanese only)
uses corn starch to make warabi mochi.

Note that when you use corn starch, it will be whitish whereas katakuriko results in translucent warabi mochi.

Even after the corn starch (or katakuriko) is set, you need to turn down the heat and keep heating it for 2 minutes or so while constantly stirring with a spatula.