What Is Mochi? (And How Do You Make It?)
Photo by Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Lydia Pursell
Mochi is a type of soft and chewy Japanese rice cake. Traditionally, the process of making mochi involves pounding cooked sweet glutinous rice, called mochigome, until it has a soft, Play-Doh-like texture. Luckily, mochi making is much easier nowadays as sweet glutinous rice flour (sold as mochiko flour) is widely available. Rather than the laborious pounding, mochiko is easy to whisk in with flavorful liquids and bake (or microwave) until soft and chewy. Here's a handful of excellent ways to prepare mochi (and mochi-adjacent) treats.
Strawberry Mochi Ice Cream Sandwiches
Pastry chef Jen Yee of Lafayette Grand Café & Bakery in Manhattan makes these fun and pretty sandwiches with a simple Japanese dough that combines sweet glutinous rice flour, sugar, water and strawberry jam. You can whip these up and serve them to your summer party guests for an unexpected dessert treat. Try a matcha or coconut variation.
© John Kernick Pastry chef Jen Yee of Lafayette Grand Café & Bakery in Manhattan makes these fun and pretty sandwiches with a simple Japanese dough that combines sweet glutinous rice flour, sugar, water and strawberry jam. You can whip these up and serve them to your summer party guests for an unexpected dessert treat.
Pon de Ring (Mochi-Tofu Doughnuts)
These strawberry-flavored mochi-tofu doughnuts are inspired by pon de ring doughnuts. Silken tofu gives the doughnuts a chewy, springy texture while mochiko (sweet glutinous rice flour) helps the doughnuts get an airy, crispy crust. The dough and glaze get their flavor from freeze-dried strawberries that have been ground into a fine powder.
Photo by Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Lydia Pursell
Butter Mochi
This golden, sesame-crusted treat has roots in Hawai'i. As chef and writer Kiki Aranita writes: "Butter mochi is purely an invention of the islands and it is borne from the multicultural roots of Hawai'i's first potlucks and the mystical union of rice flour, butter, coconut milk and sugar." The edges of the mochi get slightly crispy and caramelized as they bake, and the resulting dessert is chewy, buttery, firm-yet-gooey, and sweet, yet perfectly balanced by the nutty toasted sesame.
Leigh Anne Meeks / Alamy Stock Photo
Matcha Mochi
This recipe for mochi gets its pretty color from the nutty green tea powder matcha and a creamy sweetness from coconut milk.
Photo © Molly Yeh
Savory Carrot Mochi with Pistachio Dukkah
Using the signature method she came up with at State Bird Provisions in San Francisco, 2021 F&W Best New Chef Gaby Maeda makes bouncy carrot mochi from scratch by combining fresh carrot puree with mochiko, then fries them in butter for a crispy-chewy texture. She serves this with pickled carrots, roasted carrots, fresh herbs, and pistachio dukkah.
Photo by Greg DuPree / Food Styling by Micah Morton / Prop Styling by Audrey Davis
Microwave Bánh Deo (Mochi Mooncakes) with Black Sesame–Chocolate Filling
Pastry chef Doris Hô-Kane of Ban Bè in Brooklyn uses a microwave to make both the chewy mochi skin and rich black sesame-chocolate filling of her beautiful Bánh Deo (Mochi Mooncakes), greatly reducing both their cook time and the number of pots and pans to be cleaned after.
Photo by Antonis Achilleos / Prop Styling by Christina Daley / Food Styling by Ali Ramee
