The well preserved tradition of making mochi
After the classic « where are you from? », a question that I’m very often asked by curious strangers is « what is your favourite japanese food? ». Even though there are a few that I like more than others, such as japanese curry, fried chicken or taiyaki, my top pick will always be mochi.
These glutinous rice cakes tick all the boxes for me: they can be sweet or savoury, hot or cold, in soups or skewered, boiled or grilled, fresh or frozen, and I find their very chewy texture extremely satisfying to eat (but remember to chew thoroughly, people die because they ate mochi too fast and choked every year..!).
Because it is hard work, people usually make mochi the traditional way only during the new year. It has been made the same way for more than a millennium, and many people still use the same method to this day, but others use mochi making machines or simply buy it at the store. The traditional way of making mochi is called « mochitsuki ».
All my friends and colleagues know how crazy I am about mochi, and a colleague was kind enough to invite my to his family’s yearly mochitsuki.
So, how does one make mochi?
First of all, you need to steam the glutinous rice, then place it in a wet, huge wooden mortar. Now comes the fun, but oh-so-tiring part. Get yourself a big wooden hammer, and pound away! People usually do this in pairs, with one person pounding the rice and the other moving it around with very wet hands. The mortar and hammer need to be kept wet during the whole process, otherwise the rice will stick to the wood.
(You may have seen this famous VIDEO of mochi making in Nara. Definitely try it if you have the chance, they are de-li-cious!)
When all the rice has come together nicely into one big mochi, you can then take it out and place it on a floured board to cut and shape it as you like. People usually roll out the dough and cut it into rectangles. After they have dried, they can be frozen or kept in the fridge for a week. Just grill or fry them up when you want to eat them, and prepare them any way you’d like!
You can also buy glutinous rice flour and make mochi more easily by using only a microwave. You can ask Youtube sensei for more information on this.
Let me know if you try making mochi!