Mochi (food)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mochi (Japanese: 餅; Chinese: (麻糬)) is a Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice pounded into paste and molded into shape. In Japan it is traditionally made in a ceremony called mochitsuki. While eaten year-round, mochi is a traditional food for the Japanese New Year and commonly sold and eaten at that time.

Mochi is similar to the Chinese rice cake nian gao, however it is molded right after it is pounded, whereas nian gao is baked once again after to solidify the mixture as well as sanitize it. In Korea, a nearly identical food is called chapssaltteok (RR; Hangul: 찹쌀떡), chapssal meaning "glutinous rice," followed by tteok.

Mochi is very sticky and somewhat tricky to eat. After each new year, it is reported in the Japanese media how many people die from choking on mochi. The victims are usually elderly. Because it is so sticky, it is difficult to dislodge via the Heimlich maneuver. In the Japanese comedy film Tampopo, a house vacuum is used to suck it out. (Some lifesaving experts say that a vacuum cleaner is actually efficient for stuck mochi.^[1])

Contents 1 Mochitsuki 2 Popular uses for mochi 2.1 Confectionery 2.1.1 Ice cream 2.2 Soup 2.3 New Year specialties 2.4 Other 3 Other facts 4 Notes

[edit] Mochitsuki

Mochitsuki is the traditional mochi-pounding ceremony in Japan.

1. Polished glutinous rice is soaked overnight and cooked.
2. The wet rice is pounded with wooden mallets (kine) in a traditional mortar (usu). Two people will alternate the work, one pounding and the other turning and wetting the mochi. They must keep a steady rhythm or they may accidentally injure one another with the heavy kine.
3. The sticky mass is then formed into various shapes (usually a sphere or cube).

Mochi may also be made in an automatic mochi machine, similar to a breadmaker. In fact, mochi can be made using a breadmaker if the rice is soaked and steamed separately and the machine can be started in a kneading mode.

Making mochi at home is possible without an automatic machine. Use a bamboo steamer or other apparatus that the sweets will not stick to while steaming. Add only enough water to allow the flour to stick together, form a small circle of the dough, then put a small amount of bean paste in the center. Close the dough over the paste and place in the steamer until the mochi congeals. Immediately upon removing the mochi from the steamer, coat the mochi in more sweet rice flour to prevent it from sticking to all creation.

[edit] Popular uses for mochi

[edit] Confectionery

Many types of traditional wagashi (Japanese traditional sweets) are made with mochi. For example, daifuku is a soft round mochi stuffed with sweet filling, such as sweetened red bean paste (an) or white bean paste (shiro an). Ichigo daifuku is a version containing a whole strawberry inside.

Kusa mochi is a green variety of mochi flavored with yomogi (mugwort). When daifuku is made with kusa mochi, it is called yomogi daifuku.

[edit] Ice cream

Main article: Mochi ice cream

Small balls of ice cream are wrapped inside a mochi covering to make mochi ice cream. In Japan this is manufactured by Lotte under the name Yukimi Daifuku, "snow-viewing daifuku". In the United States the grocery chain Trader Joe's, H Mart, and Mollie Stone's sell mochi ice cream in flavors of chocolate, mango, green tea and strawberry. It is popular in California , Hawaii, and Portland, OR. A Japanese-owned company (Mikawaya) operating in Los Angeles makes Mochi Ice Cream, which may be the variety that is sold by Trader Joe's and Mollie Stone's.

[edit] Soup

• Oshiruko or ozenzai is a sweet azuki bean soup with pieces of mochi. In winter, Japanese people often eat it to warm themselves.
• Chikara udon (meaning "power udon") is a dish consisting of udon noodles in soup topped with toasted mochi.

[edit] New Year specialties

• Kagami mochi is a New Year decoration, which is traditionally broken and eaten in a ritual called Kagami biraki (mirror opening).
• Zoni soup is a soup containing rice cakes. Zoni is also eaten on New Year's Day. In addition to mochi, zoni contains vegetables like honeywort, carrot, and red and white colored boiled kamaboko.

[edit] Other

• Warabimochi is not true mochi, but a jelly-like confection made from bracken starch and covered or dipped in kinako (sweet toasted soybean flour). It is popular in the summertime, and often sold from trucks, not unlike ice cream trucks in Western countries.

[edit] Other facts

• In Japanese folk tradition, rabbits living on the Moon produce mochi in the traditional method with mallets and mortars. (This legend is based on the traditional pareidolia that identifies the markings of the moon as a rabbit pounding mochi.)
• Mochi is also the name of a monster type and character in the game and TV series Monster Rancher. It is so named for its physical resemblance to a type of mochi pastry.
• Mochi competed on popular British television show, Brainiac: Science Abuse, shown on Sky One (and on other channels in a few other European countries). The competition was to find out which was the world's chewiest food. Mochi didn't win; the English Devonshire toffee won.^{[citation needed]}
• Historically, the word, mochi was used to describe birdlime. As the food became popular, tori-mochi (bird mochi) came to be used instead.

[edit] Notes