Traditionally made with pounded glutinous rice, our mochi was an experimentation with rice flour.
It’s no secret we have a love affair with gluten. It is true that our relationship isn’t always smooth. Sometimes it lets us down and we end up with flat, unappetizing bread. Sometimes, though, we get something inspiring.
The method for this mochi was adapted from a confection whipped up by Rachel at La Fuji Mama Josie from Daydreamer Desserts using Francisco J. Migoya’s recipe in The Modern Cafe. She ‘cheats’ and uses the microwave, which I think is ingenious. Of course, I am sure that the mochi purists out there will throw their hands up in horror but we are always happy to find new uses for our nuker and we aren’t exactly making traditional mochi anyway. You can find that recipe and details about the mochi production process on La Fuji Mama here.
For our version we used:
½ c. rice flour
½ c. water
1 tbs. dried onion
½ tbs. coarsely ground fennel seed
Zest of one large lemon
½ tsp. salt
½ tbs. sugar
Corn starch
In the end, we tried to add flavors that would compliment the filling we whipped up here without being too loud. Mochi is a light, delicate dough–slightly chewy and a bit sticky (ok, very sticky if you try to roll it out without enough corn starch) with a subtle flavor. The lemon zest gave our version a light citrus note and the fennel pops up just at the end to impart a hint of anise. I think this would be a fun dough to play with in the future. Keep an eye out for more recipes!