Momo Daifuku

I made mochi!

Momo mochi, to be exact, momo being the Japanese word for peach. I came across some beauties at the farmer's market and I decided to use them in lieu of apricots, which make up the filling in the recipe I based my proportions on. Krystina Castella's recipe, in her book A World of Cake, has a few other differences, such as apricot nectar instead of coconut water and coconut nectar, and vanilla instead of lemon in the filling. I decided to wing it with what I had and it worked out nicely.

Here's what I did...

Recipe for Momo Mochi (makes 6 pieces):

*Note: This mochi must be eaten same-day as the rice-flour dough slowly melts away when it holds a liquidy fruit center. This won't happen if you fill it with bean paste, as one commonly finds mochi.

Filling:
1 ripe peach
1/4 cup sugar
squeeze of lemon

Mochi:
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup coconut water
1 tablespoon coconut nectar
1 cup mochiko glutinous rice flour
potato starch


Dice the peach into small cubes, mix with the sugar and squeeze the lemon over it. Set aside.


For the mochi, put the sugar, water, coconut water and nectar into a pan and heat until the syrup is boiling.

Ingredients and delicious delicious coconut syrup.

Add in the mochiko flour and remove from heat. Mix until the lumps disappear, and let sit for five minutes.

Yummmm

In preparation for shaping the mochi, pour some potato starch onto a plate or into a bowl.

Dusting your fingers with starch, pinch off a sixth of the mochi dough and form it into a pancake about the size of your palm. Try not to make any spots too thin as the filling will seep out! Take a small spoonful of the peach, being careful to drain away any syrup back into the bowl, and place it in the middle of the pancake.



Pinch the edges up and form a mochi bundle, and then flatten the bundled part to make a smooth dumpling shape. Place the mochi seam-side down on a plate sprinkled with a little starch. Done!

The finished mochi!

Delicious, chewy, lovely!

Bake Hard!
Azara