Homemade Mochi for Frozen Yogurt

(This is part of a series I wrote on ice cream making. See full list of posts here.)

After making a pint of homemade tart and tangy froyo, I made my favorite topping that goes with it: MOCHI!!!  Mochi is Japanese rice cake made out of glutinous rice.  It’s a common Asian dessert and I LOVE it in all forms.  One of my favorite types of mochi is mochi cake. (See my popular mochi cake recipe here.)  Whenever I go to Pinkberry, Red Mango, Yogurtland or any other frozen yogurt shop, my favorite topping is mochi! And the more that is piled on, the better!  The sweet, chewy dessert is the perfect complement to tart and tangy froyo.  Since the recipe I used to make the froyo also had a recipe for mochi, I had to try it out, too.  This recipe was awesome!  It made the perfect soft yet chewy mochi.  Homemade mochi is SO MUCH better than the hard pellets you sometimes get at stores.  It practically melts in your mouth.  I started eating it by handfuls!

Homemade Mochi (recipe from Design Sponge)

Ingredients

• 1 cup of Mochiko rice flour  (see picture beloweas reference)
• 1-1/2 cup of water
• 1 cup of sugar
• extra 1/2 cup of water
• cornstarch for dusting
• Baking sheet covered in a sheet of wax paper and sprinkled heavily with cornstarch (or use a silicone mat instead of wax paper)

This is what Mochiko rice flour looks like. You can get it at Asian grocery stores. I’ve been able to find it at regular grocery stores like my local Safeway, too:

Directions

1. In a saucepan, add 1/2 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar to the stovetop on low to medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves into a syrup and keep on low:

2. In a large microwavable bowl, mix flour & water until smooth – the mixture will look like a thick glue:
3. Cover flour/water mixture with plastic wrap and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Remove and mix well with a wooden spoon. The mixture will look like it has solidified but you should be able to stir through its now thicker consistency.4. Add the sugar mixture from the stovetop and continue to mix. After it’s all mixed together it should have a cloudy and thick consistency but still able to be poured. (At this point, it looks pretty unappetizing, but keep going on!!   Trust me, its worth it!!)5. Pour the mixture onto the wax papered  & starched (or silicone mat lined) baking sheet. Spread evenly with a wooden spoon (its pretty sticky and messy at this point):

6. Sprinkle the top heavily with cornstarch. Let mochi cool.

8. Once the mochi is completely cool, cut into small 1/2″ squares and continue to coat with extra cornstarch while cutting to avoid letting the pieces stick together.  Make sure all the shiny surfaces are coated with cornstarch or it will be sticky.  I used a pizza cutter which made the cutting easier:

9. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week or in the freezer for a few weeks:

This mochi was so soft and just sweet enough!  It’s delicious!!  And the perfect topping to go with frozen yogurt!   I seriously was eating it alone by the handfuls! YUM!

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tagged as: icecream