Well... Since Nana was in Japan and couldn't send them before, I received the pics today and decided to show you what making Mochi looks like... and give you at the same time some information about it too!
First, here is some info about Mochi, for those of you who don't really know what it is.
Mochi is a Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice pounded into paste and molded into shape. The event when it is traditionally made and where I went to with Nana-chan is called Mochitsuki. During that ceremony, the making of the mochi follows three main steps:
Step #1 as such, is not really part of the mochitsuki ceremony, I think... We don't get to see it but we know that polished glutinous rice is soaked overnight and cooked.
Mochi is a Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice pounded into paste and molded into shape. The event when it is traditionally made and where I went to with Nana-chan is called Mochitsuki. During that ceremony, the making of the mochi follows three main steps:
Step #1 as such, is not really part of the mochitsuki ceremony, I think... We don't get to see it but we know that polished glutinous rice is soaked overnight and cooked.
The first pictures above represents Step #2 . You see me hit the wet rice paste with two other people in a mortar (called usu) with a huge mallet (kine) in a steady rhythm. 1,2,3. 1,2,3. The rhythm is very important, otherwise it's easy to get injured hitting each other with the very heavy Kine. Between several sets, one person is in charge of turning and wetting the mochi...
Once the paste is done, step three (look at the above picture) is to give the pounded mochi a shape... which is usually round or cubic.
Once the paste is done, step three (look at the above picture) is to give the pounded mochi a shape... which is usually round or cubic.
And this is what it should look like:
Fans of food (I'm thinking of Heeja especially), you should know that Mochi is not just a mere cake and there is a variety of ways to eat it. The most popular example would be the famous Japanese traditional sweet, called Daifuku, which is basically a mochi stuffed with a sweet filling (such as red-bean paste).
They also make ice-cream balls wrapped with mochi, known in Korea as Yumiki Daifuku... (Snow viewing daifuku). I've been told that there is also a famous soup "Oshiruko", which is a sweet azuki bean soup with pieces of Mochi. Apparently, it's pretty popular in the winter!
Now let me show you a video... Okay okay, don't laugh too much, the hammer was really heavy!! I was not very good at it... but I tried my best !!
So this ends today's entry about Mochi. I really hope you guys get to try it someday! :)
Happy New Year!!!!!!
