MOCHITSUKI

Dec 03 2021 0 Comments

Have you ever heard of Mochitsuki?

"Mochi" also known as rice cake is made from pounded glutinous rice and is often eaten at New Year's in Japan. The traditional "Mochi-Tsuki(pounding)" ceremony is an essential part of the mochi-making process.

Usu (mortar) and kine (pestle) are used for pounding rice and making it into mochi.

Mochitsuki event is not only fun to do with family and friends, but the freshly handmade warm and soft mochi is also very delicious with Kinako, Anko, Sugar-Soy sauce, and or however you like!

Prepare the mochi rice

Wash the glutinous rice and soak it in the water overnight.
Put the flooded glutinous rice in a colander and drain it for 1 hour.
Wrap it in a steaming cloth and steam for 30-40 minutes. *Steaming too much will make it too soft to pound.

Prepare the tools

Put hot water in the mortar for a few hours to make the mortar hot.
Soak the pestle in the water to prevent it from getting cracks while pounding.
Replace the hot water and keep the mortar hot enough right before putting the steamed glutinous rice in. *This is a very important process to make good mochi
Scoop out the hot water from the mortar and wipe it gently, then put the steamed glutinous rice in a mortar

Here we come, it's "MOCHITSUKI time"!

Knead with a pestle like gently smashing the glutinous rice. Make sure to knead from outside to inside.
Once the mochi gets sticky enough, flip it and douse in hot water, and then start pounding.
Finally, the two pounders alternate, one person pounds the dough once, while the other quickly turns it over between hits until it reaches the perfect texture. *Do not swing the pestle like you owe someone money. Drop it with the weight of the lifted pestle.

Kinakmochi

Nothing beats freshly made mochi with kinako for me!

Ozouni

You can also easily make Ozouni, a special Japanese New Year’s soup made with a light miso or kombu dashi-based broth, vegetables, and mochi, and is the perfect hearty, nourishing, and satisfying soup to kick off the new year!

Thank you for taking your time to read. I hope you all have a wonderful day/evening.

-Make It Memorable with Shoran Japan-

1-SHO MIKAGE STONE MINI MOCHITSUKI USU WITH KINE /RICE CAKE POUNDING MORTAR