Mochi madness: How this stretchy, chewy, dramatic dessert became a viral hit

Biting into a freshly made ball of mochi is all about texture. It begins with the velvety outer layer, gives way to a pillow-soft bite and ends with a satisfying chewiness that’s a parade of sensations – even before fillings, toppings and flavours add to the party.

As a traditional Japanese dish, its history stretches back thousands of years with endless variations, including street snacks and specialty preparations for the samurai class. You’ll find similar chewy bites in culinary traditions from China and Taiwan to Korea and Malaysia. But more recently, here in Australia, Japanese mochi have gone from izakaya menu item and tasty travel experience to social media sensation, dessert destination pin-up and chilled supermarket treat.

The history of Japanese mochi stretches back thousands of years.Jane de Graaff

What’s mochi made of, and what’s the hype?

You’ve probably seen clips of traditional Japanese mochitsuki, where mochi dough is slapped with water and rhythmically pounded by hefty wooden mallets to create the final chewy texture. Less dramatically, mochi can be homemade by mixing glutinous rice flour, corn flour and liquid to create a slurry that is cooked to a rubbery dough and kneaded for a soft and pleasantly chewy finish.

“Mochi is the Japanese word for glutinous rice that’s been pounded to get a very chewy texture,” says cookbook author and creative force behind new LA sweet spot TuCha, Catherine Zhang.

“It doesn’t have to be sweet. Traditionally you can have them with soy sauce or seaweed … you might even have them stir-fried with vegetables,” says Zhang, who shares tips in her book Mochi, Cakes and Bakes, as well as on her popular social media platform.

But it’s the sweetened and stuffed version of mochi, known as daifuku, that’s become popular in Australia, bursting with decadent fillings.

Composed of a thin mochi skin, stretched out to create a dumpling-style wrapper for flavoured creams, fresh fruit and bean pastes, “daifuku are traditionally a New Year or celebration treat in Japan”, says Sunny Liu.

Liu is co-owner of SevenH co-retail space in Sydney’s Lane Cove, where their Daifuku bar makes fresh, filled mochi daily, in seasonal flavours that sell out by lunchtime.

“They need to be consumed in one day. Overnight the skin hardens slightly, and mochi is all about the texture and mixing everything in the right ratios,” he says. Daifuku’s mochi is so soft that it comes with a piece of string to cut it in half.

“Cutting with the string is a tradition and experience that shows how fresh they are,” Liu says.

Daifuku bar makes fresh, filled mochi daily, in seasonal flavours that sell out by lunchtime. Tomo Okai

Travel, texture, theatre

“There’s definitely been a rise in interest,” says Stella Lay, who turned her personal love of mochi from her own travels into online business Nommies Co., selling handmade, cream-filled daifuku in Flemington, Melbourne.

“Travelling to Japan has become so popular, so a taste for those treats has rubbed off on Australians,” she says. “Mochi has become really big because more people know about it now and love the texture.”

Zhang agrees that the texture gets people hooked. “We have an obsession with things that are stretchy and chewy. It’s part of that viral textural search,” she says.

The contrasting and decadent fillings and string-cutting tradition add theatre to the experience, Liu says.

“We always have one on display cut open to show what’s inside and what you’re getting. It shows off the quality of the fruit and filling.”

The glutinous rice flour in mochi doesn’t actually contain gluten.Stella Lay

What makes a good one?

Zhang, Liu and Lay agree the glutinous rice flour (which doesn’t actually contain gluten) used in mochi making is all-important. Flour from mochigome short-grain glutinous rice is best, particularly if you can get hold of Japanese shiratamako flour, which contributes to the final texture.

Despite the abundance of wooden mallet videos, both Zhang and Lay assure us that as long as the mochi dough is well kneaded and stretched, you’ll achieve an excellent texture. So if you plan to DIY, then stretch, stretch, stretch.

For Liu, flavours can be as varied as you like as long as fillings are the best quality and fruit is in season. “Otherwise it doesn’t match up to the rest of the daifuku.”

Mochi should be eaten the day they’re made.Jane de Graaff

Jane’s DIY strawberry and cream-filled mochi

INGREDIENTS

Mochi dough

• 100g glutinous rice flour + extra
• 30g cornflour
• ¼ cup caster sugar (superfine)
• 180ml strawberry milk
• 1 tbsp butter (or rice bran oil)

Filling

• 250g cream cheese, softened
• ½ cup thickened cream
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 4 tbsp berry jam
• 6 x large strawberries (4 diced and 2 sliced for garnish)

METHOD

1. For the filling, whip the softened cream cheese until smooth, adding the cream and caster sugar and whipping until combined.
2. Put your filling into a piping bag and make sure your berries are sliced and diced.
3. Chill filling and berries in the fridge until needed.
4. For the mochi, mix together rice flour, cornflour and caster sugar in a microwave-safe bowl. Pour in the strawberry milk and whisk to a smooth texture, taking care to avoid lumps.
5. Cover the top of the bowl with clingfilm and poke holes in it. Microwave for 2 minutes on high and then give it a mix – it will be thickening, and you want to move around any liquidy bits to cook it evenly.
6. Put the clingfilm back over the bowl and microwave for another 2 minutes.
7. Remove the clingfilm – watch out for the hot steam – add the butter and mix it in with a non-stick spatula, then allow the mixture to cool.
8. Keeping a bowl of water beside you, wet your hands and the bench, tip the cooled mochi dough onto the bench and knead and stretch the dough as much as you can for about 5 minutes, adding a little more water as you go to stop sticking. The more you stretch, the softer the texture will be. Then cut the mochi dough into 8 even pieces and roll them into balls.
9. Dust the bench and a rolling pin generously with extra cornflour to stop sticking and roll mochi balls into thin discs. Sit one disc into a small dish or cup (dusted with cornflour) with the dough coming up the sides.
10. Using about ⅛ of the filling, pipe the cream into the middle of your mochi wrapper (creating a cup of filling), add a dollop of jam and a few pieces of fresh diced strawberry. Cover the berries with more cream and then pull the edges together to create a closed parcel with cream and jam in the middle.
11. Pinch it closed tightly to seal it, turn it out into a patty case and top with a slice of fresh berry.
12. Repeat until the wrappers and filling are all used.

Makes 8 filled mochi

Tip: For a simpler version, just roll the mochi dough into small balls and serve with a dollop of the whipped cream filling and berries to dip into.

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