Mochi (糯米糍)

Submitted this photo for DMBLGiT 09 2007 , gallery available here. (updated on 21 Sep 07)

Made these in the morning. Planned to make one-third of the recipe but ended up with almost the whole recipe. Can you imagine 24 mochis for 2 persons? At first I made one-third of the recipe for mochi dough, but I had problem to shape and make it into balls. I thought I messed it up so I made another mochi dough with one cup of glutinous rice flour, which was half of the recipe. This time I managed to assemble it, then I realised that the dough had no problem. It was me, I had problem in manipulating the dough!!

Ingredients (24 pcs):
Filling
½ cup dried peeled mung beans
1 cup water
½ cup raw or caster sugar
1 tbsp vegetable oil

100g sweet potato, peeled and steamed
Pinch of salt

Mochi
2 cup glutinous rice flour
½ cup cornstarch
3-4 tbsp condensed milk
1 cup & 1 tbsp hot water
1 tbsp vegetable oil
Food colouring (optional)

Other
1 cup coconut flakes

Directions:

1. Filling: Rinse the mung beans and discard any residual peels. Combine beans with water and bring to boil. Cover and let it simmer over low heat, stir occasionally until all water is absorbed by the beans. It can also be cooked in the microwave using a microwave rice cooker as if cooking rice.
2. Combine cooked mung beans, sugar, oil, sweet potato and salt in a food processor. Blend all ingredients to form smooth paste. Remove paste from food processor, divide and shape paste into 24 small balls. Keep in refrigerator until ready to assemble.
3. Mochi: In a large mixing bowl, mix together glutinous rice flour and cornstarch. Pour in boiling hot water and stir rapidly to mix. Add in condensed milk and oil, mix well and knead to form a soft dough. Divide and shape dough into 24 small balls. Cover with damp cloth until ready to assemble.
4. Assemble: Take a dough ball, make a deep impression with thumb (like a well) and place a filling ball in the middle. Bring all edges together and pinch to seal. Roll it around with palms to smooth out the edges and form a ball.
5. Steam mochi balls over medium heat for 10 minutes. OR drop them into a pot of boiling water (medium heat), once they floated on the surface remove it with a spoon. I used boiling method, find it easier.
6. Roll cooked mochi balls in the coconut flakes while they are still hot. Ready to serve.