374821 Sun Feb 25 14:08:58 -0800 2007 1 31 Home Cooking 0 2328158 I know that this is a type of mochi, but there are endless versions out there. I want to make these completely from scratch. I've got glutinous rice, but i don't know the right kind of beans (azuki?) or any of the techniques involved. Any advice on any of the steps would be appreciated. Sun Feb 25 14:08:58 -0800 2007 30158 amkirkland 1 2328292 Oh, it's really quite a project! Even though I count myself as not totally lazy in the kitchen, for me this definitely qualifies as a "let the restaurant make it" kind of thing. I've never done the frying part, but I do make mochi balls sometimes. In overview, working completely from scratch you would need to: 1) Soak and cook the azuki beans until really soft, sweeten them with lots of sugar and press through a sieve to make a fine paste (or not, if you don't mind chunky) 2) steam the mochi rice 3) pound it into a sticky blob of rice dough (this is the part that takes really hard work, specialized equipment, and some practice) 4) take pieces of it, wrap bean paste into the middle (this is a messy part) 5) roll them in sesame seeds and fry. I myself buy the beans already cooked and made into a smooth paste (koshi-an), though it's not terribly difficult to do at home. (They just take a surprisingly long time to cook) Someone else might have tips on easier ways to make the dough from scratch at home--the only way I know is by the traditional "pounding with a huge hammer in trough in the middle of the village" way, which takes some skill and special equipment. Unless you *really* want to start from first principles as a matter of personal pride, I would recommend skipping the rice-pounding part and start with mochi-ko (glutinous rice flour). In fact, the least messy way to make mochi dough is in the microwave, using a plastic non-stick cake pan that will let you take out pieces of the dough without having to wrestle with an enormous sticky blob of it all at once. (Basically it's just mochi-ko, water, and a little sugar if you want; the bean paste adds a lot of sweetness too.) Google for recipes--there's a few of them out there. Hawaiians are the most innovative in matters of modern mochi convenience. After you cook the mochi dough, you need to take out small pieces of the dough. It helps to dust your hands *very lightly* in rice flour, and to use a plastic knife to grab pieces; plastic wrap can also make things easier to maneuver, but not everyone agrees. Put a small piece of the bean paste on the piece of dough (smaller than walnut-size; more like hickory nut-size?), and then wrap it up. This takes practice, as it's definitely not easy to work with. You could then toss it into a bowl of sesame seeds to roll it around and coat it. (I myself usually coat with kinako, a roasted soybean paste, at this stage, and serve it fresh, not fried) Good luck! Sun Feb 25 14:50:30 -0800 2007 2328158 49653 another_adam