Uguisu Mochi

Photo

Recipe

Original recipe from glenn, slightly modified. Also used https://youtu.be/w_H5WjaxCCA?si=UiVdWJYO3ld-4r70 as reference.

Optimizing uguisu-ko use

This recipe only requires about 1/3 of a pack of uguisu-ko.

After dusting the pan and the mochi, there will be lots of uguisu-ko left in the pan. Reuse this for everything (actually working with the mochi, rolling it out, etc). Most importantly, this can be reused for the actual dusting at the end. Just collect the leftover uguisu-ko from the pan and use a sieve.

(The uguisu-ko will all start to stick together after it’s been used to cover the mochi. That’s okay, it can still be reused.)

Yield

22g anko + 24g kawa, yields 10 sweets.

• Original mochi weight: 366g
• Post-cooking mochi weight: 290g

Ingredients

• 100g shiratamako
• 66g sugar
• 200g water
• Koshi-an
• Uguisu-ko (about 1/3 of a pack)

Steps

1. Mix all the mochi ingredients, microwave to cook.
   1. Usual mochi rules apply. Wait for it to puff up, then do ~one more time. It should feel almost “runny” when you pour it out.
2. Pour mochi out onto uguisu-ko-dusted pan. Flip mochi in half to cover, then dust an additional layer of uguisu-ko. Using your hands, roll the dough all around in the powder to be thoroughly dusted + help it keep its shape.
3. “Throw from the hump” and tear ~24g pieces of dough.
4. Wrap the anko into a sphere.
   1. I prefer to do this with the anko frozen.
   2. Roll it around plenty in the leftover uguisu-ko. It should be a ball at this point.
5. Shape the uguisu. (See video).
   1. Ever so slightly, roll the ball into an oval.
   2. Pinch the ends, with pressure only on the bottom surface (e.g. don’t put pressure on the top of the mochi).
   3. After pinching, it will gain some height. Roll it gently on the pan to return to original height.
6. Without dusting the existing uguisu-ko, re-dust with more uguisu-ko.

In case the video doesn’t work: https://share.icloud.com/photos/080xR-zcg2tydjAxi6JYXMX4g.

2025-02-21

Got kinda lumpy. Bummer. It’s okay.

What I think happened is that I over-folded the mochi. That seems fine for regular mochi, but this shiratamako base doesn’t fold into itself well. It just stays lumpy and maintains layers, rather than incorporating into itself. Instead, try this next time:

• Throw from the hump. Once getting the weight right, move on. Leave loose ends etc.
  • (Or maybe gentle fold now?)
• Once weight is all correct for all balls, gently fold everything in. Just fold once or twice until it’s smooth, but don’t super fold.

I didn’t like the frozen anko. It made it really hard to shape in the end. Next time, try room-temp anko.

Hold back on the kinako topping. Kinako is fucking delicious, but it’s like vanilla extract. Too much all at once and it’s bitter. There is enough kinako flavor incorporated into the mochi from using it for shaping etc. Just lightly dust the top for visuals, not necessary to actually add any kinako.

How to eat

Just regular mochi.