Mochi making with an Ankarsrum/Verona or Bosch MUM6N
I bought a stand mixer (or rather two) to replace a basic bread machine that was shedding its non stick lining. I'd stopped baking with it years ago but kept using it as my go to kneader for bread and mochi. Alas, mochi flecked with black Teflon flakes wasn't a treat I wished to share with my family. It was a hand down from my parents and has lasted decades, but it has to go.
I'm just about to start experimenting with my new mixers but was wondering if anyone had given this a try in either machine.
I'm very familiar with a blog report on making mochi using a paddle with a Kitchenaid that was posted in the JustHungry website, but both the units I have work quite differently. I'm particularly keen to know if anyone has used a mincer - perhaps with the blades removed in a pasta press configuration - for making mochi. I don't have a mincer, this would be a compelling reason to get one for me.
Anyway, I'll report back. I'm very curious to find out how the Swedish Assistent roller arm will cope with glutinous mochi rice and what exactly I'll be ending up with.
I've no idea why I was worried about making mochi without the bread machine.
I warmed up the metal bowl of the Assistent with some hot water, drained and dried it. Attached the wheel and the scraper, added the just cooked mochi rice (cooked in a rice machine with a 1:1 rice to water ratio using the "steam" setting) and let it go on a low then medium speed - not too fast as the thumping gets a bit violent.
And that was it. A few minutes later there was perfect mochi. Even getting it out was simple as I used a plastic dough scraper cutter to get every last bit of the incredibly sticky goo out of the bowl. The mochi was dumped onto a plate thickly dusted with potato starch, the mixing bowl and accessories got a 5 minute soak in hot water and they cleaned up easily.
Much easier, much quicker (over 50%) than using the bread machine, and much much simpler to clean up afterwards. And no Teflon flakes!
There was a point when it might be wise to stop the machine and scrape together any stray bits of half pounded rice before letting the machine finish it off. I definitely recommend using a dough scraper over a spatula for this (wetted with hot water works best) but that's the only quibble. What impressed and amazed me most is how little time it took with the Asssistent. It used to take two 15-20 minute cycles on the bread machine, with this machine it was all done in under 10 minutes.
I haven't been able to find anything on the Internet about using a DLX/Magic Mill/Verona/Electrolux/Ankarsrum Assistent to make mochi, or for using a powerful Bosch, so I help this helps someone and perhaps even encourage someone here to try making mochi.
Would still love to know if anyone has tried it using a meat grinder.
Thanks for the post, this is very helpful to a mochi fan (with a DLX) who never thought to actually make her own. I love mochi with black sesame (and also the glutinous rice tang-yuan in the Chinese style...) I'm curious, are you fixing mochi for just one meal, or have you found a good way to freeze them?
- Susanne
I have Japanese friends so there's never a need for me to freeze or store mochi. Whatever we don't eat gets eager takers elsewhere. I've found it will keep well for at least three days dusted in starch, I wrap cling film (Saran wrap?) around heavily starched mochi in order to transport it elsewhere.
I generally make 2 cups of rice worth of mochi (which is what I did today). 3 or four cups if I'm sharing with another family. You'll have to let me know if it freezes well. I've never tried it.
My husband is Japanese and can't abide the mochi made with mochi flour, I have to say that he's brought me around to his point of view.
If you're a mochi enthusiast don't forget that you can make Damako mochi だまこもち with standard Japanese rice (probably also with Calrose). Simply put some hot just cooked rice into the DLX and let it go for 5 minutes or less, there's no need to make them smooth. You just form the result into balls about 3cm/inch & a bit across and drop them into nabe or stews. My preference is to smear this kind of rice paste onto a non stick film, add a pre soaked popsicle stick, smear some more rice on top, brush on a coat of miso, sugar, ground sesame, ground walnuts, mirin and a tiny splash of soy sauce and let it toast over a BBQ or under a grill/salamander. Best when both sides are coated and toasted this way. These are my approximation of Gohei Mochi (五平餅). Again, these are made with standard rice not the glutinous kind. I found I was more relaxed sharing gohei mochi last winter with my then two year old as I feel I have to watch her like a hawk when she's eating the glutinous kind of mochi just in case she chokes (which she never has).
Now that I have this Assistent I'm certainly going to be making much more pounded rice dumplings and treats this year.
... sound great. I'm not sure I've ever bumped into rice grilled on a stick. My familiarity lies more with Chinese items such as nian-gao (粘糕), both savory and sweet, fried in a pan or in soups, and tang-yuan (湯圓). And almost exclusively working from something store-bought, dried, and/or already prepared (not for long, I think...) for the glutinous rice item in the recipe. My project for this weekend is getting some sweet red (azuki) bean soup together--a bit of a summer craving. But I'm looking forward to trying out the mochi suggestions you've shared. Many thanks for taking the time to report!
- Susanne
I've still a lot to learn about Chinese confectionery and pastry but my daughter will begin Chinese kindergarten in the next few months so I'm hoping to be more exposed very soon (it's wonderful to find out the names of the rice based items you've mentioned- will spend time researching!)
The red bean soup you mentioned sounds a lot like oshiruko お汁粉 which must be very similar to the Chinese version except that small pieces of mochi are dropped inside. So if you are making this soup this might be the perfect time to try out your DLX on a batch of glutinous rice!
I put some normal rice into my mixer yesterday, turned it into a mochi type goo, shaped it into small balls with wet hands, grilled the balls, cooled them and put them into the freezer. It took just under 5 minutes to turn a cup of non glutinous rice into Damako mochi using the DLX/Assistent. Whenever I make a savoury soup or stew I've got rice dumplings all ready to drop in. My next attempt will be a mix of 80% brown round/short grain rice and 20% white mochi rice which I'll make into the same kind of toasted damako mochi for soups. The 20% mochi I hopewill give the pounded brown rice a bit more texture and 'interest'.
The best cookbook I've seen for Chinese pastries (and noodles, etc.) is Florence Lin's Complete Book of Chinese Noodles, Dumplings, and Breads. It's out of print now, I think, but if you can track down a copy it contains some very good recipes, including those featuring the beloved "red bean" (hóngdòu 紅豆). Lin's book is wonderful in its focus on flour itself as the organizing feature. That is, she arranges all the recipes for particular genres of dishes (noodles, dumplings, breads, buns, pastries, fritters, etc.) into three main sections that are defined by the flour from which the dough for those is made, namely wheat, rice, or beans / starches. Many of China's great street or small-shop style foods are in there.
It's wonderful that your daughter will soon begin Chinese kindergarten. Making Chinese food together would be a great way to pick up new vocabulary! I studied Chinese in Taiwan years ago and I think half of what I learned that first year came over the dinner table (and esp. over the communal task of making dumplings.) Language acquisition and food are such perfect partners.
Thanks again for the advice on mochi-making. I'll try to report back once I track down some glutinous rice...
Thank you very much for the recommendation (and for the encouragement!). I will definitely seek out this book.
I made agemochi using an oven yesterday with the recipe below
Worth noting that over several days mochi left to dry out can easily become mouldy. I'd suggest drying it out for a day as much as you can then cutting it up and open to expose as much surface area as possible, the ideal being to get it dried out within 3 or 4 days rather than the 9 described in the recipe.
I tried the olive oil, sea salt and pepper suggestion, next time I want to experiment with more flavours, perhaps shoyu and butter to start with.
A great snack to give as gifts to Japanese acquaintances and I believe it's gluten free also.
BTW, I love the Florence Lin book, next party I'll be making the tofu crackers to serve alongside these rice ones.
http://www.hirokoskitchen.com/blog/2010/01/finally-oven-baked-agemochi/
The two sound great together. I'd be almost tempted (thinking of the tofu crackers in particular) to mix cuisines and have a sweet chutney or two on the side as well. Perhaps tamarind or mango?
Glad you like the Florence Lin book -- and thanks for mentioning the tofu crackers, I'd missed that recipe. I love their crunch, either as a snack or in soups (esp. congee). Sounds like they keep well once they're made too.
- Susanne
It works. It does make mochi. Not quite as beautifully as the Assistent does, but it is doable.
The motor has no problem beating up the rice into goo, the problem is goo the goo is then whipped and channelled up into a quickly climbing tower by the flat paddle part of the dough claw. To combat this problem you just need to be vigilant and scrape down the central column frequently.
It's a bit trickier to scrape out than with the Assistent but can be done well enough with a plastic dough cutter/scraper.
I used two cups, I don't know if the climbing tower problem will be eased or compounded using more glutinous rice. I'll leave someone else to find out as I'll be sticking to the Assistent for this task... Literally so!
WHOOPS! just realised when packing up the Bosch that I didn't fit the additional white column with the two wings. This must have a huge impact on the development of a clambering tower. Used properly, the Bosch is probably fine for mochi after all.