Strawberry Mochi Made Easy Soft Chewy Ichigo Daifuku Recipe

Hey guys it's Yuto here from sudachirecipes.com and today I'm going to show you how to make Ichigo Daifuku. Ichigo Daifuku is a sweet glutinous rice cake stocked with red bean paste and a strawberry. You might also know it as strawberry mochi. It has lovely chewy texture and it's probably my favorite Japanese sweet snack. It's not so hard to make it at home, all you need is a few special ingredients. For this recipe you will need 8 medium strawberries, 180g of koshi and smooth azuki bean paste, about 50-60g of corn starch or potato starch to stop it sticking everywhere, 100g of glutinous rice flour called Shiratamako, 60g of white granulated sugar and 150ml of water. So let's start with the Anko red bean paste. You might find that Anko bought from the store is very soft, sticky and impossible to roll into balls. So I have a simple solution to this and it doesn't alter the taste. All we're going to do is heat it in a pan on a low heat. Make sure to stir continuously because it burns quite easily. We're trying to evaporate the liquid so that it becomes firmer and easier to handle. You will notice it starts to become a bit lighter in color. Don't worry because that is what we're aiming for. So once it reaches this color and consistency, take it off the heat and leave it to cool down for at least 30 minutes. In the meantime, I'm going to prep the strawberries. I'm using eight medium-sized strawberries. So I wash them and then dry them thoroughly. If they're wet when we put the Anko paste on them, it's going to become a bit sticky and messy. So just make sure they're dry. Then I cut off the stems and place them on kitchen paper just to absorb any excess liquid. You can also make this recipe with other fruits such as grapes, kiwi, and mikan orange are also popular. So once your Anko is cool enough to handle, roll it into balls. Each ball should be about 20 grams. I used a scale to make them exact but you could just divide it into eight pieces. There are two types of Anko made from red beans. One is Tsubuan where the beans are chunky and the paste has more texture. The one I'm using today is Koshi-an which is a smooth paste with all the skins and little bits removed. There's also a white version called Shiro-an which is milder in taste. Koshi-an and Shiro-an are commonly used for Ichigo Daifuku. When you're ready to wrap the strawberries, flatten the ball out into a disc shape. I press it on my palm then use my fingers to pinch and turn it. This helps stop it from getting warm and sticky. Place the strawberry in the middle with the tip pointing up and wrap it. I leave the tip showing a little so that I know the position of the strawberry. Roll it to smooth it out and repeat for the rest. Once they're done, store them in the fridge while we make the mochi layer. So we're gonna add glutinous rice flour to a microwaveable bowl with the sugar and whisk it a bit. I find whisking the ingredients while they're dry just incorporates them better. There are a few kinds of glutinous rice flour but I'm using one called Shiratamako. When it's dry, it's very coarse but it really makes the best chewy, soft and stretchy texture when making mochi. Add water and whisk until it's smooth. If you can't find Shiratamako, you can use Mochiko or something else. Just make sure the rice flour is glutinous because it needs to be the sticky kind. So once it's smooth, cover with cling film and microwave for a minute and a half on a 600W setting. Take it out and mix well. You should switch to a spatula now so that you can scrape the edges down. If you use a whisk, some of the mixture will get stuck. Cover it again and return to the microwave for another 2 minutes at 600W. While it's microwaving, prepare a surface with corn starch or potato starch. Make sure it's fully covered. I like to use a flat sheet like this. You could use a baking sheet or something like that. It just helps contain the mess to one area. Once 2 minutes are up, mix well. You need to keep mixing until it turns from white to a slightly transparent, almost creamy colour. Once you get to this point, you can transfer to your starch-covered surface and spread it out. Sprinkle some more starch on top. It's still hot so be careful. Some people use a rolling pin at this point but I find it always sticks so I prefer to use my hands. I keep a ball of corn starch next to me just in case it gets sticky in places. This will make it easier to wrap. Once you're happy, cut it into 8 pieces and we can start assembling. Make sure to coat your hand with starch between rolling each one. Take your ankle-wrapped strawberry and place it in the centre of the mochi with the point facing down. Pinch the corners of the opposite sides together like this. Close any holes by pinching them together and then roll it in a cupped hand like this. Try to work quickly and handle as little as possible to prevent the mochi sticking to your hand. It takes a bit of practice to get a nice shape. Some of mine are wonky too. When they're done, I recommend eating them the same day but you can keep them in the fridge for a day or two in a sealed container. And there you have it! Soft and chewy homemade Ichigo Daifuku. I hope you enjoyed learning how to make this classic Japanese sweet with me. If you like this video, click the like button and subscribe to our channel to see more tasty Japanese recipes. Thanks for watching. See you again!