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Monday, February 04, 2008

Chocolate Mochi with Nutella Filling

Huge disclaimer: I've never made mochi (Japanese sticky rice cakes) before. Although I've always enjoyed Fugetsu-do Sweet Shop's soft and chewy mochi. I've wanted to try their chocolate mochi too but at 6 small pieces for $4, just couldn't justify the expense. I thought they were hard to make until I saw Melting Wok's post months ago about nuking mochiko (Japanese sticky rice flour) in the microwave for 5 minutes. She made it look so simple. I knew I'd make it at some point, I just didn't know when. Then in mid-December, Nikki Polani was kind enough to send me a large container of cocoa. Mochi + cocoa = chocolate mochi. And then with World Nutella Day coming up on February 5, I had an idea for the ultimate recipe. Mochi + cocoa + Nutella = chocolate mochi with Nutella filling. Apologies for the indelicate appearance, but rest assured they tasted much better than they looked. Chocolate Mochi with Nutella Filling Adapted from the chocolate mochi recipe from Koda Farms Blue Star Brand mochiko For about a dozen mochi, you'll need: 1 1/2 cups mochiko (Japanese sticky rice flour) 1 1/2 cups water 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup cocoa Nutella Mix 3/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup cocoa and set aside. In another bowl, mix 1 1/2 cups mochiko and 1 1/2 cups water, cover and microwave for 5 minutes. You'll get a rather wet-looking mixture like below. Stir to make sure the mochiko is evenly distributed. Then add the cocoa mixture 1/4 cup at a time and mix until the cocoa is evenly distributed. Keep stirring to make sure everything is smooth. Cover and put the mixture back in microwave for another 5 minutes. You'll end up with a mixture that looks like very thick cake mix. Let the dough rest for about 10 minutes or so, until slightly cooled. You want to work with the dough while it's still warm. Oil or flour your hands with mochiko and pat the dough into flat discs. I tried both methods, floured on the left and oiled on the right, and it was still a messy process either way. Spoon a dab of Nutella into the middle of each mochi disc. Then gather the ends and fold into a ball. Place mochi balls on candy cups for serving. Mochi doesn't keep very well. So either eat them all the day you make them (As if that'd be a hardship!) or wrap in plastic and they'll keep for a few days at room temperature. After that, the mochi will get too hard and start molding. Enjoy! I'm submitting this recipe to World Nutella Day hosted by Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy, Michelle from Bleeding Espresso, and Shelley from At Home in Rome (in spirit). Check back with them on February 5 for a round-up of Nutella recipes from around the world. Who made my recipe for chocolate mochi with Nutella filling? FoodahoLiv and Mochachocolata Rita both made this recipe for a Valentine's Day party. Other Nutella recipes: Egg rolls stuffed with bananas and mangoes with Nutella dipping sauce Bananas, Nutella, and peanut butter sandwiches. ***** 1 year ago today, the "5 things about me" meme.

19 comments:

  1. Wow. These look really good...and simple ingredients! I'll have to try them (hopefully I can find this flour here in Florence). Thanks for posting it - I love Nutella Day b/c it's a great way to find new bloggers!

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  2. Definitely one of my favorite recipes from World Nutella Day--grazie :)

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  3. I think you did a fine job considering the difficulty in handling the sticky dough and a brand new recipe! I wonder if handling with wet hands would work.

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  4. Awesome idea WC! How is mochi traditionally made (i.e. when not nuked in the microwave)?

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  5. Chocolate mochi sounds good. Add some nutella to the center and it sounds even better!

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  6. I love this! I made mochi a couple of months back too. It was lovely. Mine was green tea with red bean and strawberries. Love this idea!!! Can't wait to try it!

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  7. Erin,
    I hope you find mochiko. Good luck!

    Michelle,
    Thanks for hosting!

    Nikki,
    Wet hands made it even worse. But I gladly ate off my sticky fingers. :)

    Marvin,
    I have no idea! I read a recipe that had a machine, but that didn't sound right b/c I always thought they were made by hand. I just gotta figure out how to make it smooth and soft.

    Kevin,
    Great minds think alike.

    Daphne,
    Green tea and red bean with strawberries sounds wonderful!

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  8. Hi, there
    finally tried the mochi for a Valentine's party, with nutella and/or peanut butter fillings

    A little messy & troublesome, but totally worth it

    Check out the result here:
    http://mochachocolatarita.blogspot.com/2008/02/chaotic-valentine.html

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  9. Hi, thanks for your recipe~
    We had a great time 'playing' with the Mochi and its YUM!

    Would like to try out a green tea version later on.. keke

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  10. MR & Liv,
    Your mochis looked awesome! I'm glad you had so much fun making them.

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  11. ...yes but how did it taste? it looks delicious, especially the picture before you rolled the mochi up! oh god and then mcrita talking about using pb...

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  12. Foodhoe,
    It tasted much better than it looked. I really need to re-do this recipe so I can put up new photos.

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  13. Ohhh I love love love Mochi. And Nutella is only the best thing ever. The two combined? Orgasmic!

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  14. Shannon,
    Orgasmic. Heh! Quite a compliment when I don't think they look nearly as good as they tasted.

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  15. Okay, I've tried this a couple of times and it seems to go better with dusting your hands and the dough with mochiko. Also, I get a much smoother appearance if I knead the dough fairly vigorously until it starts to loose its sheen and starts looking more like "storebought" mochi.

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  16. Hi


    There ist two ways to prepare sweets when using with rice floor.

    Unfortunately you took (and published) the wrong one (which I did too when I made mochi the first time :-)).

    You cook the dough before preparing it further when making sweets without filling (odango e.g.).

    If you want to fill the dough - and thats what you do to get mochi - you first fill it, and than cook. It is impossible to get a normal looking mochi if you try to handle the cooked and sticky dough while fillig. (and its a bad mess)

    Next time:
    1) make the dough
    2) fill it (take a ball, make it flat, put in the filling, form a ball again)
    3) take a pot, fill it 2/3 with water, bring to boil
    4) put the mochi in the boiling water (one after the other, so you can handle them better when they are ready)
    5) the mochi is good when it floats up to the surface of the water
    6) take it out
    7) floor the mochi immediately, so it wont be sticky afterwads

    (You could try to cook the dough in the microwave, but I never tried. Be careful, I think the filled mochi maybe will explode!
    It is a lot easier that way and the product will look presentable.


    Greetings, and a lot of fun.

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  17. Paper Doll,
    MochachocolataRita suggested the same thing and hers turned out much smoother too. I've been meaning to re-do this recipe and flour my hands more. I was afraid it would turn the mochi white, but the cocoa seems to come out anyway.

    Daifuku Mochi,
    Thanks for the tips. I followed the directions on my box of mochiko. There's often many ways to cook one dish so I'd hardly characterize this as the "wrong" way. It worked for me and for many others. I just needed to flour my hands more and roll out the dough thinner for a smoother appearance. I'd rather not fill mochi with melting chocolate and boil it. That method sounds much messier than my method.

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  18. Did you use liquid cocoa or powdered cocoa?

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  19. Patricia,
    I've never heard of liquid cocoa. You mean like Nestle Quik? But in this recipe, I used powdered cocoa.

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