Microwave Mochi (Daifuku)

What is daifuku?

Daifuku is a common Japanese confection consisting of mochi dough and a sweet filling. Typically served with green tea, it is a very popular snack and sweet. The dessert is traditionally made through a laborious process of pounding and shaping steamed glutinous sweet rice. However, glutinous rice flour can be found at supermarkets, and you can make this dessert in a matter of minutes in your own kitchen!

Variations

Daifuku is usually around the size of the palm of your hand, but I like to make them ~mini~.

The most common filling is sweet red bean paste (anko), but you can also fill them with fresh mango, strawberries (ichigo daifuku), sweet black sesame paste, or a combination of them! Find my homemade red bean paste recipe here.

Rather than rolling them in potato or cornstarch, you could also roll them in unsweetened desiccated coconut flakes for a tropical twist.

anko daifuku

strawberry and black sesame daifuku

black sesame daifuku

black sesame daifuku with coconut

mango daiufuku with coconut

strawberry and anko daifuku

Microwave Mini Daifuku
Prep Time: 20 mins
Yield: 16 mini daifuku (or 8 regular-sized)

Ingredients

• 120 g glutinous rice flour
• 30 g granulated sugar
• 180 g water
• 2-4 tbsp potato starch (for dusting)
• 2/3 cup sweet red bean paste or other filling
  
  

Directions

1. Divide red bean paste into 16 small balls and place in refrigerator to firm.
2. In a bowl, stir granulated sugar into water until fully dissolved.
3. Place rice flour in a microwave-safe bowl. Pour sugar-water mixture into the rice flour and stir together until no lumps remain.
4. Microwave mochi dough for 2 minutes.
5. Remove from microwave, stir through quickly, and return to microwave for another 30 seconds or until it begins to inflate.
6. Remove from microwave and stir through again.
7. On a large sheet pan or cutting board, sprinkle potato starch and spread into a thin layer. Scoop out the mochi dough onto the sheet and cover in potato starch. Be careful, as the dough is very hot.
8. Using a serrated knife or pizza cutter, divide dough into 16 equal pieces and flatten into a disk. It does not need to be perfectly round.
9. Remove red bean filling from the refrigerator and place one ball of filling in the center of a flattened mochi disk.
10. Form the dough around the filling, squeezing the seams together around it. Dust any sticky parts of the mochi with potato starch and repeat with the remaining mochi.
11. Store at room temperature up to 24 hours or freeze immediately. Do not store in the refrigerator or the mochi dough will become brittle and dry.

For regular-sized daifuku, divide the filling and mochi into 8 equal pieces rather than 16. If you fill the daifuku with strawberries or larger fillings, I reccomend making larger daifuku so the mochi dough doesn't break.

Per mini mochi (no filling): 36 calories: 8.5 g carbs; 0 g fat; 0.5 g protein