Japanese Rice Cake
My dish for the healthy dessert challenge hosted by @healthsquared and @sweetsssj is the mochi.
I was thinking a while about the filling and decided at the end for the traditional anko, made from adzuki beans, also known as red mung beans.
There is a funny story about this Japanese darling. Daifuku mochi means big belly rice cake but since the pronunciation of fuku for belly and luck is the same, it became the great luck rice cake. Lets see if this bringer of good luck delivers to its claims :)
My desserts is healthy for people with a low fat, high carb way of life, so keep that in mind.
At the end of the article I will explain why this is important.
Serves 4
caster sugar 1 cup
mochi rice 125 g
water 450 ml
silken tofu 200 g
adzuki beans 300 g, soak for 6 hours
water 1.2 l
corn starch
pinch of salt
First bring the rise to a boil in 450 ml of water. Reduce to a small flame and cook for 45 minutes.
Mochi rice is a glutenous rice with lack of amylose and high amounts of amylopectin, the two components of starch, which gives him his sticky qualities.
When the rice is ready, mix it well with the silken tofu for about 5-10 minutes.
For another 20 minutes let it firm in a water bath on a small flame. Stir occasionally.
Normally adzuki beans need really long to cook, so I use a pressure cooker for this recipe. Add 1.2 liters of water, wait til the pressure builds up on high flame, reduce to small and cook for 20 minutes.
SteemPower! After releasing the pressure, add the caster sugar and stir on medium or little lower.
When you cut with the wooden spoon through the mush and it needs one second to close, you are ready to go.
Let it cool a little, then leave for the food processor. This is koshian style, for tsubuan style, the chunky alternative, you can omit this step.
Now pour the cornstarch onto your cutting board and have a towel prepared. You can wet your fingers slightly to get the dough easier out of the bowl, but once on the board, dry your hands and powder the pancake on boath sides by flipping and squeezing.
With a spoon, for better portioning, place the adzuki paste on the cake, take it in your hand, form a little bowl squeeze the upper part with your other hand, then roll between your hands to a nice little ball.
Enjoy your little bringer of good luck. 🍀
Hope you enjoyed my litte excursus into the land of the rising sun.
Until next time,
Miron
Bonus Material
There are two camps regarding a healthy diet, one is the low carb high fat fraction, like the paleo diet and the other side is low on fat and prefers either starch or sugar as main energy source.
Both camps on it's own have health benefits, and as @healthsquared stated correctly, the problem is high in fat AND high in sugar. If fat is kept in place at a level around 10% of total calories, sugar is actually good for you, it even improves your insulin sensitivity.
Check out the Video for some good sources of research.
