Happy Lunar New Year, friends! It’s been kind of a long week, so I won’t write too much today. Instead, I’ll just leave you with this super easy-peasy recipe for the quintessential LNY dessert — cute little teeny mochi, up on Food52 today. I was absolutely thrilled with how these came out. The only variations on mochi I’d made in the past were nian gao, which is a bit cakier, since it’s baked uncovered, and butter mochi, which is quite a bit oilier, because … butter. These are made tightly covered with foil, and they came out of the oven dreamily soft but still chewy, substantial but still light, with just the right amount of sweetness. And cutting them up and powdering them made me feel like an old-timey red-and-white-stripes confectioner.
You can do so much more with this blank canvas recipe, too. I made another batch using one teaspoon of matcha powder (whisked into the dry ingredients) and 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract (added to the wet), and was obsessed with them. (Not shown, because our carbon monoxide alarm went off just as they went into the oven … a story for another day… and they came out looking kind of special.) I’m also kind of dying to try it with rosewater? (Turkish delight, but MOCHI.) So many possibilities.
TGIF and happy Year of the Horse!
Magda
Happy Lunar year to you too! I am not familiar with these but I would love to give them a try. They look like they’re easy to make. Perhaps will add the suggested matcha powder as I got some just yesterday.
Have a nice weekend!
tworedbowls
They are so easy to make! 🙂 I was kind of amazed. And oh my gosh, I almost want to demand that you use the matcha powder 😉 hahaha. I loved it. The green tea flavor is subtle but amazing.
{Main St. Cuisine}
I enjoyed reading your post here and over at food 52! You’ve given us such an easy tutorial both in words and in photos. We are in the midst of our Chinese New Year celebrations here since I married into a Chinese family. This would be such a lovely and sweet addition to the celebratory menu!
tworedbowls
Oh, how awesome!! Yay! What amazing things are you eating? We actually don’t have much planned right now besides these leftovers (I’m such a bad Chinese child!) Have to stock up at the grocery store tonight for some last-minute goodies! Happy LNY, Allison!
Cate @ Chez CateyLou
I still remember the first time I tried mochi – it was at pinkberry! And I was obsessed! I should try to make them – yours look so pretty and so delicious!
tworedbowls
Oh my gosh, I think you’ll love them if you try making them at home — I usually don’t add too many at the froyo places but when you make them yourself, somehow they’re way more delicious (and a million times cuter!) Thanks as always for your sweet words, Cate! 🙂
S
Ach, I do not know why it has taken me so long to eat this stuff. I have been squinting at the pictures trying to imagine what it is like – so far I’m picturing somewhere between Indian sweets & Turkish delight!
I’m going to have a go at your recipe next week. I’ll report back! 🙂
tworedbowls
Haha!! I can’t wait to hear how it compares with what you’re imagining. I actually am dying to try it with some rose extract or syrup to make an East Asian-ified Turkish delight. Let me know how it goes!
Renee Shuman (@FrolicChocolate)
Mochi! So lovely and squishy and sweet. I was just talking about my mochi cravings, actually. Now I’ll have to make some! And I LOVE how you used that sweet pink scarf as a backdrop. Really brightens up the image.
tworedbowls
Yay!! I hope you like it if you try it :):) and aw, thank you so much for your detailed feedback, Renee! They are such a treat. (As for the backdrop, you’re going to get very tired of it very soon … hahaha. Now that I have it, I can’t stop using it in photos!)
saucygander
Your instructions look much easier than some traditional mochi and nian gao recipes, even though CNY has passed (I also had to do some last minute shopping, inconvenient for the lunar new years eve to fall on a Thursday!) I will make these soon!
tworedbowls
Yay! Yes, it was really amazingly easy. I actually tried another recipe today for the kind you wrap around fillings and it was even easier — just nuked in the microwave for literally a minute. Kinda nuts how it comes together into deliciousness so easily. I hope you like it if you try it! 🙂
Linda
Happy year of the horse! I loved celebrating Chinese new year growing up (except no extended family to celebrate it with, which would’ve been awesome), but ever since moving away from home, I forget about it year after year, this year being no exception. Kind of a pathetic representative of the Chinese race, huh?
And your mochi is gorgeous!! I love anything with that soft chewy texture, like gummy bears. Or tangyuan (the boiled sticky rice flour balls)! And yes to matcha! It must turn it the loveliest shade of green.
tworedbowls
Hahah, girl — you know what we had for long-life noodles yesterday? Shin ramyun. Are noodles still long-life if they contain life-shortening preservatives? The irony is overwhelming.
Aw, but thank you! I LOVE tangyuan too 🙂 so comforting. I need to figure out how to make those too (I have a bunch of red bean paste leftover, so it’d be perfect! Mm.)
stephanie
They look so mochi-mochi! I’ll have to try making these one day! And, as always, love your photos!
tworedbowls
Aw, thank you, Stephanie! Adore your blog, so that means a lot 🙂 And yes, do try it! It’s so so easy and yummy. Happy LNY!
Jessica's Dinner Party
Yum! These look so chewy and yummy. Happy Lunar New Year!
tworedbowls
Thanks, Jessica!! 🙂 Happy LNY to you, too!
carey
Happy Lunar New Year!! And uh oh….I did not realize that mochi was so easy to make. This could be dangerous. (: I also love love LOVE the idea of adding rosewater to it — sort of like a mochi riff on Turkish delight. And both green tea and almond versions sound glorious too. Yuuuum.
Also, I am SO curious: Where did you get that awesome cloth?? It looks so much like one I have (the one I used in those blackberry ice cream photos!), which I found in an antique shop last spring. It’s one of my favorite props (both for its color/texture and the fact that it’s stiff enough that I can almost mold it), but it also smells like it was sitting in the back of someone’s pantry for about 30 years collecting dust before it found its way to the antique shop. If there are other ones around that don’t actually smell like antiques, I’d definitely be tempted to buy one. (:
tworedbowls
Oh my god, I can’t tell you how obsessed I am with this idea of rose mochi. Even though I just made enough mochi to feed a small army, I neeeed to try this Turkish moch-elight. Need.
I just got it from Etsy! I’m not gonna lie, I was inspired by yours! Such three-dimensional texture, I’m in love with it. B2 had to stop me from throwing it in every one of my photos. The one I ordered is here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/125424874/pick-1-overzised-cheesecloth-wrap-34?ref=transaction_complement There are so many colors, too! (Who knew that this was a thing for baby photography, by the way? Not I, said the fly.)
carey
OmgomgOMG…….so.many.colors. Ahhhh!!!! THE OATMEAL ♥. Ok, I’m definitely about to spend $50 on cheesecloth. Thank you!!! 😀
And I never, ever would have guessed things like this were used for baby photos. (I’m laughing imagining my old, scratchy, dust-smelling cheesecloth wrapped around a poor baby. That would not be good.)
Cicily Corbett
Thanks for your recipe; I just made it (found on Food52) and it tastes great! I made mine rose-flavored (my husband was Iranian so that’s a popular flavor in my household). You can view my results here if you’re so inclined: http://cicilycorbett.blogspot.com/2014/02/rose-mochi.html
tworedbowls
I’m so excited to hear that, Cicily (and was so thrilled to read your post just now!) You and I are on the same page — after I made my plain batch, I went right on to green tea and rose just like you! 🙂 I loved it with rosewater. So happy that you tried my recipe!
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