You've probably heard of Japanese mochi - you know, the rice that has been pounded and pounded until it turns into a thick, white gooey paste. Mochi is a big part of Japanese food culture. It is traditionally eaten on New year's day - typically in a soup called Ozoni - to bring people strength and good health through the months of winter.
But mochi doesn't have to be just about rice. This recipe shows you how to make mochi with sweet potato. There's no pounding necessary to make this - just a couple of minutes of mashing and then a couple of minutes of stirring and your sweet potatoes will have turned into a nice, smooth mochi paste. Like rice mochi, you don't eat sweet potato mochi by itself. In this recipe, i give my sweet potato mochi a sweet soy sauce. To make them extra rich, I put a little nugget of mozarella chesse inside when I form them into patties. If you prefer not to include cheese, by all means don't, these will taste very good without it - it's just - well, I love eating them with cheese!
Once I've made my patties, I fry them for about two minutes on each side. The sweet potato is already cooked, so the frying is just about colour and creating a thin, firmer skin on the outside and melting the mozarella into a stringy goo on the inside. Once the sweet potato mochi are fried, I turn them out onto a plate and spoon the sauce into the hot pan to get it bubbling and nice and thick. This only takes a few seconds. Then the sweet potato mochi go back into the pan with the sauce and your dish is ready to serve. These mochi make a great starter or you can put them onto the dinner table with some other courses. However you serve them, I know you will get nods and smiles of appreciation and questions, like "are there any more?"
If you'd like to sample the joys of sweet potato mochi, the written recipe is just below. If you'd like to take a look at the Youtube tutorial, you can find it by clicking Sweet Potato Mochi or by scrolling to the bottom of the page.
Happy cooking! Kurumi XXXX
ingredients:
(makes 6 Sweet Potato Mochi for 2 - 3 servings)
300g / 10 oz sweet potato
half a small mozzarella cheese (approx. 60g / 2 oz)
1.5 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp potato flour
for the sauce;
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
30ml / 1 fl oz cold water
1/2 tsp potato flour
1 tbsp vegetable oil for frying
how to:
peel and cut the sweet potato into small chunks
put the chunks into a saucepan and cover with cold water. bring to the boil and simmer for 10 mins or until cooked
meanwhile, to make the sauce, put 2 tbsp of sugar, 2 tbsp of soy sauce, 30ml / 1 fl oz of cold water and 1/2 tsp of potato flour in a small bowl. mix well, then set aside
cut the mozzarella into 6 equal slices
drain the sweet potato chunks well and mash into a smooth paste with no bits
add the sugar and the potato flour. mix well until you have a smooth, thick paste.
divide into 6 pieces
now wet your hands, so that the sweet potato won't stick to your fingers. put 1/6 of the sweet potato paste into the palm of your hand. flatten it a little and put a piece of mozzarella into the middle. fold the sweet potato over the mozzarella to form a mochi.
repeat until you have 6 sweet potato mochi patties
heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan. fry your mochi for about 2 mins before turning over and frying for another 1-2 minutes until lightly browned
remove the sweet potato mochi onto a plate
put the sauce mixture into a frying pan and stir - it will thicken quickly. return the sweet potato mochi back to the pan and your dish is ready to serve
transfer the sweet potato mochi to a plate and spoon over the sauce
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