Prep Time: 10 mins plus 2 hours soaking time
Cook Time: 20-30 mins
Total Time: 2 hours 30 mins
Servings: Makes around 8 mochi balls
Recipe by Justine Sherratt @tokyopony
Sakura mochi is a mochi rice cake with a sweet red bean paste filling and wrapped in a salted pickled Sakura leaf and topped with a preserved or dried cherry blossom flower. They are a nice combination of sweet and salty. Perfect with a green tea. Or to enjoy on a hanami (cherry blossom viewing) picnic.
Ingredients:
- 75g Glutinous mochi rice* (mochigome)
- 75g Japanese sushi rice
- Anko (sweet bean paste) for the filling
- Salted preserved sakura leaves
- Dried sakura flowers for decoration
- If you want to add a little colour of pink to the rice, you can use a small amount of beetroot powder or juice.
Method:
- Wash and rinse your rice together until the water runs clear then tip this into a sieve and leave to air for ten minutes.
- Put your rice in your rice cooker with 1 1/2 rice cooker cups of water (this is about 200ml). Leave for at least two hours to soak. Then cook your rice.
- When the rice is done add a little beetroot powder and mash your rice but leave some grains visible.
- Leave to cool covered with a damp cloth.
- Divide the rice equally into roughly 8 balls and flatten out each ball with damp hands so the rice doesn’t stick.
- In the middle of each flattened ball add a small ball of bean paste.
- Fold the rice over the bean paste.
- Rinse the sakura leaves with water and pat dry with kitchen towel. Place each ball on the widest park of the leaf and fold the leaf over the top of the mochi.
- Rinse each sakura blossom with water and pat dry and add to the top of your sakura mochi.
- Enjoy under a beautiful cherry blossom tree!
To see other amazing recipes by Justine, visit her webpage at tokyopony.com or follow her on Instagram at @tokyopony
*Don’t have Mochi Rice? You can use pre ground Mochiko rice flour using this method:
Prepare the Mochiko Dough
- In a mixing bowl, combine 75g of mochiko flour with water.
- Stir until smooth and thick, ensuring no lumps remain.
- Microwave for 1–2 minutes, stir, and microwave again in 30-second intervals until the dough becomes glossy and sticky. Alternatively, steam the mixture in a heatproof dish for 15 minutes.
Mash & Combine the Sushi Rice
- Using a spoon or a potato masher, mash the cooked sushi rice lightly—don’t make it a full paste; leave some texture.
- Gradually mix the sushi rice into the cooked mochiko dough, kneading with wet hands or a spatula until well incorporated.