I have to admit, I don’t celebrate this anymore – I’m sort of irate at the fact that they decided to get rid of Boy’s Day aka Tango no Sekku, on May 5. Instead they changed it to the all inclusive ‘Children’s Day.‘ If that’s the case, why not get rid of Girl’s Day too? I’m an equal opportunity non-celebrator. Still – come May 5 I always do something so *my* two boys aren’t forgotten.

Back to Girl’s Day – as always there are special foods and sweets to go along with the celebration. One is hishi mochi, a three color mochi in a rhombus shape that is pink on top, white, then green on the bottom. This is my homage to the hishi mochi, in cupcake form!

ingredients:
matcha mochi cupcakes (recipe here)
mascarpone frosting (recipe here)
chi chi dango mochi (recipe here)

Make the matcha mochi cupcakes – your ‘green’ layer.

Top with mascarpone frosting – the ‘white’ layer.

And finally add a small rhombus-y piece of chi chi dango mochi in pink, of course.

This is a lovely modern way to celebrate Girl’s Day!

Chi Chi Dango was what I always remember it being called in Hawaii – small squares of colorful mochi, sometimes plain sometimes with strong fruit flavors. But plain ol’ pink Chi Chi Dango has always been a favorite of mine.

ingredients:
1 box mochiko
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups water
1 (13.5 ounce) can coconut milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
pink food coloring
Potato starch (katakuriko)

Mochiko is a sweet rice flour and katakuriko is a fine, flavorless potato starch – both are available in asian markets or can easily be found online.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease a 9×13 inch pyrex with butter.
In a large mixing bowl whisk together the mochiko, sugar and baking powder.

Add the water, coconut milk and vanilla to the dry ingredients, mixing together well.

Pour the mixture into the prepped pan. Cover tightly with foil and place the pan in the center of the oven and bake for 1 hour. Uncover and cool for completely.

When the mochi is cool, cut it into squares using a plastic knife. This can be sticky stuff.

Roll the pieces around in the potato starch (katakuriko), that will keep the mochi from sticking to each other when you serve it.

Mochi anything I’ll take it! And adding matcha to a mochi cake gives it extra color and flavor that is simple and delicious.

ingredients:
1 pound (1 box) mochiko
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons matcha powder
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted
2 cups sugar
1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
4 eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prep cupcake pans with liners. (will make approx 24)

In a medium bowl whisk together the mochiko, baking powder, salt and matcha powder. Set aside.

In a separate bowl stir together the melted butter and sugar. Add the evaporated milk, vanilla and eggs.

Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well.

Spoon the batter into the prepped baking cups. Bake for 15-17 minutes depending on your oven.

Let cool on a wire rack, frost and serve!

For the Kid’s homework he was asked to make a ‘favorite recipe.’ The Kid loves to cook and the choice was easy: my neapolitan mochi cake. He followed the entire recipe himself (a little helping holding the bowl, etc) and in the end he got to eat his creation!

ingredients:
1 pound mochiko (1 box)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted
2 cups sugar
1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
2 Tablespoons Valrhona Cocoa Powder
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
pink gel food coloring

Mochiko is a sweet rice flour. It’s very fine, almost dusty. You can find it in most asian markets or online. It gives a familiar ‘chew’ to baked goods, reminiscent of mochi itself.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prep a bundt pan by greasing it with butter. Personally I never flour it, but that’s all on you.

In a medium bowl whisk together the mochiko, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Stir together the melted butter and sugar. Then add the evaporated milk. Add the vanilla and the eggs and mix well. Now add it to the dry ingredients and mix well.

Divide the batter into three bowls, leaving one bowl as is.

In the second bowl add the Valrhona cocoa powder and the chocolate chips. Stir well.

In the third bowl add a touch of pink gel food coloring just until you get a nice pink. Set aside.

In the prepped bundt pan, pour in the chocolate batter.

Top that with the vanilla (plain) and then finish it off with the pink.

Place the filled pan on a baking sheet and bake for 45-50 minutes depending on your oven. Check to see if it’s done by piercing it with a large skewer.

Let the cake cool in the pan, then turn the pan over onto a wire rack and the cake will pop right out.

Slicing into the unassuming cake and seeing all the pretty colors is what makes this cake so fun! The Kid loves the mochi texture and he likes to eat each color one at a time. This Kid is methodical.

This cake is a delicious and fun family treat!

Out of the 190 pounds of mochi that was made I took home a good 5 pounds of it. Most is for me to use on New Year’s Day but the rest…well, it’s to be eaten of course! Last year I did a rundown of different ways to eat mochi (here) and this year I had to get more creative. 5 pounds is a lot to go through.

By sandwiching pulled pork between the mochi and toasting it, you get a nice savory snack!

ingredients:
2 mochi
2 Tablespoons pulled pork (recipe here)

Take one mochi and place the pulled pork in the center. Take the other mochi and press it on top, pinching the sides together to seal.

Place on non-stick foil and put in the toaster for 10-15 minutes until the mochi starts to puff up and slightly brown.

Serve nice and toasty!

Let’s see, the difference between this year’s Mochi Making Day and 2009 and 2010 is that this year there was over 190 pounds of mochi!

The annual trip to the Food Librarian‘s family mochi making event did not disappoint. There was lots of mochi, fun and family.

After 56 years of doing this family event, the assembly line was rollin’.

This year there was more than enough help so I did the next best thing…sat around and ate for four hours. With a spread like this – wouldn’t you do that same?

That’s just ONE table of food.
Here’s the second buffet table:

And the salad table:

AND don’t forget the dessert buffet table:

It takes a lot of food to feed a crew of family members making 190 pounds of mochi. Typical of Japanese-American parties there was sushi, enchiladas and tamales. That’s how we roll – Mexican food is a Japanese-American tradition, don’t you know.

Now I have a box of fresh mochi for my Oshogatsu Ozoni – Japanese New Year’s soup. I’m off to prepare for my own personal cooking marathon – New Year’s Day. Wish me luck.

Mochiko is one of my favorite ingredients. Savory or sweet, it’s so versatile. This is a take on old skool Hawaiian custard mochi but in cake form filled with beautiful fresh blueberries! A lovely cake with that special mochi ‘chew’.

ingredients:
1 pound mochiko (1 box)
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted
2 cups sugar
1 can evaporated milk
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1-1/2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×13 pan with melted butter. Set aside.

Mochikois a sweet rice flour that you can find in Japanese markets or even online. It adds a chewiness to both desserts and savory dishes.

Stir together the sugar and the melted butter. Add the evaporated milk and mix well. Then add the eggs one at a time, along with the vanilla.

Carefully stir in the mochiko, baking powder and salt.

After the batter is mixed, fold in the blueberries. If you are using frozen, move quickly – the batter will start to color or ‘gray’.

Pour the mixture into the prepped pan and bake for 1 hour.

Let the cake cool in the pan and then cut it into squares to serve.

This dessert is a lovely blueberry cake with an added surprise of a mochi chewy consistency. It’s perfect with afternoon coffee and tea!

I am the self-proclaimed Queen of Mochi (can I get a what what??) and I tend to go overboard with desserts for New Year’s but I think I topped myself with this. There’s nothing better to me than fresh mochi and when you fill that with classic peanut butter and jelly? That’s love right there.

ingredients:
3-1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp food coloring
1 box mochiko
peanut butter
jelly
potato starch

peanut butter
jelly

Prep a cutting board by sprinkling liberally with potato starch. This needs to be totally ready to go since you will be running over to it with boiling hot mochi. Set aside.

*this image by the Food Librarian

In a large pot, boil the water and the sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Add the food coloring and stir.

Now the work – add the box of mochiko to the tinted sugar water and stir like crazy!! HURRY – if you don’t work fast it won’t come together and you’ll get the dreaded lumps.

Now quick, dump it on your prepped cutting board and sprinkle with potato starch so it doesn’t dry out. DO IT! If this recipe sounds hectic, it is. It’s a heck of a lot of work, all based on timing.

Pull off a piece of mochi, round it out in your hand and flatten it. Fill with about 3/4 teaspoon of peanut butter, and just as much jelly.

Pinch the edges closed and flatten it into a little mochi shape.

One bite and you get a little pocket of pb & j plus some nice chewy mochi, the perfect comforting snack to show your family and friends that you care. Aw.

For the New Year’s Day party I always make An (sweet red bean) mochi, this time just for fun, I played around with a bunch of different fillings, one of which should be a given to fill ANYTHING…Nutella.

Mochi + Chocolatey spread = happiness.

ingredients:
3-1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar
¼ tsp food coloring (I prefer pink)
1 box mochiko
nutella
potato starch
Nutella

Prep a cutting board by sprinkling liberally with potato starch. This needs to be totally ready to go since you will be running over to it with boiling hot mochi. Set aside.

*this image by the Food Librarian

In a large pot, boil the water and the sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Add the food coloring and stir. I used purple, so that I could tell the the ones with the Nutella apart from all the other mochis. Like a mochi Scarlet Letter.

Now the work – add the box of mochiko to the tinted sugar water and stir like crazy!! HURRY – if you don’t work fast it won’t come together and you’ll get the dreaded lumps.

Now quick, dump it on your prepped cutting board and sprinkle with potato starch so it doesn’t dry out. DO IT! If this recipe sounds hectic, it is. It’s a heck of a lot of work, all based on timing.

Now pull off a piece of mochi, kind of round it out in your hand and flatten it. Fill with about 3/4 teaspoon of Nutella. Pinch the edges closed and flatten a bit into a little mochi shape.

They are sweet, don’t get me wrong. So you might want to keep them on the small size so as not to put people into sugar comas.

If you eat these freshly made, the mochi is hot and warms up the Nutella and, oh lordy. Heaven.

I came up with this recipe for Vanilla Mochi Donuts to enter the Spice Islands Vanilla Challenge and I was one of the three finalists!

Wanting to bring out the best of the ingredients, I used not only vanilla extract but vanilla sugar. Is there anything more satisfying than a piece of fried dough covered in sugar? I think not. Add mochiko AND vanilla into the mix and you’ve got the perfect combination!

ingredients:
2 cups mochiko (sweet rice flour)
2 cups flour
1-1/2 cups vanilla sugar**
3 eggs
1-1/2 cups whole milk
4 Tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons Spice Islands Vanilla Extract

oil (for frying)

1/2 cup vanilla sugar**

The only thing you will have to make ahead is the vanilla sugar. Scrape and bury a vanilla bean into two cups of sugar. Keep in an airtight container until you are ready to use.

In a large bowl mix together the mochiko, flour, vanilla sugar, eggs, milk, baking powder and vanilla. Set aside. (Mochiko is a Japanese rice flour that can be found in asian sections of the market or online. Mochiko gives a nice ‘chew’ perfect for these donuts.)

Heat the oil in a large skillet or a home fryer.

Drop by the Tablespoon into the hot oil. They will expand a lot. Also the mochiko makes the batter very pull-y and sticky, so try your best to keep it formed into nice round shapes.

Once the dough pops up and floats, fry until golden brown, a few minutes on each side. Drain them on a wire rack.

While still hot, roll the donuts in the vanilla sugar mixture.

My prize? A YEAR’S supply of vanilla! That’s a lot of vanilla.

For more info about the contest and the other winners, here.