← Nouns Cooking · Japanese

Ingredients

• 100 g shiratamako or glutinous rice flour
• 50 g joshinko or rice flour
• 40 g Sugar
• 150 g silken tofu (or about 120 ml water)
• ¼ tsp matcha, mixed with a few drops of water
• 1 pinch a tiny dot of red or pink food colouring

Method

1. Mix both flours and the sugar in a bowl. Add the tofu bit by bit, squeezing and kneading with your hands, until the dough is smooth and as soft as an earlobe. Add a few drops of water if it is crumbly.
2. Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces. Knead the matcha into one and a tiny dot of colouring into another to make it pale pink. Leave the third white.
3. Roll each colour into 8 balls about 2.5 cm across.
4. Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Cook the dumplings in batches; when they float to the top, cook for 2 min more.
5. Lift them into a bowl of iced water for 1 minute to firm up, then drain well.
6. Thread one of each colour onto skewers in the order pink, white, green. Eat on the day; they harden in the fridge.

Tips

• The colours represent spring blossom, lingering snow and new leaves.
• Drizzle with kuromitsu or mitarashi sauce, or roll in kinako, for extra sweetness. Like all mochi, cut them into small bites for children and older people.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Just One Cookbook Chopstick Chronicles Japanese Cooking 101