Chewy with sweet red bean paste filling, you can now experience the taste of cherry blossom season in Japan by making these sweet pink Sakura Mochi at home. Enjoy the recipe!
Sakura Mochi (桜餅) is a type of wagashi (Japanese confectionery) made of sweet pink mochi (sweet rice or sometimes called glutinous rice). It’s usually filled with sweet red bean paste and wrapped in a salty pickled cherry leaf.
Sakura means cherry blossoms in Japanese and both flowers and leaves are used in Japanese cooking, especially with making sweets. Sakura mochi is usually eaten on Girl’s Day (known as Hinamatsuri) on March 3rd and enjoyed throughout the spring season in Japan.
Watch How to Make Sakura Mochi
Chewy mochi with sweet anko filling is simply delectable! Mix in the aroma of cherry blossom leaves and the experience is simply amazing!
Kanto-style vs Kansai-style Sakura Mochi
The style of Sakura Mochi in Japan actually differs by region.
Generally, the east of Japan or the Kanto region (Tokyo area) uses shiratamako (sweet rice/glutinous rice flour 白玉粉) as the main ingredient for mochi. It resembles a mini pancake rolled up.
The west of Japan or Kansai region (Osaka, Kyoto etc) uses domyojiko (coarsely broken sweet rice/glutinous rice 道明寺粉) and you can actually see grains of sweet rice, like the one I shared for this recipe. Domyojiko is cooked sweet rice that is dried and broken into smaller pieces.
Both shiratamako and domyojiko are available in Japanese supermarkets but not in Asian grocery stores.
Important Tips on Making Mochi
For this recipe, I actually used regular sweet rice and cooked from scratch. Then I broke the grains into smaller bits and pieces by pounding the sweet rice. If you could find domyojiko, go ahead and use it instead since it’ll save you a bit of work.
Now please remember that Japanese short-grain sweet rice/glutinous rice is NOT the same as Thai/Chinese long-grain glutinous rice. Mochi made of long-grain glutinous rice is more starchy and it’s not the same as Japanese mochi texture (I wouldn’t recommend substituting Japanese glutinous rice with Thai/Chinese variety).
Sometimes you might see a cherry blossom on top of the Sakura Mochi. They are pickled just like pickled cherry leaves. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the luck to find them this season so I omitted it. If you could find them, soak in water to remove the brine and salt, just like how I did it for the leaves. Decorate the mochi with cherry blossom on top.
Sakura Mochi has a nice balance of the taste between the salty pickled leaves and sweet red bean paste. The texture of the chewy sweet glutinous rice with sweet Anko filling is simply delectable. Mix in the aroma of cherry blossom and the experience is simply amazing! Make some green tea and enjoy the mochi with it. Happy Spring!
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want to look for substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.
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- ¾ cup sweet rice/glutinous rice (Mochigome) (180 ml)
- ¾ cup water (180 ml)
- 1 drop red food coloring
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 3 Tbsp red bean paste (anko) (100 g; Tsubuan or Koshian; for the homemade recipe, click here.)
- 6 pickled sakura leaves (Buy online, click here.)
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Gather all the ingredients.
- Rinse the sweet rice and soak it for at least 1 hour to overnight.
- Soak the sakura leaves in water for 15 minutes to remove salt. Then dry the leaves with paper towel.
- Wet your hands and roll anko into 6 small balls between hands.
- Drain well and put the sweet rice in a large bowl.
- Add water and red food coloring and mix well (don’t add too much as the color of the mochi will be too pink. I think I added a little too much.).
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Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 6 minutes (1000W). Mix once in between.
- Uncover the plastic wrap and mix. Then cover with kitchen towel for 5 minutes.
- Add sugar in the sweet rice and mix all together.
- Pound the sweet rice with pestle until sweet rice is very sticky (keep some rice shape). Divide the rice into 6 portions.
- On the prep surface, place a sheet of plastic wrap and spray a bit of water. Place 1/6 of sweet rice and spread into a rectangular shape. Make sure there is no void in the center area.
- Place an anko ball in the center and roll the sweet rice over it to cover anko.
- Tighten the plastic wrap and twist to make a nice oval shape.
- Lastly wrap with a sakura leaf. Leave it at room temperature for an hour or so till the mochi absorbs the flavors from the sakura leaf. Enjoy!
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
Other Japanese Sweets on Just One Cookbook
- If you are interested in learning about wagashi, check out Wagashi Guide: History of Japanese Confectioneries.
- Strawberry Mochi (Ichigo Daifuku)
I absolutely adore sakura mochi! (Though I’ve only ever had the Kansai-style one.) I’ve always wondered about the domyojiko so thanks for showing and explaining how to make it from scratch.
You’re very welcome, Kimmi! Thank you very much for reading my post and for your kind comment! Have a wonderful week ahead. 🙂
I can’t wait to try this Sakura mochi with mochi rice instead of mochiko. Thank you for sharing!
Hi Donna! You’re welcome. I hope you enjoy this recipe! 🙂
Pretty! <3
Thank you Ethel! 🙂
I love sakura mochi. I was fortunate enough to do a taste test and I preferred the Kansai-style sakura mochi. But the absolute fav was ichigo daifuku haha, so good.
Hi Asami! Yeah it’s hard to beat that ichigo daifuku! 😉 I can eat 3 ichigo daifuku but one sakura mochi is enough for me. Hehee =P
You are very kind to think of us way over here in the Land Down Under (and of course the rest of the Southern Hemisphere). We are enjoying lots of blossoming fruit trees everywhere, though most of the cherries have finished. I may not be able to find the ingredients for this, but my goodness you are giving me the incentive to try!
Hi Kate! Oh cherry blossoms are already finished!? I just heard from other readers in somewhere Southern Hemisphere saying it’s still cold and not spring yet. =P I hope you get to try this wagashi one day! 🙂
Thank you so much for posting a spring recipe for those of us in the Southern hemisphere! I’m really touched that you decided to do this, as it’s so rare for anyone in the Northern hemisphere to think of this.
I’m especially happy that you posted about Sakura Mochi as just yesterday I received some pickled sakura leaves and flowers in the mail! I definitely want to make these wagashi this spring!
Hi Skye! Aww thank you so much for leaving a kind comment! I have a lot of readers especially in Australia and South America and I always think of them (and feeling guilty of sharing cold summer recipes in the middle of winter – how awful!). I hope you enjoy this recipe. You have both leaves and flowers. Enjoy this wagashi this season! Thank you again!
I recently found your blog, and I love so many of your recipes and photos! These mochi look so beautiful and delicious. Do you know how long they will keep? I want to make them for a family event, and was wondering if I could make them ahead of time or if they have to be consumed the same day. Thank you!
Hi Taylor! Thank you for your kind words about my blog! Mochi gets harder so it’s next to be eaten on the same day but next day should be still okay. 🙂
Dear Ms. Nami,
I’m non-Japanese and really want to make this Sakura mochi. But the ingredients is my problem now. The picked Sakura leaves as I see the link you let us know to buy online is just too expensive. $345 per pack.
Could you please help me to let me know, maybe I could use the other kind of leaves besides Sakura leaves? The other kind of leaves which is cheap and easy to find by non-Japanese to replace sakura leaves?
I hope you can help me and reply to me.
Thank you very much.
Best Regards,
Pus
Hi Puspa! The link I sent you says $2.79 for 10 pieces.
http://anything-from-japan.com/pickled-sakura-leaves-10pcs
No, can’t really use other leaves for this recipe… Let me know if you see the wrong $ amount.
Happy Girls Day! I decided to be brave and try make these for Girls Day. My first mochi was a disaster [this will be my mochi 😉 ]. But I kinda got the hang of it after the first one. I also learned that the type of plastic wrap used is everything. I usually use Glad Press ‘n Seal for everything, but the mochi sticks to it too much, even with spraying water. So luckily I had some regular plastic wrap. That made all the difference. My mochi are not quite as pretty as yours, but not bad for a first try. Mahalo!
Hi Debbie! Thank you for the sweet wishes! Thank you for sharing the tip on the plastic wrap! I didn’t notice it until you mentioned. Practice will help the aesthetic element of the mochi (I don’t think mine is perfect either as I don’t make it all the time). 🙂
Happy Girls Day! These are just beautiful. How long will they last? And how do you store them? I have found that freezing mochi works beautifully to keep the texture nice. Could these be frozen also if I wanted to make in advance? I love your blog! Thank you again.
Hi Lisa! Thank you for the kind wishes! They would last like 2 days, maybe? It’s made of glutinous rice, so unless you put a lot of sugar, it tends to become hard. You can freeze them if you make a lot. 🙂 Thank you so much for reading my blog! xo
Hello, I was wondering if it’s ok to use expired sakura leaves? Or would it be better to throw it? I bought the pickled cherry blossoms and used those but I placed the sakura leaves inside a cabinet and forgot about it until now… The expiration date is 2017.3.31. There’s no visible signs of anything bad growing on the leaves. Thank you.
Hi KM! If I were you, I’d probably use it ONLY IF there is no sign of mold or anything bad… if it was 2016, I’d throw away. 🙂 Enjoy them soon! xo
I was wondering about how to make the gelatinous part that is sometimes around the saruramochi or maybe sakuramanju. I’m not sure what it was called. It also was covered with a cherry leaf when I have had it in Japan.
Hi Amy! Is it Sakura Kuzu Manju?
https://www.google.com/search?q=%E6%A1%9C%E3%81%8F%E3%81%9A%E3%81%BE%E3%82%93%E3%81%98%E3%82%85%E3%81%86&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS727US727&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwikx7CT7rjaAhXmhlQKHXOnBfIQ_AUoAXoECAAQAw&biw=1353&bih=775
It uses Kuzu (in English it’s written Kudzu, I think?). I had never worked on making desserts with kuzu before, but one day I want to try…. Hope this helps!
It might be kudzu but it was not completely solid. It was so good. Maybe it had cherry juice in it. Years ago I had it from Mitsukoshi, from the food counter downstairs and also several years ago at a small neighborhood store in Kobe I think. It is so delicious.
Hi Amy! If you have a picture, let me know. I’d love to see how it’s like. Not kanten (agar agar), right?
Hi Nami,
I think maybe it was kanten or water jelly around the an and I think it was very soft and melted quickly in the kanten part. It seemed syrupy, semi solid. It had a cherry flavor from the leaf. You may be right. Perhaps there was no mochi but I thought there was. Those are the only pictures that are close.
Amy
Hi Amy! I haven’t had these wagashi for a while, and it just doesn’t ring the bell… but I kind of know what you’re talking about. I’ve probably seen it before. There are so many wagashi in Japan. SO much more to explore. 🙂
Can I freeze these and eat later? I’ve bought commercially made ones and they’ve been frozen and you can eat them after defrosting them in room temperature. Thank you!!
Hi Judy! Yes, you can do the same. 🙂
I made these today with your pressure cooker anko recipe! It tastes great! Not too sweet and homemade anko is so much better than store bought 😊
Hi Judy! Wonderful! I’m so happy to hear you made the homemade anko! Super fast and easy with the pressure cooker method. 🙂 Thank you so much for your kind feedback!
Hello, I am in California and I am desperately looking for the food coloring you have. Where do you think can I buy it? Online? Thank you!
Hi Joyce! It’s really good question. I don’t remember but I might have brought back from either Japan (if so, I’m surprised at myself for thinking ahead of time to buy and bring back… ) or Nijiya…but I doubt Nijiya carries it. 🙁 So sorry… most likely I think I grabbed it from a grocery shopping while I was in Japan.