Sakura Mochi is a chewy, light pink glutinous rice ball filled with sweet red bean paste and wrapped in an edible pickled cherry blossom leaf. In Japan, we enjoy this delectable salty-and-sweet confectionery for Girls’ Day and cherry blossom viewing in the springtime.
Please note: If you liked my previous microwave method, please read the instructions at the end of this recipe.
Gather all the ingredients. Please note that 1 rice cooker cup is ¾ US cup (180 ml). Overfill a plastic rice cooker cup with uncooked short-grain glutinous rice and level it off. If you don‘t have a rice cooker cup, you can use a ¾ US cup measure instead.
To Wash the Glutinous Rice
Put 1 rice cooker cup sweet rice/glutinous rice (mochigome) in a large bowl. Add just enough water to the bowl to submerge all the rice. Then, discard the water immediately. Repeat one more time.Tip: Rice absorbs water very quickly when you start rinsing, so this step helps remove impurities from the rice and prevent it from absorbing the first few rounds of milky water.
Next, use your fingers to gently agitate the wet rice grains in a circular motion for 10–15 seconds. Add water and immediately discard the cloudy water; add more water and repeat. Tip: Using very little water allows the grains to rub against each other. It also reduces the absorption of impurities from the milky water.
Repeat wash and rinse two more times. When the water is almost clear, drain the rice very well. Tip: Use a fine-mesh sieve to drain and shake off any excess water.
To Prepare the Red Water
Add 2 tsp water for the red water to a small bowl. Using a toothpick, scoop a tiny bit of red food coloring. I use coloring powder, which is more concentrated than food coloring gel or paste; you can see from the image how little I scooped. Now, add it to the water and mix well. Tip: Don’t add too much food coloring or else the mochi color will be too strong and intense; you want the mochi to be a soft, pale, pastel pink.
To Cook the Glutinous Rice
Transfer the well-drained rice to the inner pot of a rice cooker (I use the Zojirushi IH). Add ¾ cup water of room-temperature water to the pot. The water must not be warm or hot.
Add 1 Tbsp sugar to the inner pot and mix well together.
Gradually add ¼ tsp of the prepared red water to the rice water. Mix really well and check the color of the rice water before you add another ¼ tsp scoop. The color of the rice water should be the color you want in the finished mochi rice—a soft, pastel pink. I did not add all the red water, leaving about ⅛ tsp.
Level the rice with your fingers so that it‘s evenly submerged in the water. Select your menu setting (I use the Regular program) and press Start. Note: This Zojirushi rice cooker takes 55 minutes to cook the rice; the program includes 10 minutes of soaking time and 10 minutes of steaming time. If your rice cooker does not include soaking/steaming time, please include these times in your cooking. While the rice is cooking, prepare the syrup, red bean balls, and cherry blossom leaves.
To Make the Syrup
Combine 1 Tbsp sugar and 4 Tbsp water for the syrup in a small bowl and mix well until the sugar is completely dissolved (I use a flat whisk). Tip: I use a sugar-to-water ratio of 1:5 (by weight), but many people use 1:1 or 1:2.
To Prepare the Filling
From 4¼ oz sweet red bean paste (anko), measure 15 grams of sweet red bean paste with a kitchen scale. Place on a tray or plate. Repeat with the rest of the filling. Tip: If you don‘t have a kitchen scale, measure 2½ tsp of the paste. I use an OXO small cookie scoop that easily scoops and releases the red bean paste.
Wet your hands with the syrup. Roll each red bean ball between your hands to make a nice, smooth ball. Make sure to wet your hands before you work on the next ball. Cover the balls of filling and keep them in the refrigerator to firm up until you‘re ready to use them. Tip: I use the same syrup later for shaping the mochi rice balls. Try to keep the syrup as clean as possible. If the red bean paste gets into the syrup, you can make another fresh, clean batch to use for shaping the mochi.
To Desalt the Sakura Leaves and Flowers
Prepare a large bowl of water and soak 8 salt-pickled cherry blossom leaves and 8 salt-pickled cherry blossoms in water for 20–30 minutes (or up to 60 minutes). Tip: Salt is used to preserve the sakura leaves and flowers, but it‘s too salty to consume them as is, so we always need to soak them in water to remove the excess salt.
To Pound the Glutinous Rice
When the glutinous rice is done cooking, transfer the inner pot of the rice cooker to the countertop. Soak a wooden surikogi (Japanese wooden pestle) or rice paddle in the syrup so the rice will not stick to it. Tip: Make sure to use a tool that does not scratch the nonstick coating of the rice cooker bowl. You can always transfer the rice to another bowl if you're worried.
Use the wooden pestle or rice paddle to pound the glutinous rice until it is very sticky, just for a minute or so. Keep some shape of the rice grains, and don‘t mash all the rice.
Level the pounded glutinous rice in the pot and divide it into 8 equal portions.
To Shape the Glutinous Rice
Moisten your palms with the syrup and put one portion of the glutinous rice in your hands.
Shape the rice into a cylinder shape. Make sure to wet your hands with the syrup before you work on the next portion of glutinous rice. Repeat until you‘re done with the rice. Keep the rice balls covered with plastic wrap or a damp tea towel.
To Make the Sakura Mochi
Prepare a sheet of plastic wrap (12 x 12 inches, 30 x 30 cm) on the countertop. Splash a little bit of the syrup on the plastic wrap and place one rice ball in the center.
Fold the plastic over the rice ball, leaving some space around the rice ball. Flatten the rice ball with your palm.
Pressing with your palm or the heel of your hand, spread the glutinous rice outward to make an oval shape. Make sure the middle area is slightly thicker than the edges.
Using the plastic wrap (otherwise, your hands will get very sticky), form the glutinous rice into a nice oval shape. Your oval shape should be 4⅓ inches (11 cm) in length and 2¾ inches (7 cm) in width. If the plastic sticks to the rice, sprinkle a tiny bit of the syrup on the rice before you touch it with the plastic.
Peel back the plastic and place a ball of the sweet red bean paste in the center. Roll the glutinous rice over it to cover the ball.
Seal the edges by pressing the two edges of the glutinous rice through the plastic wrap. Tighten the plastic wrap to seal nicely and make a nice oval shape.
As you see here, the plastic sometimes creates wrinkle marks. From the outside of the plastic, try to pinch the wrinkled area and make a smooth surface. Tip: The only visible area of the sakura mochi is actually the sides since the cherry blossom leaf covers most of the mochi. Therefore, work on smoothing out the sides of the mochi. Keep the mochi covered with plastic and repeat this process with the rest of glutinous rice balls.
To Wrap with the Cherry Blossom Leaves
Blot the leaves dry with a paper towel. Tip: Do not dry them too much. While you‘re working on the sakura mochi, the leaves will continue to dry and you don‘t want them to be too dry in the end.
Place the back of the leaf (with more visible veins) facing down on the working surface. Cut off and discard the stem. Place the mochi rice ball on the bottom half of the leaf closest to the stem end, leaving ¼ inch (6 mm) at the edge of the leaf. Tip:Why do we show the back of the leaf for presentation? The light green veins add a nice pattern to the darker leaf.
Wrap the top half of the leaf over the mochi rice ball. Place a cherry blossom on top, if you‘d like.
To Serve
You can enjoy it right away, or leave it at room temperature for an hour until the mochi absorbs the flavor of the edible leaf. Serve the Sakura Mochi with matcha or Japanese green tea.
To Store
Rice gets hard when refrigerated; therefore, keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store it in a cool place in the house. It's best to enjoy the Sakura Mochi on the same day it‘s made. If you add more sugar when you cook the glutinous rice, it could last for 2 days. To store for a longer time, keep in the freezer for up to a month. Defrost the sakura mochi on the countertop and then microwave it a little to soften it.
The Previous Microwave Method
In my previous recipe, I cooked the rice in the microwave instead of the rice cooker. If you'd like to follow this method, be sure to make the syrup, prepare the filling, and desalt the sakura leaves and flowers before cooking the rice. You'll need everything else ready when the rice is done cooking.
Add the rice and water to a large glass bowl, along with the sugar and red food coloring. Loosely cover the bowl with plastic and microwave for 6 minutes (W1100). Then, cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let it steam for 5 minutes. Then, please follow with the rest of the instructions above.