Sakura Mochi

pink-tinted glutinous rice wrapped around a heart of sweet red bean paste and bound in a single salted cherry leaf, the faintly floral-saline sweet that is the very taste of the Japanese spring

Origin: Japan

From the journey of Cherry.

Japan grows the cherry not for its fruit but for its flower, the sakura, the national blossom and the great emblem of spring and of the fleeting beauty of life; and in one of the loveliest turns in any cuisine, it eats the flower and the leaf. The young leaves and pale double blossoms of the flowering cherry are pickled in salt and plum vinegar, and these salted cherry leaves wrap the most beloved of all the spring wagashi, sakura mochi. A small cake of sweet, pink-tinted glutinous rice is moulded around a centre of smooth sweet red bean paste (anko) and then wrapped in a single salted cherry leaf, which is eaten with it: the leaf lends a haunting fragrance, at once floral, herbal, and saline, that perfumes the whole and is unmistakably the scent of the Japanese spring. There are two classic styles, the smooth Kantō (Tokyo) version made with a thin crêpe-like wrapper of rice flour, and the Kansai (Osaka) version, shown here, made with coarse, chewy steamed glutinous rice (domyoji). Eaten under the blossoming trees at the hanami, sakura mochi is spring made edible.

Ingredients

The Mochi

200 g domyoji-ko (coarse glutinous rice flour), or short-grain glutinous rice
240 ml water
2 tbsp sugar
2 drops red or pink food colouring (or a little beetroot juice)

The Filling

250 g smooth sweet red bean paste (koshian)

To Wrap

8 salted cherry leaves (sakura no ha), soaked to remove excess salt

Method

Soak the salted cherry leaves in cold water for 15 to 20 minutes to draw out the excess salt, then pat dry. Divide the red bean paste into 8 and roll into small balls.
Stir the sugar and a drop or two of colouring into the water until the water is pale pink. Mix with the domyoji-ko (or rinsed glutinous rice) and leave to soak for 30 minutes.
Steam the rice mixture in a lined steamer over a high heat for about 25 to 30 minutes, until soft, sticky, and translucent. Cover and rest for 10 minutes.
With wet hands, divide the warm rice into 8. Flatten a portion in your palm, place a ball of bean paste in the centre, and mould the rice around it into a neat oval, enclosing the filling.
Wrap each cake in a salted cherry leaf, vein-side in, and serve at room temperature.

Notes

Salted cherry leaves and blossoms (sakura no ha/hana no shiozuke) are sold at Japanese grocers, especially in spring. The Kantō (Tokyo) style uses a thin pan-cooked wrapper of shiratamako/flour batter instead of steamed domyoji rice; both enclose the same red bean centre and salted leaf. A single salted blossom pressed on top is a pretty finish. Koshian (smooth) or tsubuan (chunky) red bean paste may be used.

The Gastrographer

Name: Sakura Mochi
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Japan
Ingredients: 200 g domyoji-ko (coarse glutinous rice flour), or short-grain glutinous rice; 240 ml water; 2 tbsp sugar; 2 drops red or pink food colouring (or a little beetroot juice); 250 g smooth sweet red bean paste (koshian); 8 salted cherry leaves (sakura no ha), soaked to remove excess salt

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control