Mochi Mochi meets Baked Macaroni

I am bored, yes, again. I guess I am one who's easily bored, who cannot stand doing nothing for even a day. I do not have to bake bread today as I still have enough for tomorrow's breakfast.

So I decided to try my hands on mochi, perhaps it's because of the exquisite mochi I've bought recently. Did a search for the recipe of mochi from the net. I realised it's the basic combination of glutinous rice flour (be it local or mochiko), water and sugar. I only have the local glutinous rice flour on hand. I reckon I can always try with mochiko later if I can at least succeed using the local flour. So I went ahead with the experiment. *grin*



Mochi

Yields 15 mochi

Ingredients
1 cup glutinous rice flour or mochiko
*1 cup water (suggest to use 80% of a cup)
1/4 cup sugar

fillings of your choice (I use red bean paste)
cornflour for dusting

Method
1. Stir all ingredients in a heat-proof bowl until smooth. Make sure there isn't any lumps (I used a sieve to sieve through the mixture).
2. Steam in high heat for 30-45 minutes until the mochi is cooked (it should be translucent). Leave to cool.
3. Meanwhile, prepare the fillings. Roll each teaspoon of fillings into a small ball. Leave aside for later use.
4. Pour some cornflour into a deep plate or large bowl for dusting. Make sure your hands, working top and tools are well dusted before you start the wrapping as the dough is very very sticky!
5. Dust a tablespoon with cornflour. Scoop a tablespoon of mochi dough and drop it into the cornflour. Make sure the dough is covered with cornflour so that you can handle with your hands.
6. Gently shake off any excess cornflour and roll out the dough. Do not roll it out too thin as the dough is very soft and will be difficult to wrap.
7. Wrap the fillings in the centre and seal up the opening. Try to shape the mochi into a ball by rolling between your palms (rather difficult, in my honest opinion). Shake off any excess flour (Tip: I throw the mochi lightly into the air and bounce it a few times with my hand).

Note:
* I find 1 cup of water a little too much as the mochi is too soft (though very nice). So the next time I'll reduce the amount of water to see if it's better. I added a few drops of rose pink colour to the water to yield pink mochi.


Ds requested for baked macaroni for dinner. Since I'm too bored to cook rice, I agree and did a simple version. The kids love it so much that they each had an extra serving.



Baked Macaroni

Serve 2 adults and 3 kids

Ingredients

200g macaroni
1 large piece of fish fillet, cut into big chunks
6 Crabsticks
Vegetables of your choice (e.g. brocoli, cauliflower, mix vegetables)
1 egg, beaten
butter

Paste ingredients:
6 tblsp plain flour
2 cups milk
2 cups water
2 tsp salt



Method
1. Season fish fillet with a little salt and pepper for at least half an hour.
2. Boil the macaroni in a large pot of water (with a little salt and oil) till cooked. Set aside.
3. Heat a little butter in a wok and briefly fry the vegetables (need not be fully cooked). Set aside.
4. Mix all paste ingredients together till smooth. Heat a little butter in the wok again. Pour the mixture in and cook to a paste (not too thick).
5. Add the drained macaroni and other ingredients into the paste and mix well.
6. Remove from heat and transfer to a large casserole or baking pan. Sprinkle grated cheese generously on top and baked in preheated oven at 200-220°C for 20 minutes or until the top browned.


Mood: full