Continuing the mochi

Yesterday I was inspired to make orange mochi.  About halfway through, I decided to add fresh mint from the garden, because, well, that's a superb idea!

I made it, and then had to turn right around and come up with an afternoon treat for a friend who was stopping by (and I promised her food).  What I came up with were strawberry tiramisu crepes to use up the last bit of tiramisu ingredients.  They were...okay... until I decided to drizzle chocolate sauce over them.  Then the crepes became incredible.  Sorry, no recipe, as I used up what I had in the fridge.

Before the friend left, the manfriend came home, so dinner preparations began.  Dinner consisted of mushroom crepes and and a mayo-free warm version of potato salad...(more on that later).

All of which prevented me from taking pictures of the mochi before it was gone.  Oh well, I guess I'll just have to make more.

Orange mochi:
1/2 cup mochiko
1/4 c sugar
3-4 Tbsp orange juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp fresh mint
Cornstarch for dusting cutting board

Mix all ingredients except mint in a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave in 60 sec. increments until mochi is elastic and transparent.  Mix in mint.  Drop mochi onto cornstarch dusted cutting board and roll to desired thickness.  Cut into bite sized pieces with knife, or mini cookie cutters.

Mochi!

Aka, rice cakes...

Mochi is made from mochiko (glutinous rice flour).  I am a mere beginner at working with mochiko, being that I've never had rice cakes until this past year.  The manfriend really likes them, so when we ran across the box of rice flour at the grocery store, he did not protest when I casually slipped it into the cart.

The process for making mochi is very simple, basically mixing water (or a different liquid of your choice, like green tea or orange juice) with rice flour and some sugar and microwaving it until it's elastic and somewhat transparent.

I've tried many different fillings for my mochi in the few days we've had rice flour...peanut butter, chocolate, strawberries, coconut, pecans, mint chocolate...to name a few.  So far the favorite creation has been Raspberry Mint Green Tea Mochi.  The green tea is mixed into the rice flour, and the mochi has been wrapped around raspberries and mint from the garden.

Forgive the not-so-pretty picture, I'm still practicing how to form the mochi into beautiful balls.  Thankfully, presentation doesn't affect the taste.

Next up...savory mochi... we'll see how that goes...