Chocolate Mochi

Mochi is a traditional Japanese sweet. These delicious little rice cakes, which are shaped like cute little buns, are a big part of Japanese traditional cuisine and are adored by everyone, from the young to the old.

At its foundations, mochi is made of glutinous rice flour and water. This sticky rice is called 'mochigome' in Japan. Its high starch content makes it stickier than regular rice – perfect for stretchy mochi dough!

In addition to the two base ingredients, mochi can be flavored with various ingredients. These include chocolate, coconut, strawberry, cookies and cream, and coffee. For me, chocolate butter mochi is the best of the lot!

Traditional mochi-making involves two people, one pounding by hand and one with a giant hammer, placing the mochi in a giant mortar. They take turns beating the mochi dough at dangerously high speed, which is all part of the madcap fun of this traditional practice.

Mochi has been a staple of Japanese culinary culture for many years. The cake can be traced back to the Jomon period (14,000-300 BCE), although it's not known precisely when making this traditional, much-loved snack became common practice.

At the beginning of the 6th century, homemade mochi became more prevalent when earthenware steamers became widely used nationwide.

However, food scholars insist that the mochi we know and love today became popular during the Heian period (794-1185 CE) when emperors and noblemen would serve it as a dessert at feasts during essential celebrations.

They considered mochi to be 'food for the gods' and would even offer it in religious offerings in Shinto and Buddhist rituals.

Like heaven!

This homemade chocolate mochi recipe is a combination of some of your favorite sweets. Imagine taffy crossed with marshmallow, crossed with chocolate truffles. Is your mouth watering yet?

It's like a blissful mix of tastes and textures that combine for the ultimate chocolate treat.

Best of all, it's homemade. So, no nasty preservatives, only good quality, natural ingredients!

It's like the taste of traditional, authentic Japan, with the wonderful Western twist of chocolate ganache added to the centre for a stunning chocolate surprise. Incredible!

Yes! Although the name 'glutinous rice flour' might make you think that mochi contains gluten, it actually doesn't. Despite its name, glutinous rice is entirely free from gluten.

Gluten-free and delicious. What's not to love?

Normal mochi itself isn't sweet. The sweetness comes from added flavors. In this instance, the milk chocolate, milk, and sugar bring sweetness to these little traditional Japanese rice cakes.

Otherwise known as mochiko flour or sweet rice flour, glutinous rice flour is a type of flour that's ground from short-grain glutinous rice or sticky rice.

Glutinous rice flour is available in most quality supermarkets and stores in the US and the UK. It is also available in Asian food stores.

If you can't find it in shops, you can buy mochiko here.

No. Unfortunately, you can't substitute glutinous rice flour for regular rice flour. Plain flour doesn't have the same properties as glutinous rice flour, and you won't get that wonderful springy texture.

If your mochi dough is not stretchy enough, it could be due to the flour-to-water ratio. You need to add more glutinous rice flour. Add a sprinkle and mix it in, then continue to beat the mochi dough.

Continue this process until you've reached the desired consistency.

Mochi is supposed to be sticky! Keep your hands wet when handling mochi—this helps to remove the notoriously sticky substance.

Adding too much water to the mix could cause overly sticky mochi. If your mochi dough is unworkable, try adding a sprinkle of flour.

The best way to store chocolate mochi is in an airtight container at room temperature. This prevents it from drying out and cracking.

Generally, storing mochi in the fridge is not a good idea. It will harden and lose its velvety, soft, stretchy texture.

You can store mochi in the freezer, although the taste and texture will suffer somewhat.

To freeze mochi, wrap each mochi cake individually in plastic wrap and place them in an airtight, freezer-safe container. Then, store the container in the fridge for up to one month.

To defrost mochi, thaw them overnight in the refrigerator and consume them the following day.