Mochi Daifuku (Soft Rice Cake Stuffed with Red Bean Paste)

Quick answer

Total time: 30 min
Level: Easy
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients: 6

About this dish

Glutinous rice flour is mixed with water and sugar, steamed or microwaved until it becomes a translucent, stretchy mass, then dusted with starch and wrapped around a ball of sweet red bean paste.

The outer mochi shell is soft and pliable, yielding to the teeth with a slow, elastic pull before giving way to the dense sweetness of the filling inside. Because the dough begins to firm and lose its characteristic chew within hours, daifuku is best eaten the day it is made. Swapping the red bean for fresh strawberry or ice cream produces popular seasonal and modern variations. The starch coating - typically potato or cornstarch - serves a dual purpose: preventing the pieces from sticking to each other and adding a dry, powdery contrast to the otherwise tacky surface.

Ingredients

servings

IngredientAmountUnit

glutinous rice flour180 gg

water220 mlml

sugar60 gg

salt¼ tsptsp

sweet red bean paste160 gg

starch powder40 gg

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Instructions

Read the steps as a cooking flow: prep, heat, seasoning, doneness control, and finish.

6 steps

1

Season

In a heatproof bowl, combine 180 g glutinous rice flour, 60 g sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Pour in 220 ml water gradually and stir until the batter is smooth with no dry lumps.
2

Control

Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap and microwave for 2 minutes.

When the edges look translucent, stir thoroughly with a damp spatula so the hotter outside mixes into the center.
3

Step

Microwave for another 1 to 2 minutes, then check that the dough is glossy, sticky, and stretches in long strands.

If white floury spots remain, heat in 30-second bursts and stir again.
4

Step

Dust the work surface generously with part of the 40 g starch powder and transfer the hot dough onto it.

Let it cool only until it can be touched without sticking badly or tearing.
5

Step

Divide 160 g sweet red bean paste into 4 firm balls, then divide the mochi dough into 4 portions.

Dust each portion with starch and flatten it, keeping the center thicker and the edges thinner.
6

Finish

Place a red bean ball in the center of each wrapper, pull the edges up, and pinch the seam closed.

Set each piece seam-side down, brush off excess starch, and serve the daifuku the same day.

Practical Cooking Checks

The cues that matter most while cooking.

Key technique: Mochi Daifuku encloses sweet red bean paste in a soft, springy glutinous rice shell.
Finish cue: Microwave for another 1 to 2 minutes, then check that the dough is glossy, sticky, and stretches in long strands.
Avoid this: Use dough warm, not hot, to avoid tearing.