Daifuku

This is one my old recipes. Here in Dubai we are lacking asian groceries and products, but i am just crazy about japanese sweets and dishes. This is one my favorite sweets called Daifuku, made of adzuki bean paste and gluteus rice flour.

Ingredients for Bean Paste:

2 cups of Adzuki Beans (we can buy them in Organic Supermarket)

2 1/2 - 3 cups of water

1 cup of sugar

Method:

1. Soak the beans a lot of water over night

2. The next day, wash and drain. Cover with lot of water and boil for 5 min.

3. Remove from the heat, drain and add 2,5-3 cups of fresh water, about 3 cm. above beans.

4. Bring to boil, reduce the heat to minimum and cook under closed lid for about an hour or until you will see that beans becoming soft and can be easily mashed.

5. Open the lead, reduce remaining water, if there is some and add sugar: 1 cup for not-so sweet and more if you like it sweeter.

6. Simmer beans on very low heat mixing all the time, and mash them slightly with sugar. Add a pinch of salt.

7. Keep stirring until mass will come together and make up a glossy substance.

8. By this time of cooking, the beans should be already mostly mashed. But if you would like to have a reach paste texture - mash them in food processor.

9. To make paste even more creamy without any pieces of beans - put through the sifter.

10. Make balls from this mixture, keep in refrigerator covered, while preparing the dough.

Ingredients for the Sticky Dough (Mochi):

1 cup of water

1/2 - 1/4 cup of sugar

1 cup of Gluteus Rice Flour (i used Thai Choice Brand)

1/2 cup of Corn or Potato Starch (Mochigo) for dusting

Method 1 (using microwave):

1. Mix Rice flour with sugar and water, cover with food plastic wrap and place in microwave for 1-2 min. Take out the bowl, mix well and microwave for another 1 min.

2. Mix well with a plastic spatula (will be very very very sticky)

Method 2 (regular oven):

1. Pour water into the cooking pan and mix in sugar.

2. Bring to boil on a low heat.

3. Turn off the heat and add rice flour, mix well. Place the pan on very very law heat.

4. Heat the mixture for 3 minutes keep mixing all the time.

Continuation fro both methods:

1. Dust a flat metal dish with some corn flour and pour prepared mochi (while still hot) in to the dish.

2. Let it cool for just few seconds, not more! In other wise mochi will not be as sticky as we need it to be.

3. Dust your hands with corn flour, pour some more of it over the mochi.

4. Take part of the dough and make a thick round of it. Place an adzuki bean paste (prepared earlier) in the middle and carefully using a lot of corn flour bring it together with your fingers forming a ball.

5. After you sealed properly bean paste in mochi, give it desired shape, dust well with corn flour and place in the paper form (i used the ones fro muffins) or plastic wrappers.

You can keep daifuku in the fridge fro few days or refrigerate in the freezer for longer.