Add a little granulated sugar to your mochi dough to ensure a soft pillowy texture.

A few years ago, I had the fortunate misfortune of being stuck in Hawaii. I was en route to South America to catch a boat to Antarctica, but the ship I was to board sank. So I found myself in Hawaii, with the next flight back to California several weeks away, and I had ample time to explore and play.

On the Big Island, I found a small shop while looking for sweets for my hosts. These were mochi, but unlike any other mochi I’d found — they were stuffed with tiny perfect strawberries, surrounded by brownies! Years later, I would see a similar form in Japan, called ichigo daifuku, with smooth red bean paste  instead of chocolate.

I’ve experimented with the recipe for rice cakes in different cuisines. I’ve found that the difference between Japanese-style rice cakes (like the Hawaiian mochi) and Korean-style rice cakes is the softness and sweetness of the cakes. This is due to the addition of a small amount of refined sugar to the mochi. While mochi taste the best on the day they are made, and tend to go hard and stale quickly, the sugar makes the initial texture softer and lighter than a simple water and glutinous rice flour base — so it can buy you a little time if you want to save some for the next morning.

My American tasters loved the brownie filling, but surprisingly, also liked the red bean version — as long as I added miniature chocolate chips to the smooth paste.  Another well-received variation was white bean paste with chopped black walnuts.  However you make it — Hawaiian with brownies or modified Japanese — I think you’ll enjoy the mochi.

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Strawberry Mochi with Brownie Filling

Ingredients:

3/4 cups either smushed brownies or canned tsubushian (sweet red bean paste) and 1/4 cup miniature chocolate chips
12 hulled small strawberries
1 cup mochiko (sweet glutinous rice flour)
1 cup water
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 cups katakuriko (sweet potato starch) or cornstarch

Instructions:

Take your brownies or red bean paste and add in the chocolate chips. Squish between your fingers until it has a smooth consistency and your inner child is satisfied. Roll into 12 balls.

Push each strawberry, point side down, into your filling ball. Spread the filling around the berry and press it into ball shape. Place all balls in the fridge while you prepare your mochi.

Prepare your mochi. First prepare a shallow container by pouring your cornstarch or potato starch into it. Set it aside.

In a medium-sized saucepan, bring the water and sugar to a boil. Remove from heat and mix in the mochiko all at once, stirring until blended. Return the mochi to the stove over medium heat and stir constantly for ten minutes. Do not let lumps form. Do not let the mixture turn ivory-yellow (this will mean it is overcooked).

Pour your cooked mochi mixture into the container, on top of the starch. Allow it to cool slightly, so you don’t burn yourself while handling it. Dust the mochi with the starch, and use a pastry scraper or a sharp knife to cut it into 12 rouhgly even-sized pieces.

Take your strawberry balls out of the fridge and place within reach. You’ll have to work quickly to assemble the balls.

Liberally dust the mochi pieces if they are still too sticky to easily handle. Shape the mochi in your palm. Make a ball and flatten it into a disk or stretch the pieces into a triangle shape.

Place the strawberry ball in the center of your shape, tipside down. Stretch the mochi up to cover the berry and pinch to seal. Work quickly, since the mochi will lose elasticity as it cools.

Place the mochi on a starch-covered plate. Sprinkle with more starch if it’s still sticky. Fix the shape with your hands to make it more even and spherical (as you can see by the picture, I don’t excel  at this step…but they still taste great!).

Enjoy at room temperature. Mochi are best they the day they’re made, so share the extra with friends, or take an extra with your tea.