Ingredients (8 daifuku)

Dough

  • 100 g glutinous rice flour (mochiko or shiratamako)
  • 3 g matcha
  • 50 g sugar
  • 150 ml water
  • Potato or corn starch for dusting

Filling

  • 200 g sweet red bean paste (anko)

Method

  1. Divide the anko into 8 balls of 25 g and put them in the freezer while you make the dough: firm, they are much easier to wrap.
  2. In a microwave safe bowl, sift the flour with the matcha and sugar and add the water gradually, stirring to a smooth paste.
  3. Cover with cling film and cook at 600 W for one minute; stir with a wet spatula. Another minute and another stir. A final half minute: the dough should be stretchy and slightly translucent.
  4. Turn it out onto a surface dusted with starch, divide into 8 pieces and flatten each into a disc. Put a ball of anko in the centre, pinch the edges closed and turn it over. Eat them the same day.

Getting the matcha right

The dough is white and sweet, and 3 g of matcha is enough to colour it and give flavour without bitterness. Sift it with the flour: a lump of matcha in a mochi will not break up later.

What helps

With 3 g of matcha, a scale that reads to the gram is the difference between a pale green mochi and a bitter one, and a fine sieve keeps lumps out of the dough.

Affiliate links As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. The Amazon links on this site are for accessories and a few leaf teas, never matcha powder, and it costs you nothing extra. The full explanation is in Transparency.

Reference matcha for this recipe: organic ceremonial matcha from Jingshan, by Matcha Zen.