Mia Makes: Mochi Stuffed Red Dates [心太软]

 Recently, my aunt gave my mum a huge bag of big-ass dried red dates she has brought from China and my mum, having watched the Channel 8 timeslip periodic/modern drama (My heroine luo ming yi or something) and saw them making these "心太软" treats, asked if I can try recreating them. 

Well, it's just stuffing "mochi" into red dates and steaming them; can't be hard right? 

So let's get over with the ingredients so we can get started! 

To get about 16 HUGE stuffed dates:

16 (DUH!) LARGE dried red dates

110 - 120g glutinous rice flour

30ml BOILING HOT water

50 - 60ml room temperature water

15 to 20g sugar (to taste)

Optional:

You may prepare some sugar syrup to drench your stuffed dates in, but I feel that it's really an overkill. 

To start, soak your dried red dates in hot water for an hour for them to soften. Then, rinse them clean. Using a small knife, slice them open lengthwise to remove the pit. Do not cut the dates fully into half, but leave them open up like a book. Set them aside. 

In a clean bowl, add in 30g of glutinous rice flour and add in 30ml of hot water. Stir to form a goopy paste. This additional step will help your mochi remains soft when they've cooled (left overnight). Otherwise, you may tweak the mochi recipe by substituting a small portion of your glutinous rice flour with corn flour or tapioca starch. These two flours will also give your mochi a softer, more fluid texture. 

To the goopy paste, add in another 80g of the glutinous rice flour and 50ml of water and mix to combine. You should get a ball of soft and very pliable dough that doesn't stick to your hands. Add more flour or water if required. 

If you are slightly OCD like me, weigh your dough batter to know how much each of your mochi balls should weigh (to fit into 16 dates). I've made myself 16 mochi balls of around 14 to 16g each. 

Then, roll the mochi ball in between your palm to form it into an oblong shape before stuffing it into the sliced red dates. Set the stuffed dates on a heat proof plate; making sure that the mochi portion are not touching each other. 

Then, steam (either in a steamer or in a double-boiler over the hob) for 15 minutes, and you're done! 

The red dates, after getting steamed, will develop a tart flavour, which goes really well with the slightly sweet mochi centre. If you absolutely dislike sourness, you may either add more sugar to your mochi dough, or prepare some sugar syrup (cooking some white or brown sugar in water until it thickens) to pour over your steamed dates. 

Best eaten when still slightly warm from the steamer, as the mochi centre will be extremely soft and chewy! 

Till then,

Mia Foo