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 

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Mia Makes: Potato Cheese Mochi Cakes

Potato, Mochi and Cheese. All mish-mashed into one. Yay or Nay?

 

It's definitely a big YAY for me, so let's get over with the ingredients to get started!

Potato Mochi: 
~400g potatoes, raw. 
110 - 120g glutinous rice flour
4 - 5 tablespoon water (or milk) 
salt & pepper to taste
(I've used 1 tsp salt + 1/2 tsp pepper and it was still pretty bland) 

Filling:
Cheese, or anything else you fancy
(I've used shredded cheddar & mozzarella mix, but I'll highly recommend adding some Parmesan for flavour).

First up, wash and peel your potatoes and cut them into thin slices (such that they'll cook quickly) and steam them until they're fully cooked and soft. It's better to steam than boil, as the latter will introduce a lot of unnecessary moisture to the potato, and you'll end up adding a lot more flour to make up for it. 

Once your potato slices are fully cooked until soft and tender, mash them up using either a fork or a potato masher/ricer. Do it while they're still hot as they'll be easier to mash up while still hot from the steamer. Then, leave it to cool slightly (until you can handle them with your hands) before adding in the glutinous rice flour. 

As different potatoes will have different water content, I'll suggest that you'll start with just 100g of the flour first, along with half the water/milk and move forward from there. Just make sure you're left with a dough ball that's smooth and pliable, and doesn't really stick to your hands, and you're good to go!

Then, portion your dough into equal pieces (I did 40g balls for mine) and keep them under a damp tea towel or cling wrap to prevent them from drying out. Take a piece of the dough ball and flatten it slightly into a disc with your palm. Using your thumb, slowly press out from the centre of the disc and shape the dough ball into a bowl shape. Then add in your choice of filling into the centre of the "bowl" before pressing the edges together to seal. Do make sure you pinch the seams tightly such that your fillings will not leak out while cooking. Then, give the wrapped up dough ball a quick roll in between your palms to smoothen out the crease and flatten it back into a small disc before putting it back under the cling wrap/tea towel while working on the rest of the dough balls. 
Once all the dough balls are filled and shaped, it's time to cook them! 

Spray down your non-stick pan generously with some non-stick cooking spray or simply add about 1 tablespoon of cooking oil to it and put it on medium heat. Once the oil has heated up, put in your mochi cakes and allow to cook on low/medium heat for about 5 minutes on each side, or until the surface is golden brown and the cakes soft and marshmallowy to the touch. You should also be able to smell a lovely fried potato fragrance, another indication that your cakes are done!

Be careful not to overcook these mochi cakes, else your cheese filling might burst out. 

That's what you'll get if you fill your mochi cakes with shredded mozzarella, look at that string of melty cheese! <3

Absolutely love the soft and chewy potato mochi with melty and gooey cheese in the centre. Other than the slight blandness in flavour, this was so good! 

Till then,

Mia Foo

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