Mango mochi is the perfect dessert that's chewy and soft outside and sweet, tangy, and fruity inside. Our mango mochi recipe will show you how to make glutinous rice cakes with a fresh fruit filling, cream or ice cream.
We've made our mango mochi recipe as simple as possible so you can get it right in one go. However, if you're a beginner at wrapping and sealing mochi, we recommend starting with the fruit filling before attempting the ice cream filling. It's a little more fiddly to handle and takes some practice.
Jump to:
Mango mochi ingredients
You'll need the following ingredients to make our easy mango mochi recipe.
For the mochi dough:
- 130 g glutinous rice flour
- 120 ml mango juice OR 120 ml water
- 4 tbsps sugar (only if using water. If you're using mango juice, reduce or omit as the mango juice already has sugar)
- Additional glutinous rice flour for dusting
The dough will be enough for 6-8 pieces if you make this with a fruit filling. However, a sorbet or ice cream filling will only make about 4-6 pieces, depending on the size of your filling.
For the mango mochi filling:
- ½ cup of mango fruit, cubed
- 2 large scoops of mango sorbet (we use ½ scoop per mochi)
Add the fruit juice to the mix to make a mango-flavoured rice cake dough. You won't need any additional sugar, as the juice will add enough sweetness to the dough. In addition, the natural colour of the fruit juice will also give the dough a nice yellow colour. However, if you prefer, you can also make this with plain dough outside using only glutinous rice flour, water, and sugar.
Mango Mochi Recipe (Fruit, Cream or Ice Cream Filling)
Ingredients
Rice cake dough
- 130 g glutinous rice flour
- 120 ml mango juice or 120ml water
- 4 tablespoon sugar optional
Mango mochi filling
- ½ cup mango cubed
- 2 scoop mango ice cream use ½ scoop per mochi
Cooking Instructions
- Mix glutinous rice flour with mango juice (or with water and sugar) in a microwave-safe bowl until well combined. It should form a thick batter akin to a pancake batter.
- Loosely cover the bowl with cling film. Microwave the mochi batter for 1 minute at 600 W. Remove it from the microwave and mix it with a spatula. Then, return it to the microwave and cook for another 1 minute at 600 W. If the dough is not cooked yet, repeat microwaving as many times as needed at 30-second intervals. The dough is cooked once it becomes semi-translucent and sticky.
- Using a pestle, pound the dough for 1 to 2 minutes. The consistency will be just right once you hear some popping sounds as you pound.
- While the dough is still warm, transfer it onto a flat working surface that has been dusted with glutinous rice flour. Sprinkle some glutinous rice flour over the top surface of the mochi dough and knead it for 1-2 minutes until smooth. Roll it into a log and cut it into smaller pieces: 6 pieces if the filling is small (cubed mango fruit) and 4 pieces if the filling is bigger (ice cream).
- For each mochi dough, first flatten it on a dusted surface. Then, using two hands, try spreading it wide and even to the size of your palm. Place the filling in the centre of the dough.
- Then, carefully pull the sides of the dough to fold to the centre, covering the filling. Seal the fold with some starch, then turn the mochi around. Dust it with some starch and shape it into a nice round shape. Using a brush, lightly brush off any excess starch on the surface. Repeat for all the mochi pieces.
Recipe Notes
- Here's a more detailed process for the microwave mochi recipe.
- You can also use milk instead of water to add flavour to the treat.
Nutrition
Calories have been calculated using an online calculator. Nutritional information offered on Honest Food Talks is for general information purposes and is only a rough estimate.
Cooking Tips
How thick should the mochi dough be?
A 5 mm thick base is more than enough. However, beginners can make a slightly thicker dough to avoid tears.
Cut the fresh fruit
You can cut fresh mangoes into cubes or scoop them out to form small balls, but it is better to cut them in cubes. Cubes are less time-consuming, and there is less wastage. But if you opt to make small balls, you can puree the fruit left after making the fruit balls and use it to make flavoured dough.
Adding coconut flakes
Coconut flakes are optional in the Hong Kong version of our dessert. However, it is highly recommended that you add them, as the combination of the sticky glutinous rice dough and mango with coconut is a heavenly dessert. The dry coconut flakes also even out the dough's stickiness.
You can use any type of coconut flakes — shredded, desiccated, or flakes. Compared to large coconut flakes, shredded and desiccated coconut stick better to the sticky dough and are the preferred choice when coating it.
While coconut flakes can be sweetened or unsweetened, both the rice dough and filling are sweet, so unsweetened coconut flakes would be better.
Adding a mango cream filling
You can add a mango-flavoured cream around your fruit filling or fill your mochi with the cream alone.
Here are the ingredients you need to make the cream filling.
If you're using freeze-dried fruit:
- 300g or 1 cup whipping cream (minimum 36% milkfat)
- 30g freeze-dried mango ground into powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 15g sugar or according to your taste
If you're using fresh fruit:
- 1 ripe mango, chopped into small chunks
- 2 cups heavy cream
- ⅓ cups sugar or according to your taste
How to prepare the fruity cream filling
When using freeze-dried fruit:
- Add the whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla extract to a bowl. Whisk until you see stiff peaks.
- Add the fruit powder and gently fold it in until completely incorporated.
- Divide it into equal portions using a spoon or an ice cream scoop.
- Place the portions into a mould tray and freeze them.
- Let it harden for 2 hours.
When using fresh mango chunks:
- Cut the fruit into small chunks.
- Add heavy cream and sugar, and beat them together until medium peak.
Once the filling is prepared, you can assemble the mochi. While this is tasty, we do find adding a cream filling makes it difficult to wrap the mochi. We recommend using a larger amount of mochi dough, similar size to the ice cream filling, to help you seal the mochi dough.
How to wrap mango mochi ice cream
Making ice cream mochi is quite difficult compared to mochi with other fillings. This is because the ice cream begins to melt on the dough, which should still be slightly warm. If you're a beginner, consider practising making other types of mochi first.
However, here are some of our tips to help you.
Portion out the ice cream filling into individual cupcake papers first, and then leave it in the freezer to harden. Only take them out when you're about to fold them.
If you're using ice cream as the filling, flatten each mochi dough piece into a flat disc first and allow it to cool slightly. Otherwise, the ice cream will quickly melt as you place it on the mochi dough.
When folding, place the mochi dough on the working surface. Avoid cupping the mochi dough when you fold, as your warm body temperature will accelerate the melting of the ice cream.
If the ice cream starts to melt as it folds, have a tissue handy to soak up the melting ice cream. If the mochi dough becomes too wet, it will be difficult to seal it.
Making it sweeter
The cream and fruit are both sweet and would often suffice if you don't want your daifuku to be too sweet. However, if you want a sweeter dough, add sugar and increase the amount you like.
The thickness of the cream will depend on how long you whisk it. The longer you whisk, the thicker it will be.
How To Store
Ideally, you want to keep it at room temperature and consume within 1 day as the dough will harden over time. If you want to keep it for longer, then keep it in an airtight container in the fridge. It should last 2-3 days, but the mochi dough will slightly harden. Avoid using the freezer.
For the ice cream filling, we recommend keeping it in an airtight container in the fridge and eating it within 1 day.
If you prefer the ice cream filling to be harder when you can eat it, move it from the fridge to the freezer about 1 hour before you consume it. This way, the ice cream inside will harden up, but the mochi dough will still be soft.
You can keep it in the freezer, but the dough will harden significantly.
Other variations we love
From ice creams and fresh fruits to whipped cream and sorbets, you can stuff the rice cake with various fillings. When it comes to this fruity rice cake treat, you can experiment with a number of variations for the filling.
Here are some popular variations:
- Mango mochi cake
- Passionfruit and mango mochi
- Mango butter mochi
- Mango cheesecake mochi
Our mango mochi recipe is an incredibly versatile, sweet, savoury Japanese treat. Whatever filling you choose, this delightful dessert will not disappoint.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel at Honest Food Talks for visual tutorials on how to make more Asian treats.
Leave a Reply