Taro mochi is a sweet, nutty filling wrapped in a soft, chewy rice cake mochi. Its mild vanilla flavour resonates well with mochi. We also enjoy the starchiness of the root vegetable, which adds a unique texture to the mochi-eating experience. It's a lovely twist on the traditional 'wagashi', or Japanese treat, usually eaten during the New Year festivities.
We highly recommend trying our simple recipe to make this supple rice cake with a sweet purple paste filling.
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Taro mochi ingredients
To make taro mochi, you'll need the following ingredients.
- Taro milk tea powder (or pure root powder)
- Sweet rice flour (or glutinous rice flour)
- purple sweet potato powder (to make it more purple)
- sugar
- water
- taro paste (or use red bean paste for the filling)
- potato starch or cornstarch (for dusting)
Taro Milk Tea Powder
You can use instant milk tea powder in the mochi dough to make taro mochi. We understand that it might be hard or expensive to buy fresh ground root. Because of that, our recipe uses milk tea powder for the rice cake dough. However, if you prefer a less sweet and milky dough, use pure taro root powder instead. Alternatively, you can keep the dough plain.
Sweet rice flour
Ideally, you want to use mochiko or shiratamako for our recipe. However, if you can't find this, you can replace it with glutinous rice flour in a 1:1 ratio. You will get similar results, but the dough won't be as soft as when using mochiko.
Taro Paste
For our filling, we’re using a freshly made taro paste made from scratch. However, if you can’t find the root vegetable, you can replace this with a red bean paste filling or add a strawberry filling instead.
Taro Mochi Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup sweet rice flour
- 1 tablespoon taro milk tea powder (as used to make bubble tea)
- 1 cup water
- ¼ cup sugar
- ½ cup taro paste
- 2 tablespoon potato starch for dusting
Instructions
- Sift the sweet rice flour, milk tea powder and sugar into a medium bowl. For a purple colour, you can also add ½ teaspoon purple sweet potato powder. Add water little by little and combine thoroughly every time. This will become your mochi batter.
- Cover loosely with cling film, and microwave the mochi batter for 1 minute at high powder (around 900 W).
- Remove the bowl from the microwave, then mix and lightly knead using a spatula. At this point, you will see some parts of the rice cake batter to have already cooked, but it should mostly still be uncooked and runny. Cover the bowl loosely with cling film again, and microwave at a high power (900 W) for 1 more minute.
- Remove the bowl from the microwave, and lightly knead using a spatula. Most of the batter should be cooked by this point. However, if it is still slightly runny or wet on the edges, then microwave the batter again for another 30 seconds. Repeat this until a sticky dough is formed but is no longer runny or wet.
- Spread potato starch over a flat surface and place the mochi dough over it. Once the dough is cool enough to touch but is still mostly warm, knead it. Continue kneading until it becomes smooth. If there are any sticky parts, sprinkle some starch over them. Using a dough cutter or a knife, cut it into equal parts. For 1 cup of sweet rice flour, we usually separate into 8 parts to make 8 large rice cakes.
- For each small dough, first press flat onto the surface. Then, gently spread it wide and even to the size of your palm using two hands. Place about 1 tablespoon of taro paste in the centre of the dough. Then, carefully pull the sides of the dough to fold to the centre, covering the taro paste filling. Seal the fold with some starch, then turn the taro mochi around. Dust it with some starch and shape it into a nice round shape.
Notes
- Ideally, use sweet rice flour (mochiko or shiratamako). If you cannot find it use glutinous rice flour. The result is very similar, though the texture of mochiko and shiratamako will be softer and more supple.
- You can skip the purple sweet potato powder, as we only add it for colouring.
- To store, place it in an airtight container lined with parchment paper to prevent the purple rice cakes from sticking to the container.
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
You can also use different types of filling, such as azuki red bean filling. Feel free to be creative when preparing your delicious snack.
Make sure to flatten the dough and shape it into a rough circle before placing your filling inside.
Only grab a small amount of filling of around 1 tbsp. If you find it difficult to wrap, you reduce this to ½ tablespoon or use a teaspoon instead.
When sealing the rice cakes, try to grab the sides as evenly as possible. Avoid overlapping the folds too much, which will cause an uneven bite.
For a cleaner look, dust on more potato starch or cornstarch and then brush it off.
What Is Mochi?
Mochi is made of 'mochigome' or short-grain Japanese glutinous rice. The rice cake is customarily made during the 'Mochitsuki' ceremony, where the rice is pounded over and over using a wooden pallet into a soft, consistent paste.
At times, the rice is mixed with salt and cornstarch to mould it into the desired texture and taste. Some recipes call for adding milk instead of water to make it creamier. In addition to the plain rice cake, this delicate treat is usually matched with another ingredient to add vibrancy to its taste.
Therefore, mochi with matcha, sakura, or lotus fillings is easily found on Japanese supermarket shelves.
Taro Mochi Snacks To Buy
With the growing popularity of the treat, we’re not surprised that a variety of Japanese snacks have adopted this yummy flavour.
Firstly, there is the Royal Family Taro Mochi, which is perhaps its most conventional form. This nibble is suitable as a gift for others, and we recommend you try it as an after-meal treat or afternoon tea snack.
The rice dumpling has a sweet filling, while the outside skin is powdered with starch. We believe this would be a great starting point for familiarising yourself with the taste of taro mochi.
Furthermore, you can also find taro mochi ice cream and mochi taro rice crackers. We think these delicacies are perfect for those who want a treat that is not too sweet for the palette.
Is Taro Mochi Healthy?
As with any treat, it's important to find a spot for it in a well-balanced diet. However, we would like to highlight a few nutritional benefits that you should consider.
Taro as a starchy ground root has many health benefits. Some of them include improving digestion and lowering blood sugar levels. We also read that it is good for maintaining a healthy cardiovascular function and more.
It naturally contains high levels of vitamin C, B6, and E, which are important for our immune system. Studies also show that the root vegetable helps eliminate free radicals in the body.
Eating rice cakes, on the other hand, has its health advantages. Due to the process of making the Japanese rice cake, it is gluten-free. We also read that it is cholesterol-free and has a higher protein content than other short-grain rice.
Having said that, we have to be careful when eating taro mochi. We have found many reports, especially in Japan, of people choking when eating the snack. Because of its sticky nature, a lack of thorough chewing may cause a risk of choking.
We should be careful to make sure we chew the tasty treat properly before swallowing the sticky snack.
Next up, try out this simple mochi recipe that you can make using a microwave or steamer.
Mochi
Super yummy - used blended taro root instead of the milk tea powder, but the result was still delicious!
Linnea
I'm really surprised at how quick this was to make! I added about 1 tsp sugar as it's not as sweet as I want it to be. This is going to save a lot of trips to my local Chinese supermarket.
Afu
Imai
Etuwina
Ejina
Marco
Acia
Lui