Making Mochi

Around the new year in homes throughout Japan, friends and family gather for the ancient and traditional ceremony of mochi making called mochitsuki.

While also eaten throughout the year, mochi is a traditional food for the Japanese new year and it is commonly sold and eaten during this time.

Although in the modern era mochi can be made from automatic mochi making machines, many people who like to capitalize on the social occasion prefer to use the traditional method of steaming glutinous rice which has been soaked overnight  in an apparatus called a  seiro, then pound the rice  in a mortar called an usu with a large wooden mallet called a kine.

This is the steamer or seiro. It consists of three components set on top of blocks. The bottom is a steel bowl that contains water. A fire is made at the base of the seiro which heats the water that provides the hot steam that rises through the top two components containing the rice. At the top is a lid which traps most of the heated steam.

Here we can see the base which sits on three beser blocks and the opening from which to manage the fire. The heat must be substantial enough to heat the water to provide sufficient steam to cook the rice and other ingredients.

Above the water bowl sits the two steaming compartments containing the rice. As the lid is taken off to check on the progress we can see the amount of steam that rises through the cooker. The rice itself is in a porous cloth.

The time it takes to steam the rice depends on the amount of rice being steamed and the size and intensity of the fire below. Generally between thrity and 45 minutes for the seiro of this size.

Being made of wood the compartments can be handled by hand for a short distance. Once the rice is deemed ready it is taken to the motar or usu for pounding.

In this location the usu is a round hollowed stone set on a custom built stand that elevates the usu for easy use during the pounding.

The steamed rice is dumped into the usu for mashing and pounding.

During each batch of rice, or when required, the water bowl is topped up ready for the next batch.

The soft steamed rice is then mashed with the wooden mallet called a kine.

As this process starts another batch of riced is placed on the steamer. This process repeats itself during the day depending on how many people are gathered for the mochi eating. This steamer can steam either 1 or 2 batches of rice at a time.

Here another batch of rice is poured into the steaming container ready for steaming..

In this batch 2 types of rice are going to be steamed together offering a different taste variety.

Excess water drains through the bottom of the container. The rice is then spread evenly in the container for consistant steaming.

Maintaining the fire throughout the day is also an important job and a suitable amount of firewood must be on hand to match the amount of mochi being made.

Making mochi isn't  restricted to one variety of rice. Different varieties can be steamed individually or combined and an assortment of beans, peas and other ingredients can be added to offer a wide variety of textures and flavours.

With this batch a  sweet rice flour called mochiko OR (kinako- soy flour) is added along with a sprinkling of sugar. The mixture is then kneaded or mashed together with the kine mallet.

Here is the previous batch containing both white and yellow rice.

They are then mashed together with the kine.

In this batch black beans called mame are added to the mix.

Periodic taste testing checks on the progress of the batch and experience is generally the guideline as to when a batch is ready.

With this mix including yellow beans, sugar and bread crumbs are added to the mix.

Once the mixture has been sufficiently mashed together it is time to start pounding the mixture.
This process involves 2 people. One to pound the mixture and the other to turn and wet the mixture during the pounding.

As pounding the rice is quite physical, people often take turns.

The pounding of the rice takes about 10 to 15 minutes. After this time the mixture has been pounded into a mass that can then be plied apart into eatable pieces.

These pieces are then rolled in flour to prevent sticking to hands and crafted into a variety of shapes. On this particular day it's a classic example of "many hands making light work".

The mochi pieces can then be either eaten as are, or combined with other foods, or coated with a variety of ingredients such as flour and sugar. Or they can be wrapped around other ingredients such as beans and called daifuku, such as is happening here. Red bean paste an. White bean paste (shiroi an)

Finally the finished mochi is ready to be eaten in a variety of forms in a celebration of eating and socializing.

Other foods that combine well with mochi include spinach, pickles, …. and variety of traditional Japanese sweets called wagashi.