Hiroko’s Kitchen | Blog

After taking mochi cakes out of the plastic package, I left them on a plate to dry them out completely.  It took nine days.  Today I used a small mallet and crumbled them.

Instead of deep-frying them, I tossed mochi pieces with little olive oil and baked in the oven.  The result was great - crisp, golden yet light.

2 ounce mochi pieces (completely dried)

1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil or other cooking oil

Sea salt, freshly ground pepper

Place the rice cake crumbles in a bowl and toss them with the cooking oil.  Place the crumbles on a cookie sheet and bake them in a heated oven (400 degree F) until plump and golden.  Remove the rice cake crumbles from the oven and toss with the sea salt and ground pepper.

Today I unpacked rice cake from the package and prepared rice cake soup, oshiruko. 

This is Buzz showing off how gooey the mochi is.   He says he is happy to keep this ritual just once a year.

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Akemashite Omedeto Gozaimasu (Happy New Year)!  As Christmas trees decorate American homes during holiday, Kagami-mochi decorate a room in Japanese house from the end of yeaer (December 28th).  It is an offering to the god who protected us during the old year (he departs and new god arrives in the New Year). 

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