Cafes & Wineries

According to Wikipedia, the Japanese name of daifuku, 大福 (meaning great luck or fortune), was originally written as 大腹 (meaning big belly) which described the big belly-like round shape of the sweet. Since the pronunciation of the word 腹 is the same as 福, it was later changed to 福 to give it a more auspicious sounding name as this sweet is, as are most wagashi, usually given as gifts in Japanese tradition.
Although Daifuku Mochi is the basic style with white translucent skin and red bean paste filling, there are many variations of this sweet. They include Ichigo Daifuku (苺大福, see my adaptation into a mooncake) which has the addition of a strawberry inside the bean paste, Yukimi Daifuku (雪見大福) which uses ice cream as a filling instead of the red bean paste, Yomogi Daifuku (蓬大福) which uses kusa mochi (草餅) flavoured with yomogi, and the most recent creation known as Yuki Ichigo (ゆきいちご 雪苺娘), with a myriad of fillings made from a combination of whipped cream, custard, a variety of fruits and a small piece of sponge cake.

Recently I bought a packet of red bean paste to try out as it came in a plastic pack instead of a tin. I think it is made for the Japanese market as the instructions on the back are all in Japanese although the bean paste is made in China. So I decided to use it to make some daifuku mochi. I also decided to keep it simple by using the cooked glutinous rice flour to make the skin and avoided the cooking process. I added a little strawberry paste to colour the skin, so it is basically the same as my Snowskin Strawberry Mooncakes but with a little changes to the recipe. So here they are, my quick and easy daifuku dumplings!

Makes approx.10 daifuku mochi.

[Ingredients]
150g cooked glutinous rice flour (加工糕粉), sifted
100g pure icing sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon canola or corn oil
180ml cold boiled water, adjust as necessary
few drops strawberry paste
extra cooked glutinous rice flour, for dusting
500g red bean paste
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Mix together cooked glutinous rice flour and icing sugar in a mixing bowl.
2. Dissolve strawberry paste in water, adjust colour to your liking.
3. Add oil to the flour mixture and mix well. Gradually pour the coloured water into the flour mixture and stir vigorously until a soft dough formed. Knead into a smooth dough. Rest for about 15 minutes before using.
4. Divide the red bean paste into 10 equal portions. Divide the dough also into 10 equal portions. Wrap each red bean paste ball inside each flattened dough pieces. Dust with extra cooked glutinous rice flour.

[Note]
Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.