Mochi - 'Malaysian Monday no. 13'

I googled and stumbled upon this Mochi recipe that requires wheat starch and the method is slightly different from the norm.  As it looked pretty simple and easy enough, I set out to try as I've some wheat starch sitting in the pantry.  I could envisage a disaster looming when the dough was so wet and gluey and as there was excess glutinous rice flour, fortunately, I loaded in an extra 3 ounces before the dough became pliable enough to work with.  Phew ..... that was close!  Oh, you must be wondering what are those  'Bunga Telang' doing in the picture above.  For decor?  Yes, it was one of the ingredients that I used to make these Mochi, but alas, their bluish colour was not overpowering enough, hence the end result was Mochi with a very faint shade of grey!

Just a short introduction about these 'Bunga Telang' .... they do resemble the Morning Glory and while Bunga Telang is in Malay, it's Butterfly Pea ~ Clitoria Ternatea in English.  This is a perennial creeper, thrives well on moist soil and requires a lot of sunshine.  The colour from this flower acts as a natural blue dye or colouring for cakes and Malay kueh.  Do hop over to   'Wikipedia'    if you want to know more about this marvellous flower!

Instead of plain water, I used the water made from the  Bunga Telang, added in a knot of pandan/srewpine leaves, sugar and let it boil.
I couldn't take a picture when my hands were all gluey with the dough, but after adding in more glutinous rice flour, finally, yes finally managed to come up with this dough, a very faint tinge of grey.

Roll out the ball of dough, flatten and put in a ball of red bean paste in the centre.
Wrap up, pinch the sides and place seams down on a lightly oiled steaming tray, ready to be steamed.

My  efforts paid off and the reward was these sweet, chewy and yummy glutinous rice balls!

Ingredients

• 1.1/4 cups of water
• 2 oz sugar
• 2 oz wheat starch
• 13 oz glutinous rice flour
• Some 'kao fun' or cooked glutinous rice flour  OR dessicated coconut for coating

Filling

• 440 gm red bean paste or any other type of paste you fancy.  Weigh out 20 gm each and roll into a ball.

Method

1. Boil the water with sugar till sugar is dissolved.  Let cool for a while.
2. Sift in the wheat starch and glutinous rice flour, mix well.
3. Lightly knead till the dough doesn't stick to the hands.
4. Prepare a steamer with water boiling, and lightly oil a baking tray.
5. Weigh out 50 gm of dough, roll out into a ball with the palm of your hands, flatten, make a shallow well in the centre and place in a ball of paste.
6. Wrap up, shape into a ball and place seams down, an inch apart, onto the oiled baking tray.
7. Steam under rapidly boiling water for 10 mins.
8. Remove the steamed mochi from the tray with a spatula and immediately toss it into a bowl of  'kao fun' to coat.
9. Place in paper cups and serve fresh.
10. Makes 22 Mochi and they are best eaten on the day they are made.

To make Bunga Telang water

1. I used 20 fresh  Bunga Telang, wash and soak them in 2 cups of boiling hot water.
2. Cover and once cooled, leave in the refrigerator overnight.
3. Next day discard the flowers and use accordingly.
4. Added in some pandan/screwpine leaves and boil with the sugar till sugar is dissolved.

Do find out more from this   'site' .