Spring Desserts made with Beans: Ichigo Daifuku (Part 2)

Ichigo Daifuku

Mochiko 1 cup

Water  2/3 cup

Strawberries 8 (small to medium sized)

White or Red Bean Paste

1. Cut the ends off of the strawberries.
2. Cover the strawberries with red or white bean paste (I used white because I am in love with white bean paste!)
3. Lay them out close to where you will be making the mochi as you will have very little time once the mochi has been cooked.
4. Mix water and mochiko together and stir until you get a pastey substance. Make sure that you mix it well.
5. Cover the microwave safe bowl lightly with plastic wrap and put it in the microwave for 2 min.
6. Quickly stir it once and then put it back for another 2 minutes.
7. Quickly take it out of the microwave and put it on a surface coated in katakuriko (starch) and take off a piece to make a disc with and stretch it into a disc with your hands.
8. Place the covered strawberry and quickly close it up and seal it.  You can than roll it in your hands to reshape it if necessary.
9. Repeat this until you have covered all of your strawberries.

Warning:  Mochi is extremely hot when it has just come out of the microwave. Unfortunately it is necessary to work with it while it is hot but if it is impossible to touch then wait a few seconds for it to cool enough so that you can handle it.

Note: Some people divide the mochi into about 8 portions and then start shaping it into discs but I found that the mochi cools much more quickly so I left it in the glass bowl (which was still warm) and took it out piece by piece.  When mochi cools it gets very hard and you wont be able to work with it so be careful!