Ichigo Daifuku: A classic Japanese dessert that has taken the internet by storm. This popular spring wagashi (Japanese confection) is made of chewy, soft mochi filled with sweet red bean paste and topped with a juicy strawberry! What’s not to like?
While traditional ichigo daifuku typically has mochi and red bean wrapped around the strawberry completely, this “open” version has grown in popularity due to it’s tantalizing looks.
While the mochi is important, I think the strawberry is the real star, so it’s important to get good strawberries. Look for something large, colorful, and sweet. I used Migaki Ichigo, which is a designer strawberry brand in Japan so these were very tasty!
Is making mochi hard?
As daunting as this dessert seems, it’s actually really easy to make. If you can mix things and put stuff in a microwave, you can definitely make this. Different kinds of mochi and wagashi vary on the scale as far as difficulty, but this I would say is on the easier end.
If you don’t have a Japanese or Asian market close by, you can find some of the ingredients in my Pantry or below in the “Shop this post” section.
Ichigo Daifuku (Strawberry Mochi) / いちご大福
Ingredients
- 6 strawberries
- 180 g koshi-an (sweet red bean paste)
- 180 g shiratamako (glutinous rice flour)
- 30 g sugar
- 200 ml water
- corn starch
Instructions
- Wash the strawberries and cut off the stems.
- Divide the red bean paste into six 30 g (about 2 tbsp) balls.
- In a heat proof bowl, add shiratamako, sugar, and water. Mix well.
- Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 1 minute 30 seconds. Take out and stir well.
- Cover and microwave again for 1 minute. Mochi should look translucent.
- Dust a board with corn starch and empty the mochi from the bowl onto the starch.
- Divide the mochi into 6 pieces and roll out into small, flat circles (around 2-3 inches in diameter).
- Wrap each red bean paste ball in the rolled out mochi circles (1 ball per circle). Shape with your hands to make sure they are round.
- Place the seam side down. Use sharp kitchen scissors to snip across the top of each piece so you can spread the top open and see the red bean paste (snip a little more than halfway down – make sure not to cut it completely into 2 pieces).
- Place strawberries with the point facing up into the cut portion. Serve!
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