Today, we’re making a fresh fruit mochi that is a wonderful treat! If you’ve never had mochi with fruit inside, it’s absolutely delicious! The contrast between the slightly dry red bean paste and the super juicy fruit is such a great texture wonderland! This fruit filled mochi recipe is a great dessert to make any time of the year! As a bonus, we show you how to make the mochi with rice, instead of rice flour! Perfect for when you want to make fruit mochi completely from scratch!
Watch how to make fruit mochi
Fruit Mochi is Japanese ingenuity in action!
Mochi is one of the oldest foods in Japanes history. It dates back thousands of years. It was even made before white rice was widely cultivated! This sticky, chewy, stretchy food is also one of Japan’s most classic desserts!
The original variation is filled with red bean paste and is a delicious treat in itself! However, some brilliant person thought, “What if I added a fresh, juicy strawberry in this?” It soon became a huge hit and quickly spread all across the country! These days, you can find mochi filled with many kinds of fruit, including grapes, whole Japanese oranges called “mikan”, melon, etc.
What is the origin of the fruit-filled mochi?
The first version of the fruit-filled mochi is the strawberry-filled mochi (called ichigo daifuku in Japanese). This was invented relatively recently in the Showa era (1901 – 1989), but who actually invented it is heavily contested. One shop called “Daikaku Tamaya” in Tokyo claims to be the creator of the strawberry-filled mochi and even holds a registered trademark for it.
They claim that they first sold it on February 6, 1985 and have documentation to prove it. Other places argue that they were the originator of the strawberry-filled mochi, but regardless of who you believe, this was a groundbreaking dessert. Soon, other shops thought, “Why not use other fruits instead of strawberry?” and now we have Japanese dessert shops creating new kinds of mochi!
What fruits can I use for my fruit mochi?
Anything you’d like! Seriously, the sky’s the limit! There is no rule to what fruit is considered “proper”. Traditionally, strawberrys are used. These days, we can find grape, mikan, and melon mochi, as I mentioned earlier.
But if you’d like to add blueberry, raspberries, heck, even the controversial durian (!), then I highly advise you go for it! You can see that in Mrs. Eats’ version, she opted for golden kiwi, which is unconventional, but still VERY tasty!
How to make the actual mochi component of this fruit mochi recipe
Make sure to check out our article over here on making mochi without rice flour! That contains everything that you need to know in detail on how to make this fruit mochi! Just to recap the process:
- Soak glutinous rice flour
- Grind it into a paste
- Steam the rice paste (Instructions for microwaving for those who can’t steam)
- Shape the mochi into a rectangle and cut it into squares
- Wrap it around a ball of red bean paste
- Decorate it with a cute sticker 😉
Ingredients for fruit mochi
- Glutinous Rice (See it on Amazon) – This is the only rice you should use to make mochi if you want to get the perfect stretch, chew, and texture! Using any other kind of rice is asking for a bad time!
- Sweet Red Bean Paste (See it on Amazon) – Sweetened, mashed red beans. The perfect filling for perfectly homemade mochi!
- Sugar
- Fruit of your choice (I recommend that if you’re using large or odd-shaped fruits, that you cut it into a ball shape before wrapping it)
Fruit Mochi - A New Take On A Japanese Classic!
Fruit mochi is a great way to enjoy such an ancient Japanese sweet! There’s something really wonderful about the textural contrast between the red bean paste, the stretchy mochi, and the juicy fruit! Experiment with your own fruit filling and enjoy this delicious dessert!
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Fruit Mochi
Ingredients
- Glutinous rice 150g
- Sweet red bean paste
- Sugar 2 Tbsp
- Fruit of your choice
Instructions
- Add glutinous rice to a large bowl and add water until the rice is completely submerged. Allow to soak for 2-4 hours.
- Drain the water and add rice to a food processor or blender. At 3 tbsp of water and grind for a minute.
- Open the lid and check the consistency. It should be smooth and have the consistency of white glue. Add a teaspoon of water and continue to grind for another minute. Repeat this step until you have the correct consistency.
- Prepare a sheet of parchment paper and add it to a steam basket. Pour the mochi paste into the parchment. Steam the mochi, covered, for about 10 minutes. The mochi is finished when it turns from a milky white to a translucent white with many small holes dotting the surface.
- If you are using large or oddly shaped fruit, prepare them by using a melon baller or carefully cutting and shaping them into balls.
- Take about 10 grams of red bean paste and shape it around the fruit, covering it completely in a thin layer of bean paste.
- Carefully remove the parchment paper and mochi from the steamer. Gently scrape the mochi off of the parchment paper onto a work surface dusted with corn starch.
- Working quickly, shape the mochi into a long rectangle, then cut the mochi into 30 gram squares.
- Place the mochi onto the palm of your hand and stretch out the edges gently. Make sure that the edges are thinner than the center of the mochi.
- Place the fruit-filled bean paste ball into the center of the mochi and wrap the edges around, pinching to seal.
- Turn the mochi seal-side down and gently roll on the palm of your hand. Dip the bottom lightly into corn starch and set on a plate.
- Continue to shape the rest of the mochi. Serve immediately.
- *Note: For microwave instructions, refer to the instructions listed in the article above
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