Warabi mochi is a traditional Japanese dessert. It is made from starch from a fern-like wild plant called bracken. Warabi mochi is somewhat translucent and has a fun, jiggly, jelly-like consistency. Warabi mochi is usually cut into small squares and covered with kinako (roasted soy bean powder). It is often topped with a drizzle of syrup made from dark brown sugar.
There are three main ingredients: warabi starch, sugar, and water. The key seems to lie in the ratio of ingredients and the technique used to combine them. I clearly need more practice making this.
Warabi Mochi
- Combine warabi starch, sugar, and water in a bowl.
Note: Adjust the quantities according to taste. The amount in the original recipe was much, much too sweet for me. - Stir until the starch and sugar are dissolved. It should look like a white liquid.
- Pour the mixture through a fine sieve to remove any clumps.
- Put the mixture in a pot and heat slowly over low heat while gently stirring the liquid all the time.
- As the mixture warms up, it will start to thicken and congeal. Keep gently stirring it.
- Turn off the heat when the liquid becomes translucent.
- Pour the mixture in a flat container.
- Put the container in an ice bath to cool it down.
- After it is cool, remove from the container and cut into squares.
- Cover the squares with kinako (roasted soy bean powder).
- Transfer to a serving dish and drizzle a little brown sugar syrup on top.