Mallets and Mochi

Mochizuki

I’m feeling full and content, but a little sore after making "mochi" at Amy’s school today. Mochi is hardened cakes of edible rice paste, that’s made from pounding piles of steamed rice until it forms a substance somewhat thicker, and a lot stickier than tapioca.

Yesterday at school, the kids, teachers and moms washed about 20 kg of glutenous rice, and then put the rice into buckets full of water, to sit overnight. This morning they drained the rice, and divided in into a series of large bamboo steamers; like those used in a Chinese restaurant for making dim sum.

The rice was steamed over a fire and then batches of it were dumped into huge, stone and wooden bowls. Next, the fathers took turns pounding the rice into a malleable, dough-like substance, with heavy wooden mallets, that were build like an axe, and were heavier than a sledge hammer.

After that, the mothers and kids tore off pieces of the dough and rolled them into bite-sized balls. They were later covered with cocoa powder, sheets of seaweed, "anko" (sweet red bean paste), "kinako" (soy been flour), and “natto” (fermented soy beans), and then were served with bowls of pork and vegetable soup, called “tonjiru”.