Yesterday was the second wagashi (Japanese sweets) lesson, and the first lesson where we made something.

In accordance with the season, we made sakura-mochi! It's mochi (rice cake) containing an (red bean paste) and wrapped with two sakura (cherry tree) leaves.

You take a blob of mochi and flatten it somewhat in your hand. Then, take an equally sized blob of an and put it on the mochi. Rolling this in your weak hand and pushing the an down with your strong hand, you (should) eventually get a nice round blob of mochi, filled with the an. Then you wrap it with a leaf, or sit it on one leaf and place another on top.

The finished product:



And... the leaves are salty! They've been marinated in something to give them a salty and slightly sharp taste; one that would be a bit much on its own, but when wrapped around the mochi is so good... the taste and scent is totally unique.

The mochi is called Domyoji (yes, as in Doooomyooooojiiii~~~~) and consists of rice grains that have been cut into sixths. Apparently the sakura-mochi made by the pros with these ingredients are about $3.80 a pop from the shop. I would send some to you but I think the mass of melted leaves and beans would cause the biggest biosecurity alert ever!

Here's a rather cute video from youtube showing sakuramochi being made, by a 2½ year old no less. She does a pretty good job!


I hope your life is sweet too :)