Mochi with a Peanut Filling (糯米糍/Lo Mai Chi) Recipe

I love this recipe so much as this relates back to my childhood eating this as a treat. The crunch peanut filling really compliments the soft, yet slightly chewy and sweet mochi. I really hope that you give this recipe a try as it is really easy and you will have a lot of fun making this (and eating them!)

Peanut Mochi | Recipe - Yields: 8 mochi balls

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup of glutinous rice flour,

125g of glutinous rice flour,
40g of sugar,
250ml of coconut milk

1/4 cup of ground peanuts,
2 tbs of powdered sugar,
a splash of water

METHOD
1. In a large frying pan, fry the 1/2 cup of glutinous flour for around 5 minutes until it turns fragrant and is well cooked through. Stir constantly with a spatula to ensure the flour does not burn.
2. Pour the flour into a bowl to cool and then set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the 125g of glutinous rice flour with the sugar until well combined. Then whisk in the coconut milk and mix until completely smooth.
4. Spray/grease a heat-proof pan/bowl liberally with cooking oil/spray. Pour the mochi batter and place in a steamer to steam for 35 minutes on medium heat.

*Everyone's heat source and strength is different so the cooking time varies.
How do I know when the mochi is done? It should turn opaque and become gelatinous and dough-like when poked with a chopstick. Make sure that there are no spots of raw batter.

Which steaming method did I use? I placed the heatproof bowl directly in a regular pot and poured up to around 1.5 inches of hot water. I then covered with a lid and let steam for the allocated time.

5. Once the mochi is fully cooked through, mix thoroughly to loosen up the dough. Be careful as the bowl may still be hot, so I would advise using a towel to help.
6. Set the mochi aside to cool slightly whilst we make the peanut filling.

7. In a bowl, combine together the ground peanuts and powdered sugar until combined. Drizzle in a tiny bit of water (a bit at a time) until the mixture becomes damp- do not add too much water or else you will form a paste rather than crumbs.
8. Liberally flour your work surface with the pan-fried/cooked glutinous rice flour from earlier.
9. Place the dough on top and coat well with flour. Then, flatten the whole dough until it becomes around 4mm thick.
10. Using a flour scraper, cut out rough tablespoon portions of dough (enough dough to fill a tablespoon measure).
11. Shape into a flat circle where it should have a slightly thicker center, but thin edges for the seal/seam.
12. Add a heaped teaspoon of the peanut filling into the center. Seal the mochi by folding from the center in. Pinch the sides tightly so as to ensure the filling does not leak out.

*Remember to keep the center thick as if it is flattened out too much, the filling may leak out when forming into a ball.

13. Place the balls each into a cupcake liner/case and serve as is. Store at room temperature, covered either in a food-grade plastic box or in a plastic food bag.

* If you are storing these, store in a food-grade plastic container with a tight lid so that they can stay fresh for as long as possible. Ideally consume these within 2 days.