HAH! I am the funniest ever.
*hears the bells of corny-ness pealing in the distance*
Okay, I’ll shaddup now. Well, with the bad lyrics anyway.
The blood orange curd is still sitting in my fridge, and the butter has been put back in the fridge. I’ll do it tomorrow, I promise. And whilst you ‘tsk tsk’ away, let me show you what’s been occupying my little hands in the stead of making pastry -
Home-made ‘chapsal dduk’ with sweet red bean paste
Mom had been speaking to her friend during the week, and her friend had shared her excitement about discovering the ‘idiot-proof’ method of making Korean-style daifuku! Idiot proof? Hrmph, we’ll see!
So, we mixed and whisked and filled and patted and…
Guess what? They really are utterly foolproof!
Ingredients for Chapsal Dduk (Korean daifuku)
2 cups glutinous rice powder (sticky rice powder)
1 1/3 cups water
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 pinch of salt
potato starch
1. Whisk together the sticky rice powder, water, salt and icing sugar in a large, microwave-proof glass bowl. Make sure that there are no lumps at all, it needs to be completely mixed together and smooth.
2. Once it’s all mixed up, microwave it for 1-2 minutes on your microwaves ‘high’ power setting, then remove it, give it a thorough stir and mix it all up, then microwave for another 3-4 minutes, or till it has tripled in size.
3. Remove it from the microwave, and give it a good stir before emptying it onto your starch-covered tray. Cover the surface of the mochi with potato starch, then push it to the corner and pull off a small handful.
4. Using your fingers, press it into a circle with a hollow in the middle, then place a heaped tbsp of filling (in this case, we were using sweetened red beans) in the hollow, and then pinch closed the edges around it.
5. Lightly dust any sticky bits of the surface with corn starch, then quickly wrap in clingfilm as exposure to air will dry them out and make them form a rough skin.
You have to work quickly with these as you need to get them wrapped in clingfilm as quickly as possible, but it makes for some misshaps and some laughter, especially if you’re making these with someone else.
Filling - you can use almost anything, from tinned sweetened red beans, chestnut paste (not puree) or sweet potato mash! They store wonderfully in the freezer, and you just need to remove them and leave them to thaw for 1-2 hours (depending on their size) before serving!
In the style of Japanese ichigo daifuku, the addition of a whole, fresh strawberry to the middle makes for a lovely & fresh summertime treat!
Technorati Tags: mochi, daifuku, red bean, Asian sweets, sticky rice, chapsal, Korean cooking
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Comments
Ari I loved this post, it brought back memories of my college days when one of my best friends was Korean and made delicious treats like this. 
Ellie Tanna - Thanks 
But it’s not that adventurous, as I’ve been eating these since I was a little girl back in Korea. It was definetely fun to learn how to make them myself though!
Ari - Glad you liked the post! I absolutely adore Korean rice sweets, and hopefully I’ll post some more in the future as I learn how to make them
Kat mmm mochi. these look great too! you can try adding green tea powder to your mochi or even cocoa powder my aunty makes an awesome chocolate and peanut butter filling for her mochi….
Lisa Wow this is very new to me. I have questions!! hehee
So what is the texture of mochi? Is it like a cuttable (word?) pudding or more of a doughy bread ? Or is this candy?
I’m hungover as hell, but oddly, this looks really go to me. I say oddly because not even a piece of dry toast sounds good to me right now. hehee
Ellie Kat - Ooo! That’s a really good idea, I’ll give that a shot next time I try it
Lis - It’s really hard to describe what the texture of this stuff is like…it’s possibly best described as doughy pudding? It’s soft and stretchy and extremely malleable and chewy. Kind of like the stickyness that a steamed short grain rice has, but even more so (as this is one of the shortest grains there is!). Definetely not candy Why are you hungover? Must investigate…
evelyn sorry, i’m just a little confused….wad is a sticky rice powder? is it like glutinous rice flour or rice flour? maybe they don’t sell it in Australia….but if it is possible, do u think u can post a picture of how it looks like? thx! i really enjoy your blog, by the way! keep it up!!
Ellie Evelyn - Ah sorry - I should change the name of it to the common name
You’re absolutely right in that sticky rice powder is glutinous rice powder - you should be able to get a bag of it from any chinese grocery store for a dollar or two!
Glad you like the blog, thanks for stopping by!
Alex Hey
Thanks for your comment (and the recipe) ! I love lemon tarts…they’re actually the only kind of tart I’ve ever attempted, and that one was one of the best. I’ve been looking in at your site for a while and I’ve tried a few recipes…my friends and I (and my family) really enjoyed your mochi as well (though we tried a maccha filling too…and that didn’t work so well!)
Cheers,
Alex
g..k..s..t..r Hello,
Can’t wait to try this recipe out! Unfortunately, I don’t own kitchen scales and must make do with cup measurements - would you be able to tell me approximately how many cups of glutinous rice flour equals the 500g in your recipe?
Thanks!
Ellie Hi hon - Sorry, I haven’t got any rice flour/starch in the house at the moment and I usually don’t measure it out as we just buy it in packets of 250g each. I’ve just had a look on the internet and apparently 100g of potato starch = 1 cup (http://www.recipelink.com/cookbooks/2002/0767906810_3.html) and rice starch is of about the same weight, so going by this I’d say you should be OK to use 5 cups of sticky rice powder
Angie Yay, this one looks like fun! I think it’s the perfect project for my mother and i when i’m home for the holidays. Nothing like korean mother-daughter bonding.
cindy wow you can make those?
You’re so good!
I love your blog, I can learn so much from it,
Food, photography, even Korean!
Susan yum! i love mochi. and i love that you write about korean food. my mom got be some cookbooks a few years ago when i got married. your photos and posts makes me want to go crack those bad boys open. now, i’m off to see if the only asian food store in town has some chapsal.
Ellie Angie - Definitely quite fun, though the hot ‘dough’ does verge on slightly dangerous 
I hope you and your mom get the chance to make this together!
Cindy - Thank you sweetheart I aim to please, and I’m glad you’re enjoying the blog!
Susan - Cheers! 
I’m glad to hear that the blogs inspiring you to give the cookbooks a shot, hope you had fun with the chapsal
Natalie Thanks for sharing the recipe - I absolutely adore mochi and red bean paste. Your pictures are absolutely gorgeous!
Quick question: do you happen to know how I can make this recipe without a microwave? I gave away my microwave a few years ago, and I’ve been looking for an alternative method to cook the mochi. I can’t seem to find a recipe for daifuku which doesn’t use a microwave…
Ellie Natalie - Oh dear :/ That’s had me do a bit of thinking…a pot wouldn’t work since this needs even heat application…I mean, it *MIGHT* work if you stand over it and stir like a madwoman but the risk is that that might make the dough too tough…Hmm. Maybe cooking it in a bain-marie with a lid? I think that would give fairly even heat without the risk of burning it…but that’s just a guess :/ Sorry I can’t be of more help than that!
Ellie Toshi,
You should realize that Korean/Japanese/Chinese food shares many dishes - ichiko daifuku *is* Japanese as I clearly state in the post, but daifuku itself is ALSO a very popular and traditional sweet rice cake in Korea. In Korea it goes by the name of chapsal dduk (as mentioned in my post) and can be found as part of the rice cake presentations on traditional feast tables. The traditional method of making this - i.e. pounding cooked rice with a giant hammer is part of Korean history too, so this may be something you want to look into so you’re a little more aware.
A little global cultural awareness is not a bad thing.
Gazella how do you work with the stickiness.. I tried thsi recipe and I don’t know how you made the glutinous layer sooo thin! it’s like impossible it just kept on sticking to my fingers, and erg… didn’t look very pretty
Ellie Gazella - It does take a little practice My procedure is as follows:
1. Scoop the sticky rice dough onto a tray liberally dusted with potato starch (I’ve tried a few other starches and potato starch works the best - I put a 5mm thick layer of starch all over the board to prevent any chance of it sticking)
2. lightly coat the dough, a knife and my hands with potato starch
3. Cut off a small amount of dough with the knife, and squish it flat on the tray, then put a scoop of sweetened adzuki or lotus seed paste in the middle, then pinch the sides together and give it a light roll so it forms an even ball.
4. Wrap it in cling wrap or store in an airtight container, then repeat steps 2-4 till you run out of dough
The key here is to redust your hands with starch after each ball is made - you don’t want your hands to look snow-white, but just lightly dusted, this should stop any stickiness issues you have
Best of luck!
Sharon I just found these on Tastespotting and I have never wanted anything so badly :) The ones with the strawberries look divine! Can you also buy potato starch at Asian groceries? I’ve just never seen it before. Great job!
Ellie Sharon - Thanks so much for the lovely compliment! You should be able to buy potato starch in the supermarket or Asian grocery store, check where the other starches (tapioca, sticky/glutinous rice, corn etc) are and it should be there
yo i hv some questions..do i need to dust my hands with potato starch before putting the filling inside the mochi? It seemed to be very messy and sticky when I made it. and if I dont have potato starch can I use corn starch?
what do u know about making mochi ice cream..I cant seemed to make the ice cream stay firm inside.
Great job with the pictures ! Ur page is awesome !
Jane chapssal dduk is one of my favorites! i will attempt this recipe this week.
thanks for your amazing recipes. i’m a fan!
Jane hi ellie,
i tried this recipe tonight.. however, my dough seemed a little rough/hard. i followed the exact same measurements and directions you posted. one thing i did different was i used confectioner’s sugar instead of caster sugar, but this shouldn’t affect the consistency of the dough, right? another thing i noticed was that it did not triple in size when i put it in the microwave. not even double! what am i doing wrong?
also, do you work with the dough as soon as it comes out of the microwave? the dough was so hot that i couldn’t touch it w/my bare hands. do you let it cool off a bit before working with it? when i did that, the dough dried out and didn’t stick too well to form a ball. we did have a fun time eating it and it was very tasty… but it was way too messy. any advice?
Ellie Jane - The sugar shouldn’t affect the dough consistency, the thing with this dough is that you have to be careful how much you work it as if you work it too much the dough becomes rough and hard very quickly. As for the dough not doubling - it doesn’t stay doubled in size, but while it’s in the microwave you should see it expand to at least twice the volume, it will deflate once you remove it. And yes, I work the dough with my bare hands but I let it cool for about 2-3 minutes before touching it. I’m not sure what you’re doing to have it work out like this but this recipe *does* work - I’ll make a video next time I make it so you can see how I do it.
You are adventursome Ellie. I like red bean paste.
Looks very good.