Mango Mochi

Today, we want to show you how to prepare Japanese mochi balls with a tropical mango jam filling. They're soft and chewy outside, sweet and fruity inside — we bet you'll fall in love with them at first bite!

Filled mochi balls are a Japanese confection (wagashi) known as daifuku (大福) in Japan.

They consist of a dough of glutinous rice flour (called mochigomeko or mochiko for short) stuffed with a sweet filling like anko paste, strawberries, or chestnut paste, to mention a few.

The secret to mochi balls is in the flour: glutinous rice flour is not the same as regular rice flour. Instead, it's milled from a type of short-grain rice that has a high starch content.

You can find glutinous rice flour at your local Asian food store or online. Check the label well before you buy it, as it looks just like regular rice flour, but it behaves completely different.

When you cook it, mochiko turns incredibly gooey and sticky. Mochi dough is nothing like you have ever tasted before: soft, chewy, and sweet — really unique!

But wait until you try the mango jam filling! It's a simple yet delicious stuffing for mochi balls. You can use store-bought mango jam or make it from scratch using ripe mangos.

We have a quick 30-minute recipe for mango jam made without sugar. You'll get the same deliciousness but without added sugars. Give it a go!

If you want to cut down the sugars even more, we'll give you the option to make the mochi dough with erythritol, a safe and natural sweetener you can use instead of sugar.

It's time to gather the ingredients, put your kitchen apron on, and prepare these wonderful mango mochi balls together!

And if you're looking for more mochi filling ideas, check out these ube butter mochi and chilli chocolate mochi, or try using sweet yellow bean paste!

Step 1

For the mango jam filling, we recommend using mango jam with no added sugars as it will be healthier.

We have a super easy mango jam recipe prepared only with ripe mangos, plus one apple for thickness. And it takes just about 30 minutes to make.

Keep the jam in the fridge to make it easier to portion and spoon it onto the mochi dough wrappers.

Alternatively, you can opt for a filling of mango sorbet, following the instructions in the tips section below.

Step 2

Before starting, make sure you're using glutinous rice flour, not standard rice flour, or the recipe won't come out.

To make the dough, you have two options: cook the glutinous rice flour mix in a pot over the hob or in a bowl in the microwave.

You can follow our instructions for the stove-top option in this peanut butter mochi recipe.

For the microwave option, combine glutinous rice flour with the icing sugar in a bowl.

You can use erythritol, a natural zero-calorie, granulated sweetener, as an alternative to icing sugar. Just blitz it into a fine powder and use it like icing sugar.

Next, pour in the given water and mix well until you have a smooth batter without lumps.

Step 3

Cover the bowl with cling film and microwave the mochi batter for 1 minute at medium-high power (we set ours at 700W).

Then, take out the bowl, unwrap it, and use a wet spoon to stir the mochi mixture.

Repeat this step two more times.

The dough will get denser, lumpier, and stickier at every round.

Stir the mochi dough vigorously with a wet spoon until it's smooth, uniform, stretchy, and thick.

If needed, microwave it one more time until it reaches the right consistency.

Step 4

Now, dust your worktop and your hands thoroughly with cornstarch.

Then, transfer the hot mochi dough onto it and dust it with more starch (1).

The starch will make the dough less sticky, helping you handle it with ease.

Now, pinch off a small handful of dough, weighing about 30g-40g (1 oz-1.4 oz).

Roughly give it a ball shape and place it on the starch-dusted worktop (2).

Dust your hands with more starch as needed and make as many balls as the number of servings — 14 for the default ingredients.

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Step 5

Now it's time to shape, fill, and seal the mochi balls.

It can be a little tricky at first, but the more you practise, the easier it will become.

To make one mochi, take one dough ball and flatten it into a disc.

The disc should be 6-7 cm (2.5-2.8 inches) wide and no more than 5 mm thick (1).

Try to keep the edges thinner than the centre, as they will overlap when you fold the dough over the filling.

Then, brush off excess starch on both sides of the disc using a pastry brush or with your fingers.

Next, scoop half a tablespoon of cold mango jam and place it in the centre of the prepared mochi wrapper (2).

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Step 6

To seal the mochi, pinch two opposite edges of the dough and pull them towards the centre to cover the filling (1).

Then, pinch and pull the other two as you would do for a dumpling (2).

If the dough gets sticky while you shape the mochi, dust your fingers with a bit of starch.

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Step 7

Now, hold the mochi in your palm and keep pinching the edges together while you twist the mochi to make a tight ball and seal it (1).

Careful not to squeeze the mochi too hard, or the dough may tear and the mango jam may leak.

Finally, flip the mango mochi, seam-side down, onto a sheet of baking paper and lightly press it to give it a dome shape (2).

Your delicious low-sugar mango mochi balls are ready!

You can enjoy them as they are: soft and pillowy outside, sweet and creamy inside.

Alternatively, you can freeze them for a delicious ice cream mochi, following our mochi freezing tips in the FAQ section.

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Tips

• If you want to use mango sorbet as mochi filling, you can either use store-bought mango sorbet or make it from scratch with nothing but frozen mango chunks, following our no-added-sugar mango sorbet recipe. First, scoop out sorbet balls the size of a walnut and then place them on a tray lined with baking paper. Keep them in the freezer until you're ready to fill the mochi balls.

• Jackfruit jam or papaya jam are tasty alternatives to this tropical mango jam filling. Give them a go!