Ichigo Daifuku - Japanese Sweet bean and Strawberry ball

A soft, pillowy rice flour ball filled with sweet bean paste and a ripe strawberry

Step 1 Ingredients and Preparation

For this recipe, you'll need:

Dough
1cup sweet glutinous rice flour (Mochiko is a popular brand in Japanese and Korean stores)
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
and extra flour or corn starch for handling the dough.

Bean Paste
(I made this from scratch because I couldn't find any in stores near me. You can find it pre-made. It's often called anko or shiro-an)
1 cup dried white beans
1/2 cup sugar
2 to 3 cups water

Strawberries - this recipe makes about 8 balls, so have 8 ripe strawberries on hand

Comments

[bcnr33skyline187]

do you have to bake it

[Lizzio]

Nope. It's done.

[bcnr33skyline187]

sweet!!, is it easy to find ice flor

[xenobiologista]

Go to Asian grocery stores. I don't think you necessarily have to buy the specific brand. Make sure it's GLUTINOUS rice flour though, not regular rice flour.

[jsharpe3]

whats the difference between glutinous rice flour and rice flour?

[xenobiologista]

There's regular rice and glutinous rice. Glutinous rice has more amylopectin and less amylose than other kinds of rice so it's INCREDIBLY sticky, not to be confused with what Americans sometimes call "sticky rice" which is just a slightly stickier variety of regular rice. (It doesn't have the gluten protein that some people are allergic to though, it's just glutinous as in glue-y, not glutenous.) So, regular rice flour vs. glutinous rice flour also have different textures. Glutinous rice flour often gets used to make ball-shaped dessert that need to hold together and have a slightly bouncy texture like the above.

Here's the gory details of the difference between regular and glutinous rice for those interested: http://www.ncsu.edu/news/press_releases/02_10/275.htm

[jennylou808]

I love daifuku! I always try to eat my weight in both daifuku and mochi when I visit Japan. Sadly it is very hard to find the proper ingredients where I live. If that is the same for you I recommend finding an online asian grocery store to supply you.

[pomly]

Do you have a suggestion for how to do this step without a microwave? I love daifuku! Never had them with fresh strawberries in there though - YUM! Can't wait to try making my own!

[prodprof]

Bain Marie, or you can do it in an oven, bain marie style.

One with water - and put the other one on top - it is better if you don't have the liquid touching the bowl, because the pastry will cook before you have a chance to use it.

Another way is to let your rice 'sit' for half an hour after it has boiled, remember that real rice has a husk, and it is much better to rinse with very cold water in a sieve chinois for four or five minutes. You have to rinse the rice, put your kettle on boil, and that is good enough, put the water through the seive, turn your rice at the same time four a couple of minutes with a wooden spatula - if you don't use the wooden spatula, you will have the taste of metal in your rice. Put the rice o the counter, on top of a piece of greaseproo, and let it rest - better if you put it through a moulin when it is cold.

The dough is easily usable for a couple of minutes after you have prepared; again, thai steamer is a god here. It warms it up and makes it more pliable.

Flouring your hands will do nothing apart from making this pastry more than a little dry - rinse your hands with a little peanut oil for every ball.

When you haveyour 'rounds' of pastry, use your hands and make them as thin as possible - stretching left and right until the pastry is nearly see-through - take a knife and put some of the strawberry confiture - (jam) accross the pastry - next - put some strawberries or some strawberry halves on the the pastry.

Next point - very important.

Put your hands in some iced water until you feel nothing.

Take some pastry, put a good strawberry in the middle of it and roll the pastry in your palms - left and right.

Drop them in the fryer or steam them in a basket over a wok with a liquid of papaye or mango underneath.

I will post a video a little later?

PS.

Sorry for the long wined explination.
For the strawberries - you have two choices - put them in a brown paper bag - and store them with no sun for two or three weeks - and change the bag every two or three days for another - or make a quick strawberry Jam - adding a fresh strawberry , with some pistachios, at the last mintue.

When the Pastry is hard' role it out, for every strawberry - normally a couple of feet, and place your strawberries.

It is really much better if you make a if you have some planning for the things you need to prepare this recipe.

1 make your jam, ( this will keep for months in a hermetic container in the fridge).

Make your pastry - it will be much better if you prepare it a day in advance - don't ever put in the fridge - much better if you wrap in cling film and leave it on the counter until the Jam is set.

When you purée your pastry - you need to look out for the colour and translucence of the rice - if the rice is very white - you need to let it boil a little longer - if the rice is almost see through - you need to start again - in between is better.

[Lizzio]

I haven't tried this on the stove, but there are several recipes that use the stove.
Here's one: http://www.recipezaar.com/77141
They suggest you bring the water and sugar to a boil, remove it from heat, add the mochiko, stir well, and then return to a very low heat for an additional 2 minutes.
Good luck!

[xenobiologista]

I've made stuff (different kinds of ball-shaped desserts) with glutinous rice flour before. The way to tell when they're done is that they sink when you throw them in, but they float when cooked. If you're doing a big batch it's probably OK to just keep a pot of water on the boil all the time.

[superMacaroni]

Can I just put rice in a coffee grinder instead of rice flour?

[The_pyrogeek]

NO! Sweet rice flour is VITAL to this recipe.

Sweet rice is NOT the same thing as regular short-grain rice...

[superMacaroni]

Aww....

[tesinopolis]

yay! I was literally just wondering how I can make these things yesterday--should have just looked it up on instructables, right? :D now can i make these just as easily with a thin inner layer of red bean paste, wrapped with white bean on the outside? or should i not bother because the 8 strawberries would probably all be gone by the time i finish the second bean paste batch?! ;) can't wait to try this out, looks delish! thank you so much for sharing!

[Kintri]

i believe that Chinese glutinous rice flour should work the same, my mom made 'tang yuan' or mochi balls with this before.

[kenchato]

the beans for make anko, are red no? or exits other kinds?

[wibrle]

They look so good and look real easy to make, but there isn't an Asian or Japanese grocery store where I live. Do you know if or what I could use as a substitute for the rice flour?

[velcrotrainer]

 you can find sweet rice flour at hmart.com among other korean and japanese ingredients that are impossible to find in western grocery stores.
www.hmart.com/shopnow/shopnow_newsub.asp

[jongscx]

Publix or a similarly high-end grocer should have an international or oriental/mexican section. I've seen something similar done with cornstarch, but it's the glutenous rice's fineness that really makes this pastry, so I don't recommend it. Also try health-food stores or alternative-diet places... not my thing, but sometimes they carry the more esoteric fare.

[thingygoboom]

I used Whole Foods Rice Flour (it's really Bob's Red Mill white rice flour) and added more sugar

[arhodes18]

this sounds AMAZING! I really want to try it, but unfortunately I probably won't because I probably won't be able to find everything...

[orange dilemma]

my dough was like rubber! i understand that it is suppose to be chewy but this was way to rubbery and sticky i couldnt handle it without it becoming completly stuck to my hand :[ and it wouldnt stay rolled out. i did take your advise and try again i tryed three times too! any idea what i did wrong?

[thingygoboom]

I think that the American brand of rice flour doesn't work as well as the Japanese brand...

[raeraethejetplane]

This happened to me too but some quick thinking solved the problem. Add a very small amount of water to the dough, stir well and knead. Using the flour didn't help me from sticking to the dough. I dipped my hands in a bowl of water after my mum suggested it and it worked great.

[Lizzio]

I'm sorry to hear that it didn't work for you :( The dough is very very elastic, and I found that stretching it a little bit at a time eventually got it to the size I wanted. Try picking it up once you have a disc and pulling it gently from the middle, then turning, then pulling again. As for the stickiness, all I can suggest is to use more mochiko or some corn starch on your hands and on the surface you're working on. If it fails again...I dunno! Good luck!

[Aznhick]

Just saying something, mochiko isn't a brand, it literally is the glutinous rice flour. The name is just the Japanese word for it.

[orange dilemma]

If you can't find the flour go to super store. thats were I got mine. the brand you suggested to couldn't find bean paste either or at least not in red deer know were to get it in Edmonton so I am making it myself I found out a much faster way to let them soak right now i am waiting for it to be done then i can make the flour

[Linkiboy]

Ichigo Daifuku? ~na no Anyway, great dish.

[crafthut]

I've worked with filo before and was advised to cover the extra with a damp dishtowel to prevent drying. Would that work with this recipe? Or is the dough too soft even for that?

[Lizzio]

I think that the dough might be too sticky...but I will definitely give it a try next time-maybe with a paper towel so that I don't ruin the dishcloth :)

[mightywombat]

Or you could cover them with a layer of plastic wrap... When things like that dry out, it is sometimes very easy to just knead the dry parts into the ball and roll them out again.

[Umeko]

I dont have a microwave at home (yes there are people out there without microwaves lol) and I found a way of cooking the rice flour dough without a microwave by boiling everything (except the rice flour) to a rapid boil and then pouring it over the flour and mixing it till it has no lumps in it. It only takes 2 mins if you use ready boiled water... Yummy

[Grey_Wolfe]

I'm out there as well. lol Good suggestion, may try that.

[Ashin]

mine came out horribly D:

[Grey_Wolfe]

But did they taste good?

[Lizzio]

I'm sorry to hear that...any idea what went wrong? :(

[pbjabba]

As part of my jap course at school were having a get-together thing where we have to bring along some japanese food we made. I think i'll have a crack at making these! Hopefully i don't make a complete hash of it lol, might have a test run tomorrow :P

[alex-sharetskiy]

looks a little bit dry, lke something you want to throw in your ice cream

[dizzytired]

Have you tried red bean paste? I think that's the traditional way. Also you can chop up the strawberries into the paste. I've seen a few anime series where the daifuku has little spots of strawberry. Great instructable though, my mouth is watering!