Pumpkin Mochi Cakes
Ingredients
- 200 g Dried Red Beans
- 1,000 g Water
- 50 g Sugar
- 100 g Coconut Milk
- 500 g Kabocha Flesh, steamed or roasted
- 360 g Glutinous Rice Flour, divided use
- 96 g Corn Starch, divided use
- 200 g Spinach
- Frying Oil, as needed
PREPARATION
Combine red beans and water in a pressure cooker, cook for 30 minutes and drain. While still warm, place red beans into a food processor and add sugar and coconut milk, blending until smooth. Refrigerate overnight.
Mash kabocha in a bowl and add 300 grams of rice flour and 80 grams of cornstarch, adding water if needed, until a dough forms; set aside.
Place spinach in a blender and process with enough water to process; strain. Sift together remaining 60 grams of rice flour and remaining 16 grams of cornstarch, and slowly add the spinach juice until a dough consistency starts to form; knead the dough until smooth; set aside.
To assemble, form 15 grams of red bean paste into a ball and place in the center of a 35-gram piece of orange pumpkin skin, using hands or a rolling pin to fatten. Use a toothpick to press out pumpkin marks on the mochi ball. Then pinch 3 grams of green mochi on top of the pumpkin body, securing it to resemble a pumpkin stem.
Fill a deep cast-iron frying pan halfway full of oil and heat to 350°F. Deep fry the pumpkin mochi balls for 3 minutes until golden; drain on a wire rack. Makes 25 cakes.
Executive Dim Sum Chef Jacky Lok | Mr. Z Asian Cuisine, New York