It’s about the time of year to eat mochi in Japan! Making mochi, also called a rice cake / a rice dumpling is Japanese new year tradition. We normally eat mochi in special new year’s soup at the time. But my favorite way to eat mochi is always with something sweet, for example sweet red beans paste, sugared soy sauce or ice cream! So here is a recipe of chocolate mochi ice cream. They’re very easy to make and require only 4 ingredients: Shiratamako, white sugar, store-bought chocolate ice cream and unsweetened cocoa powder. Never heard of Shiratamako? I’ll talk about what’s the difference from Mochiko and what is the best substitutes. Unlike plain mochi ice cream coated with potato starch, this chocolate mochi ice cream use unsweetened cocoa powder instead. It’s also super delicious to eat as it is!
What is Shiratamako?
It’s a type of short-grain glutinous rice flour same as Mochiko, but the production process into flour is different. In short, Shiratamako is a powder of dried rice starch. The starch of rice is extracted at first, then powdered. On the other hand Mochiko is simply fined rice. Shiratamako is more like jelly texture than Mochiko, and it doesn’t get harder after cooking, because of the high starch ratio. So thus, the best substitute for Shiratamako is not Mochiko in my opinion. I tried once but Mochiko is too grainy and stiffen quickly. Then I tried tapioca starch, and I found out it’s the best substitute for Shiratamako.
Brief instruction and Tips
Scoop ice cream in a half circle shape with a scooper or spoon and put them in the freezer until it’s ready to wrap with mochi.
Place Shiratamako in a medium bowl and gradually pour water as whisking. Then add sugar and whisk until smooth.
Transfer the mixture into a completely cleaned large frying-pan. Then stir the mixture constantly and vigorously with a spatula over medium heat until mixture thickens, slightly glossy and translucent.
Transfer the cooked mochi to a prepared work surface dusted with cocoa powder. If it’s stuck hardly on the surface of the pan, a few drops of oil help you to scrape off the mochi.
Dust with more cocoa powder on top of the mochi and a rolling pin to prevent from sticking. Spread the mochi into about 2mm thick.
Cut out circles with a glass or dish. It has to be bigger than the ice cream diameter in size to fully wrap the ice cream.
Place one ice cream on top of the mochi sheet. Pinch the edges of the mochi sheet and stick all together to wrap the ice cream. Put them back in the freezer until the ice cream frozen.
This mochi ice cream can last in the freezer just like normal ice cream. When you eat the mochi ice cream, leave them for a few minutes at room temperature in order to let the mochi soften.
If you are interested in mochi sweets or savory recipe, also check out my Strawberry shiramata dango and Potato mochi dumplings!
Disclaimer: Mochi is not advisable for young children, older adults, and people who can’t chew properly. You have to chew well to swallow mochi to prevent from getting stuck in the throat.
Recipe Inspired by Gyuhi recipe from the blog.
Chocolate Mochi Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 6 scoop chocolate ice cream
- 100 g (200ml) Shiratamako Substitute; 2/3 of tapioca starch and 1/3 of plain rice flour
- 100 g (1/2 cup) plain white sugar (caster / granulated sugar)
- 3-4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 200 ml water
Instructions
- Scoop the ice cream in a half circle shape with a scooper or spoon and put them in the freezer until it's ready to wrap with mochi.
- Place the Shiratamako in a medium bowl and gradually pour the water as whisking. Then add the sugar and whisk until smooth.
- Transfer the mixture into a completely cleaned large frying-pan. Then stir the mixture constantly and vigorously with a spatula over medium heat until mixture thickens, slightly glossy and translucent.
- Generously dust with half amount of the cocoa powder on the work surface.
- Transfer the cooked mochi to the cocoa powder-coated work surface.
- Dust with the remaining cocoa powder on top of the mochi and a rolling pin to prevent from sticking. Spread the mochi into about 2mm thick.
- Cut out circles with a glass or dish. It has to be bigger than the ice cream diameter in size to fully wrap the ice cream.
- Place one ice cream on top of the mochi sheet. Pinch the edges of the mochi sheet and stick all together to wrap the ice cream. Put them back in the freezer until the ice cream frozen.