• Cooking Time: 5-20
• Servings: 10
• Preparation Time: 15
• 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. 1. Whisk together the sticky rice powder, water, salt and caster 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.
3. 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.
5. 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.
7. 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.
9. 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.

A traditional food in Chinese, Korean and Japanese cuisine, this is a sort of sweet rice dumpling that can be used to carry a myriad of flavours!