Who will help me bake this おはぎ?

March 31, 2011 7:40 AM

I need help translating either this or this super fun looking Japanese recipe.

I'm teaching a class on Asian desserts for the next few weeks, and have an awesome book that could really help me, but it's all in Japanese.

I know enough Japanese to work through it v e r y  s l o w l y, but having one seemingly-complicated recipe 100% translated would really help me as a reference in getting the other ones done.

Thanks!

And if you like pretty pictures of Japanese treats you can see some other ones here!

posted by soma lkzx to Writing & Language (3 answers total)

Best answer: I think kintsuba is harder to make than ohagi so here is the ohagi recipe:

ingredients:

mochi rice 2/3cup
short grain rice 1/3cup
salt one pinch
smooth red bean paste 200g
kinako (toasted soybean flour) 3 tablespoons
sugar 2 tablespoons
salt one pinch
ground black sesame seeds 3 tablespoons
sugar 2 tablespoons
salt one pinch

directions:

1. mix the mochi rice and the short grain rice in a bowl and rinse with water. drain in to a mesh strainer and let it sit for one hour. in a rice cooker add the rice, salt, and 180ml of water cook on the normal setting, when it finishes cooking mix the rice gently and let it sit a further 15min in the rice cooker.
2. with a mortar and pestle crush the rice grain until about half of the rice is crushed. remove 75g. of this crushed rice and separate it into 15g. balls. form the remaining crushed rice into 10 balls.
3. take half the smooth red bean paste and form it into 5 balls. take the remaining bean paste and form it into 10 balls.
4.wet your hand and flatten the large balls of bean paste. put the small rice balls in the center and wrap them with the bean paste. (makes 5)
5.wet your hand and flatten the remaining rice balls. wrap the small bean paste balls in the crushed rice (makes 10).
6. mix the listed salt and sugar with the kinako and the ground black sesame seeds. cover the five balls from step 5 with the kinako mixture and the remaining balls with the black sesame mixture.

translator's note:
if you don't have a rice cooker bring the rice and water to a boil in a sauce pan. when it boils cover it with a lid and make the flame as small as possible. cook for 20 minutes and proceed with the recipe as usual.
posted by Infernarl at 5:53 PM on March 31, 2011

Response by poster: And in case anyone is intereted, here's the kintsuba recipe, translated over many painful hours by yours truly:

400g coarse red bean paste
1 tbl cocoa
2 tbl skim milk
4 tbl diced almonds
1 tbl sugar
for the batter:
    80g cake flour
    10g rice flour
    1 teaspoon sugar
    pinch salt

1. Toast the almonds in a dry skillet.
2. Put bean paste in a pot over medium heat, stirring for about 10 minutes until bean paste dries out.
3. Remove from heat and add cocoa, skim milk, almond, and sugar, mixing well.
4. Spread mixture out on plastic wrap, 1cm thick. Place in refrigerator until mixture cools and hardens. [For some reason this step seems to includes the word 'baseball bat,' which I am clueless on]
5. In a bowl, combine the batter ingredients with 120 cc water. Whisk together completely (until there are no lumps? Or strain it?). Cover and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
6. Cut almond/chocolate mixture into 4x2cm rectangles. Heat a nonstick skillet gently over medium heat, dip each side of the bean mixture pieces into the batter, and fry each side without burning. (For each side, dip then fry then remove from heat, then dip and fry another side, etc, until all sides are completed. And really it's more of a 'light toast' than 'fry')
posted by soma lkzx at 12:58 PM on April 1, 2011

Response by poster: ps that rice flour is sweet rice flour, aka glutinous rice flour, aka mochiko, aka shiratamako
posted by soma lkzx at 1:27 PM on April 1, 2011