Mochi with Ice Cream Filling Recipe

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Ingredients

Substitute for shiratamako:
3/4 cup Shiratamako (glutinous rice flour/sweet rice flour) (3/4 cup = 100 g) (See Notes)
3/4 cup water (3/4 cup = 180 ml)
1/4 cup granulated sugar (1/4 cup = 55 g) (See Notes)
1/2 cup potato starch/corn starch (1/2 cup = 100 g)
Ice cream of your choice
3/4 cup Mochiko (Instructions

Preparation

Step 1

DOs:

Keep your kitchen cool when you are working with ice cream.
Get this cookie scoop (portioning scoop) for creating the same portions and nice half-round shaped ice cream for mochi filling.
Use generous amount of potato/corn starch on your hands and working surface to prevent sticking.
Use a cookie cutter (or small bowl) to cut out mochi into a round shape. Round shape (instead of square cut) seals the mochi neatly and avoid excess amount of mochi on the bottom.
And here’s the secret tip! Wear thin latex gloves to insulate warm hands from ice cream and to prevent your hands from sticking to mochi.

INSTRUCTIONS:
Using the cookie scoop, scoop out ice cream into aluminum/silicone cupcake liners. The ice cream will melt quickly so I recommend freezing them immediately for a few hours or until ice cream balls are completely frozen solid.

Once the ice cream balls are frozen solid and ready, you can start making mochi.

Combine shiratamako and sugar in a medium bowl and whisk all together. Add water and mix well until combined.

Steaming Method: If you’re using a steamer, cover the steamer lid with a towel so the condensation won’t drop into the mochi mixture. Put the bowl into a steamer basket and cover to cook for 15 minutes. Half way cooking, stir with wet rubber spatula and cover to finish cooking. The color of mochi should change from white to almost translucent.

Cover the work surface with parchment paper and dust it generously with potato starch. Then transfer the cooked mochi on top.

To prevent from sticking, sprinkle more potato starch on top of the mochi. Once it’s cool down a bit, you can spread the mochi into a thin layer with your hands or with a rolling pin. Make sure to apply potato starch on your hands and the rolling pin. I recommend using a rolling pin because it’s easier to evenly spread out.

Transfer the mochi with parchment paper onto a large baking sheet. Refrigerate for 15 minutes until the mochi is set.

Take out the mochi from the refrigerator and cut out 7-8 circles with the cookie cutter. Dust off the excess potato starch with a pastry brush. If you find some sticky part, cover the area with potato starch first then dust off. Place a plastic wrap on a plate and then mochi wrapper on top, then lay another layer of plastic wrapper down. Repeat for all wrappers. With leftover mochi dough, roll into a ball and then flatten into a thin layer again and cut out into more circle wrappers (I could make about 12 mochi wrappers).

Now we’re ready to form mochi ice cream balls. On the work surface, place one sheet of plastic wrap with a mochi layer on top. Take out one ice cream ball from the freezer and put it on top of the mochi wrapper. Pinch the four corners of the mochi layer together to wrap the ice cream ball.

When mochi gets sticky, put some potato starch on the sticky area and seal the opening. Quickly cover with the plastic wrap and twist to close. Place each mochi ice cream into a cupcake pan to keep the shape. You will need to work on one mochi ice cream at a time in order to keep the ice cream frozen all times. Put mochi ice cream back into the freezer for a few hours. When you’re ready to serve, keep them outside for a few minutes until mochi gets soften a little bit.

Recipe Notes
Shiratamako and mochiko: These are glutinous rice flour (sometimes called sweet rice flour) made of Japanese short grain glutinous rice.