Japanese Recipe: Ohagi

Summer is officially here, along with the excessive heat, Midwestern humidity, and area droughts. Ahhhh, summer in St. Louis!

Whenever summer rolls around, the last thing I want to do is turn on the oven. I’m sure most people are like-minded and probably eat fewer heavy meals as well. Sadly, most Western desserts are cooked in the oven (cakes, cupcakes, muffins, breads, flan). The heat is almost enough to make a person swear off cooking for the season. Thankfully, I have a recipe here that addresses the twofold miseries of summer cookery; heating up the kitchen with the oven and heavy foods.

Ohagi aka Botamochi are seasonal treats traditionally eaten during the spring and autumn equinox in Japan (Shunbun no hi). The “hagi” in ohagi are Japanese bush clover which bloom in the autumn and the “botan” in botamochi are peonies; a spring blooming flower (botamochi means peony rice cake).

O-Higan is a seven day period around the equinox when people visit family graves, pray for their ancestors, and clean out the house. Offerings are also made to Buddhist temples in the form of food, flowers, and incense. Ohagi are eaten/ offered in the autumn equinox and botamochi are eaten/ offered in the spring equinox.

INGREDIENTS:

Rice Balls:

• 1 cup glutinous rice (mochi gome)
• 1/2 cup regular Japanese rice
• plenty of cold water in a separate bowl

Toppings:

Tsubushi-an (chunky red bean jam)

• 1/4 lb. azuki(red beans) beans
• 1/4 cup sugar
• salt to taste, a little goes a looong way.

(you can also use pre-made tsubushi-an)
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Kurogoma

• 3 tbsps toasted black sesame (kurogoma)
• 1 tbsp sugar

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Kinako

• 1/4 cup kinako
• 1 1/2 tbsps sugar or to taste

Directions:

To make tsubushi-an:

1. Sort and wash azuki beans and put them in a medium size sauce pan. Fill the pan with water and bring to a boil.

2. Drain azuki beans after they’ve come to a boil, rinse out the pan to remove any froth or scum, and put the beans back in the pan.

3. Cover the beans with fresh water and simmer on medium low for about thirty minutes (don’t get them too hot or the beans will lose some of their flavor). Add 1/2 cup cold water after the thirty minutes and cook over medium low heat, removing any froth that forms. Check back every 15-20 minutes and give beans a shot of cold water to keep them covered.

4. Simmer another hour. Check back often and refill as needed. When beans start to soften (about two hours all told) add sugar and salt. Stir often and let mixture reduce to jam consistency. (*Note - Alternatively, beans may be soaked overnight to soften. Simmer for about 45 minutes or till tender and reduce with sugar and salt)

To Make Kurogoma Topping:

1. Grind sesame with mortar and pestle. You don’t want sesame powder though! You only need to grind the sesame till all the husks are evenly broken. This releases the oils while still retaining the seeds’ texture.

2. Add sugar to sesame seeds and grind together till combined.

To make Kinako topping:

1. Combine sugar and kinako. (yeah, it’s that easy.)

To make rice balls:

1. Combine and wash both rice varieties and steam cook.

2. Mash the hot rice with the back of a wet spoon or in a mortar with a pestle till the rice starts to get sticky and gooey . (I used the back of a metal serving spoon and that worked fine). Let rice cool enough to safely handle.

3. Wet hands in the extra water and form rice into small balls.

To make filled ohagi: (use the pictures at left to help you out ^^b)

• Flatten out a bit o’ rice in the palm of your hand.
• Place a bit of the cooled anko in the center of the flattened rice.
• Place another dallop of rice over the anko .
• Form into a ball.

4.Cover with anko, kurogoma, or kinako toppings.

To cover rice ball with anko : (use pictures below)

1. Mash a circle of anko onto plastic wrap or clean, wet cotton napkin/cloth.

2. Place rice ball in center of anko circle.

3. Wrap anko around rice ball.

4. Smooth anko evenly over entire rice ball. Add more anko if necessary.

To cover rice ball with kurogoma or kinako:

1. Place kurogoma and kinako mixtures in separate bowls.
2. Roll rice ball around in one mixture OR the other.

*Note-The rice balls covered in kinanko will need to be repeatedly coated (about three times)

Being me, I went a bit overboard with my choice of filling and toppings. I made shiro koshi-an (fine white bean paste) to match (yes, match) the shirogoma (white sesame seeds) I wanted to use. Here’s a recipe for cheater’s shiro koshi-an (not recommended unless you really, really need shiro-an like, now):

Shiro koshi an

Ingredients:

• 2 cans Navy beans drained and rinsed
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water

Directions:

1. Mash the beans in a bowl until only the skins are recognizable.
2. Force mashed beans with the back of a spoon or a wooden pestle through a strainer to separate the bean meats from the skins. Add some water to the beans to help force ‘em through.

3. In a clean, white piece of cotton cloth, strain bean paste by placing bean mix in center of cloth, twisting closed, and tightly wringing out water (see picture at right). What’s left is a smooth paste known as shiro nama-an (raw white bean paste)
4. In a small sauce pan, heat water and sugar and bring to a boil. Boil for four minutes. Remove from heat.
5. In another saucepan, add bean paste and four tablespoons, more or less to taste, sugar water mixture (it’s syrup now)
6. Heat both and simmer on low till water is mostly evaporated; stirring frequently and making sure not to burn shiro-an.
7. Let shiro koshi-an cool on a cookie tray. Use immediately or freeze for future use.

After I let the an cool, I mixed in ground kurogoma to make a sesame flavored filling. I also used plain shiro-an as a filling.

I don’t recommend this “instant” shiro-an recipe since canned beans taste canned, i.e. not fresh and kinda salty. This instant shiro-an still tastes good and someone who’s never had shiro-an couldn’t tell the difference, but it’d be not good to serve this to someone who does know the difference. I’ll post a proper shiro-an recipe for those who’d like one.

I really enjoyed making ohagi. This recipe let me be creative with fillings and toppings and they looked just fantastic and elegant on the plates. Not only do these rice balls look good, but they taste as good as they look.

What I liked about ohagi:

• Easy to make.
• Doesn’t heat up the kitchen as much as using the oven.
• They’re beautiful and look like they were bought at a Japanese market.
• Taste great and very filling without being too heavy.
• Ohagi are a healthy alternative to cupcakes and cheesecakes (beans+rice= good)

I didn’t like ohagi because:

• Took forever to make the tsubushi-an.

If you like daifuku but are a bit daunted by making the mochi, try making ohagi first. You’ll love ‘em!