Matcha mochi

Name: Matcha mochi
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 10 h 38 min
Ingredients: 230 g whole milk 3.5 %; 170 g whipping cream 33 %; 15 g skimmed milk powder; 70 g granulated sugar (sucrose); 15 g dextrose (glucose powder); 8 g matcha (powder) (about 4 teaspoons); 100 g glutinous rice flour (mochiko, shiratamako) (shiratamako or mochiko — ordinary rice flour won’t work); 50 g granulated sugar (sucrose) (don’t leave it out — it keeps the dough soft); 180 g water; 2 g matcha (powder) (in the dough, for colour); 20 g cornflour (cornstarch) (have about 60 g ready for dusting; about a third ends up on the mochi)

Green mochi filled with matcha ice cream — slightly bitter green tea balances the sweet rice dough.

Green tea is one of the most popular mochi ice cream flavours. Matcha appears twice here: in the cream filling and a little in the dough, which gives it a pale green colour. The filling has no eggs and no cooked custard, so the clean, grassy, slightly bitter taste of the tea comes through.

Type: Mochi ice cream · Servings: 12 · Difficulty: Challenging

Equipment

Ingredients

230 g whole milk 3.5 %
170 g whipping cream 33 %
15 g skimmed milk powder
70 g granulated sugar (sucrose)
15 g dextrose (glucose powder)
8 g matcha (powder) (about 4 teaspoons)
100 g glutinous rice flour (mochiko, shiratamako) (shiratamako or mochiko — ordinary rice flour won’t work)
50 g granulated sugar (sucrose) (don’t leave it out — it keeps the dough soft)
180 g water
2 g matcha (powder) (in the dough, for colour)
20 g cornflour (cornstarch) (have about 60 g ready for dusting; about a third ends up on the mochi)

Making the mix

Filling: sift the matcha into a bowl, add 3 tablespoons of the milk and whisk into a smooth, lump-free paste.
Mix the milk powder and dextrose with the sugar. Heat the rest of the milk with the cream to about 70 °C, add the sugars and stir until dissolved.
Take off the heat, leave to cool for 5 minutes and stir in the matcha paste (in a boiling-hot mix the matcha would turn bitter). Blend with a stick blender.
Cool the mix in a bowl set in iced water, cover and leave to age in the fridge for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.

Method — Compressor ice cream maker

Switch on the ice cream maker 5–10 minutes in advance. Pour in the chilled mix and churn for 25–35 minutes until it has the consistency of thick whipped cream. The batch is small, so it freezes faster.
Transfer the ice cream to a container and leave it to firm up in the freezer for an hour — soft ice cream won’t hold a ball shape.
Line a muffin tin with paper cases (or a baking tray with baking paper). Using a cookie scoop (about 30–40 ml), scoop 12 balls of ice cream, put them in the cases and freeze for at least 2 hours until completely hard.
While the balls freeze, make the dough.
Dough: in a microwave-safe bowl, mix the glutinous rice flour, sugar and matcha. Gradually pour in the water, stirring until the dough is smooth and free of lumps.
Cover the bowl loosely and microwave (about 1000 W) for 1 minute. Stir with a wet silicone spatula, microwave for another minute, stir again and finish with 30 seconds. The cooked dough is glossy, slightly translucent and very sticky. Without a microwave, put the bowl in a steamer for 15 minutes and stir the dough halfway through.
Careful: the dough is hot and very sticky. Don’t touch it with bare hands; work with the spatula.
Dust a worktop or a sheet of baking paper generously with cornflour (cornstarch). Tip the dough onto it, dust the top with cornflour too and roll it out with a rolling pin into a sheet about 2 mm thick.
Leave to cool for 10–15 minutes. Cut out circles with a cutter about 9 cm across, press the scraps together and roll them out again — you should get 12 circles. Cover the circles with cling film so they don’t dry out.
Brush the excess cornflour off the dough circles — on the side that needs to stick together it would get in the way.
Take only 2–3 balls out of the freezer at a time. Put a ball in the centre of a circle, quickly draw the dough up around it, pinch it closed into a little bundle and press firmly. Thin disposable gloves help — the dough doesn’t stick to them and the warmth of your hands won’t melt the ice cream.
Turn the mochi seam side down and put it in a paper case in a muffin tin. Keep the tin in the freezer between batches. If the ice cream starts to soften, stop and let the balls firm up for 15 minutes.
Leave the finished mochi to harden in the freezer for at least 2 hours.

The batch is about 0.5 litres of mix. If your machine has a large bowl, feel free to double it and keep the leftover ice cream.

Total time: 10 h 38 min

Method — Freezer-bowl ice cream maker

Take the frozen bowl out of the freezer just before use, fit the paddle and switch the machine on.
With the machine running, pour in the chilled mix and churn for 15–25 minutes until thick.
Transfer the ice cream to a container and leave it to firm up in the freezer for an hour — soft ice cream won’t hold a ball shape.
Line a muffin tin with paper cases (or a baking tray with baking paper). Using a cookie scoop (about 30–40 ml), scoop 12 balls of ice cream, put them in the cases and freeze for at least 2 hours until completely hard.
While the balls freeze, make the dough.
Dough: in a microwave-safe bowl, mix the glutinous rice flour, sugar and matcha. Gradually pour in the water, stirring until the dough is smooth and free of lumps.
Cover the bowl loosely and microwave (about 1000 W) for 1 minute. Stir with a wet silicone spatula, microwave for another minute, stir again and finish with 30 seconds. The cooked dough is glossy, slightly translucent and very sticky. Without a microwave, put the bowl in a steamer for 15 minutes and stir the dough halfway through.
Careful: the dough is hot and very sticky. Don’t touch it with bare hands; work with the spatula.
Dust a worktop or a sheet of baking paper generously with cornflour (cornstarch). Tip the dough onto it, dust the top with cornflour too and roll it out with a rolling pin into a sheet about 2 mm thick.
Leave to cool for 10–15 minutes. Cut out circles with a cutter about 9 cm across, press the scraps together and roll them out again — you should get 12 circles. Cover the circles with cling film so they don’t dry out.
Brush the excess cornflour off the dough circles — on the side that needs to stick together it would get in the way.
Take only 2–3 balls out of the freezer at a time. Put a ball in the centre of a circle, quickly draw the dough up around it, pinch it closed into a little bundle and press firmly. Thin disposable gloves help — the dough doesn’t stick to them and the warmth of your hands won’t melt the ice cream.
Turn the mochi seam side down and put it in a paper case in a muffin tin. Keep the tin in the freezer between batches. If the ice cream starts to soften, stop and let the balls firm up for 15 minutes.
Leave the finished mochi to harden in the freezer for at least 2 hours.

Freeze the bowl for at least 24 hours in advance. The mix must be thoroughly chilled.

Total time: 10 h 28 min

Method — Ninja CREAMi and similar machines

Pour the chilled mix into the CREAMi tub no higher than the MAX line, put the lid on and freeze level for 24 hours.
Put the tub in the machine and run the Ice Cream program. If the ice cream is crumbly, run Re-spin (many users add a tablespoon of milk first).
Leave the ice cream in the tub to firm up in the freezer for an hour — soft ice cream won’t hold a ball shape.
Line a muffin tin with paper cases (or a baking tray with baking paper). Using a cookie scoop (about 30–40 ml), scoop 12 balls of ice cream, put them in the cases and freeze for at least 2 hours until completely hard.
While the balls freeze, make the dough.
Dough: in a microwave-safe bowl, mix the glutinous rice flour, sugar and matcha. Gradually pour in the water, stirring until the dough is smooth and free of lumps.
Cover the bowl loosely and microwave (about 1000 W) for 1 minute. Stir with a wet silicone spatula, microwave for another minute, stir again and finish with 30 seconds. The cooked dough is glossy, slightly translucent and very sticky. Without a microwave, put the bowl in a steamer for 15 minutes and stir the dough halfway through.
Careful: the dough is hot and very sticky. Don’t touch it with bare hands; work with the spatula.
Dust a worktop or a sheet of baking paper generously with cornflour (cornstarch). Tip the dough onto it, dust the top with cornflour too and roll it out with a rolling pin into a sheet about 2 mm thick.
Leave to cool for 10–15 minutes. Cut out circles with a cutter about 9 cm across, press the scraps together and roll them out again — you should get 12 circles. Cover the circles with cling film so they don’t dry out.
Brush the excess cornflour off the dough circles — on the side that needs to stick together it would get in the way.
Take only 2–3 balls out of the freezer at a time. Put a ball in the centre of a circle, quickly draw the dough up around it, pinch it closed into a little bundle and press firmly. Thin disposable gloves help — the dough doesn’t stick to them and the warmth of your hands won’t melt the ice cream.
Turn the mochi seam side down and put it in a paper case in a muffin tin. Keep the tin in the freezer between batches. If the ice cream starts to soften, stop and let the balls firm up for 15 minutes.
Leave the finished mochi to harden in the freezer for at least 2 hours.

Programme: Ice Cream

Total time: 34 h 13 min

Stages

Preparation: 30 min
Cooking: 8 min
Cooling: 30 min
Ageing in the fridge: 4 h
Churning: 30 min
Hardening in the freezer: 5 h
Total time: 10 h 38 min

Serving and storage

Take the mochi out of the freezer 5–10 minutes before serving so that the dough softens and the ice cream loosens — straight from the freezer the wrapper is firm. Eat in small bites and chew thoroughly: mochi dough is very sticky and every year in Japan someone chokes on it, most often older people. For young children and older people, it is better to cut the mochi into pieces. Just before serving you can dust the mochi with matcha through a sieve.

Wrap each mochi in cling film and store in a sealed container in the freezer; they keep for 2–3 weeks. Don’t put them in the fridge — the dough hardens in the cold and the ice cream melts.

Tips

Culinary-grade matcha is fine for ice cream; the best (ceremonial) grade would be wasted in cooking. The colour fades over time in the freezer, so eat the mochi within two weeks.
Work quickly and in a cool kitchen. Thin disposable gloves stop the dough sticking and the ice cream melting from warm hands.
Roll the dough thin (about 2 mm) — a thick wrapper is rubbery and turns firm once frozen. If the dough tears, it is too cold or too dry; covered with cling film it stays pliable at room temperature for several hours.
For a lighter filling, matcha frozen yogurt works too — scoop the balls from it once it is well frozen.

Why it works

Glutinous rice contains almost nothing but amylopectin — a branched starch that forms a springy, stretchy dough when cooked. There is no gluten in it; “glutinous” only describes the texture. Cooked starch gradually firms up in the cold (retrogradation); sugar binds water and slows this down, which is why the dough stays soft even in the freezer. Matcha contains a lot of fibre, which binds water in the filling much like a stabiliser.