Japanese Food Tips

Mochi is a traditional food made from steamed rice. It is sticky and has a plain taste. Fresh mochi can be eaten without heating but because it becomes hard as time passes, it is usually boiled or baked. It is often eaten in Japan, especially at New Years when ozōni, a soup which includes mochi and other ingredients, is eaten on the first 3 days of the New Year holidays. Yaki-mochi (grilled rice cakes) and oshiruko (or zenzai) soup are eaten not only at New Years but also the whole year. Yaki-mochi is grilled and is then dipped in sweetened soy sauce and wrapped with nori (dried laver). Oshiruko soup is made from sweetened red bean paste. Zenzai is soup made from sweetened red beans. Both are served with mochi. Most Americans think of mochi as daifukumochi (round mochi confection filled with anko, mashed sweetened red bean paste). However, Japanese always think of mochi as rice cakes.