Hello everyone! Today we are making a soft, chewy treat: daifuku, a delicious sweet from Japan. If you are ready to start, follow along.
Did you know that in Japan daifuku is considered a lucky sweet? "Dai" means big and "fuku" means good fortune, so it is an auspicious treat believed to bring good luck, and Japanese people give it as a gift on many occasions. So where did daifuku come from?
The Story Behind Daifuku
In Japan, it is said that daifuku comes from a sweet called uzura mochi (うずらもち), or "quail mochi", so named because it was large, long and shaped like a bird. In the Edo period, in 1771 (four years after the second fall of Ayutthaya), in the town of Koishikawa (today's Bunkyo ward in Tokyo), quail mochi began to be made in a smaller size.
Because daifuku is filled with sweetened red bean paste, it keeps you full for a long time, so it was called harabuto mochi (腹太餅), meaning "mochi that fills your belly", and daifuku mochi (大腹餅), meaning "big belly mochi". Over time, to make it more auspicious, the Japanese changed the kanji: the character fuku (腹) meaning "belly" was replaced with fuku (福) meaning "good fortune". The name changed from 大腹餅 to 大福餅, so today daifuku means "mochi of great good fortune".
Strawberry Red Bean Daifuku Recipe
Ingredients
- 200 g glutinous rice flour
- 50 g tapioca starch
- 90 g sugar
- 240 ml clean water
- 300 g red beans
- 150 g sugar for the red beans
- 10 to 15 strawberries
Step 1: Wrap the Strawberries
- Boil the red beans until soft (simmer over low heat for about 60 to 90 minutes), then blend until smooth. Cook the purée, stirring, with the sugar to sweeten the filling until it becomes thick and sticky.
- Leave the paste to cool, then wrap it completely around each strawberry.
Step 2: Make the Daifuku Dough
- Mix the glutinous rice flour, sugar and water, then cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes until sticky.
- Once the dough is sticky, remove it from the heat and pour it onto a tray dusted with tapioca starch. Divide it into equal pieces, and your daifuku dough is ready.
Step 3: Assemble the Daifuku
- Press each piece of dough into a flat sheet and wrap it completely around a red bean-covered strawberry.
- Dust the finished daifuku with a little tapioca starch so they do not stick to your hands, and your strawberry red bean daifuku are done.
Recipe information courtesy of wongnai.com.
The daifuku flavour everyone loves right now combines sweetness with a hint of tartness from fruit such as strawberries. Each piece is a generous mouthful: chewy mochi on the outside, sweet red bean as you bite in, and then a burst of juice from the fresh fruit inside.
