Ichigo Daifuku・苺大福
Ichigo means strawberry.
Daifuku is mochi (soft rice cake) stuffed with sweet bean paste.
So, Ichigo Daifuku = mochi stuffed with sweet bean paste and strawberry. It is a traditional Japanese dessert eaten throughout the year, but often seen in store fronts from February to May.
Substitution:
Here, I am going to share the basic Ichigo Daifuku recipe that I have been making since 2009, but you can always switch some of the ingredients to your liking! For example:
- Glutinous rice flour can be switched to Mochiko.
- Anko (sweet bean paste) can be either one of these: Koshi-an, Tsubu-an, or Shiro-an (learn more about anko here). Also, you don’t need to use anko if you are not a fan of bean paste. Instead, you can try a combination of fruit with chocolate, whipped cream, cream cheese frosting, etc.
- Strawberries can be switched for any fruit or other things. For example, many daifuku stores or Japanese dessert stores have daifuku made with a mandarine orange and Shiro-an (white bean paste) combination. Another example would be kuri (chestnut). Kuri Daifuku is another traditional Japanese Daifuku.
Try this basic Ichigo Daifuku recipe, and then find your favorite combination to make your own!
Ichigo Daifuku・苺大福
Traditional Japanese dessert. This recipe makes about 8-10 Daifuku.
Servings 10
Ingredients
Mochi
- 100 g glutinous rice flour (US 1 cup)
- 30 g sugar
- 230 ml water (US 1 cup)
Filling
- 250 g anko (sweet bean paste)
- 8-10 strawberries
- 60 g potato starch
Instructions
Filling
- Wash strawberries well, cut the stems off, and pat dry completely.
- Using two spoons, make 8-10 balls of anko (sweet bean paste), and place them on a paper towel to get any excess water out.
- Cover strawberries with anko balls, leaving the tip uncovered.
Mochi
- In a microwavable bowl, mix glutinous rice flour, sugar, and water. Stir well until smooth.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, then microwave for 1 minute. Then unwrap and mix well using a spatula.
- Cover the bowl again, and microwave for another minute. Then mix well. If the mochi mixture looks clearer and glistening, it's ready. If you still see some white spots, cover again and microwave for 30 more seconds until ready.
- On a flat surface, spread potato starch, and plop the mochi on top. Coat the mochi with potato starch so it won't stick to your hands too much.
- Flatten the mochi with your hands or a rolling pin until it's about 3-5mm thick, then cut it into 8-10 squares.
- Take one mochi square in one hand, then bring the anko ball in the other hand, placing the tip of the strawberry in the middle of mochi.
- Wrap the ball with mochi completely.
Tips
- Wrapping with mochi may take some practice but remember, mochi is elastic! You can stretch it to wrap the filling.
- As you can see in the main photo, you don't need to wrap it completely if you don't mind the exposed strawberry look. You can make daifuku with just the anko inside, and cut the middle to place a strawberry on top OR, you can just stack the mochi, anko, and strawberry on top of each other. They all look cute and taste delicious.
Notes
You can enjoy this Daifuku recipe not only with strawberries, but also with other fruits, chestnuts, or just the anko (sweet bean paste).
You can wrap individual daifuku with plastic wrap and store them in the fridge, but I recommend eating within 24 hrs for the freshest texture!
