The gohei mochi - where to eat it and how to make it
The Gohei mochi is a centuries old food tradition local to Gifu and a few more prefectures in central Japan. The sweet rice snack has a fascinating story behind it, more about which you can read in a free e-book accompanying this article.
Here we invite you to visit one of three Gohei mochi shops in Tajimi. Perhaps the video will also inspire you to try to make the dessert yourself. If so, you will find a video tutorial and instruction further down on this page!
Here we invite you to visit one of three Gohei mochi shops in Tajimi. Perhaps the video will also inspire you to try to make the dessert yourself. If so, you will find a video tutorial and instruction further down on this page!
Update - the goheimochi flavoured crisps!
Hans, our web developer, is tasting a new kind of crisps only available in Gifu Prefecture - the Goheimochi flavoured crisps! They have a somewhat sweet taste, a nice fragrance of the famous snack (read on below), and needs to be sampled here in Tajimi by anybody who enjoys local food adventures in Japan!
Gohei mochi shops in tajimi
We visited three Tajimi shops where you can buy the Gohei mochi to give you an idea of what you can expect.
- Eihoji Annaijo (Eiho Temple Information Centre) offer Gohei mochi and other foods as souvenirs related to the nearby Eihoji Zen temple. Map here.
- Sakura Gohei is located a bit further out in the village of Onada, you go there most conveniently by bus or taxi. Map here.
- Goheimochi Mochiya is accessible by foot, five minutes walk from Tajimi Station. Map here.
Prefectures where the Gohei mochi is common today. Tajimi is located in southern Gifu.
how to make gohei mochi
12 easy steps to a great treat on your table
1
[time: 00:17] Put 2 cups (equivalent to 360 ml) of Japanese type rice in a bowl. By "Japanese type" rice we mean the kind that is used for sushi, that is white, short-grain, sticky rice. Then rinse the rice thoroughly in water.
2
[time: 01:14] Cook the rice with the same amount of water - 360 ml. Wait until the water is boiling, then reduce the heat to low-temperature cooking temperature.
3
[time: 02:19] Cook at low-temperature for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, turn off the cooker and leave the rice in the pot with the lid on to cool for 30 minutes.
4
[time: 02:40] Fry the first part of sauce ingredients. In this recipe we use:
- 20g walnuts
- 20g peanuts
- 20g white sesame
5
[time: 04:20] Crush the fried ingredients with a mortar. This takes a bit of an effort and time but keep going until they are as crushed to tiny grains as shown in the video (slightly larger than sand grains). Use grinding movements for best efficiency.
6
[time: 05:30] Now add the remaining ingredients for the sauce:
- 1tbsp Japanese sake (rice wine)
- 1tbsp soy sauce
- 1tbsp mirin (a type of rice wine used for cooking. Mirin is available on-line if you cannot find it at your local store)
- 40g cane sugar or ordinary sugar (cane sugar is used traditionally but ordinary sugar also works)
- 1tbsp miso paste (paste made from fermented soy beans and barley or rice malt. We recommend this brand)
7
[time: 06:10] Use the pestle to mix the ingredients.
8
[time: 08:15] Pound the rice until the grains are half-crushed, that is until the shape of the individual grains is half-crushed. This part is best understood by watching the video. At 10:50 you can see the final texture of the grains. Note that you can crush more for a different mouthfeel, but not much less or the Gohei mochi will fall apart.
9
[time: 10:55] Take 1/5 of the rice and form a ball. Flatten it and wrap it around a chopstick. This is a traditional shape called the "waraji" or straw rope sandal shape. Other common shape is dango (dumplings). Now fry both sides of the Gohei mochi lightly in a fry pan to make them less prone to fall apart (we forgot this step - oops!).
10
[time: 12:30] Coat the Gohei mochi with the sauce. Cover the whole surface all around.
11
[time: 13:35] Now it is time for frying (or baking). For demonstration purposes we also show how you can use a fry pan [13:15] to fry the Gohei mochi. If you have an oven, pre-heat to 200 - 250°C and bake for five minutes (or when they start to look brown). Then turn the Gohei mochi and bake/fry another five minutes. We used a grill which is commonly part of a Japanese gas cooker.
12
[time: 14:50] We have now done almost all of the 12 steps and what's left is the easiest of them all - to eat!
Bonus article |
|
We have a whole article on the history on the Goheimochi. Read on here!
