Hoshi Mochi(Dried rice cake) ｜ Our Regional Cuisines

1. Wash sticky rice and soak in water for a day and night.

2. Drain off the water and steam the rice in a steaming basket.

3. After steaming, put the rice into a rice-cake pounding machine to make rice cakes. Add salt. And add water several times along the way.

4. After the rice has been thoroughly pounded, gradually add sesame and sugar to the rice and pound more thoroughly.

5. Place a plastic sheet into a box and pour the rice cake mix in. Cover the surface with plastic.

6. On the second day after pounding, remove the plastic and turn upside down.

7. On the third day, cut the rice cake into pieces (10cm×6cm).

8. At night, when the weather is coldest, tie the cut rice cakes into a braid. Tie 7 pieces of rice cake into a single strand. Then, tie it together with another strand to make a single set.

9. After tying the rice cakes, put them in a box and fill the box with lukewarm water of about 35 degrees Celsius. Leave until the rice cakes are soft to the touch.
(Leave for about 2 hours without changing the water).

10. Remove the rice cakes from the box, hang them on a pole, and leave them outside in the cold air.
(When you take out the rice cakes while they are still soft and expose them to the cold air, they will harden. In the morning, the rice cakes will be completely white.)

11. In the cold evening, soak the rice cakes in warm water (about 40 degrees Celsius) and hang them on a pole to dry again. If too many rice cakes are placed in the warm water at once, they will stick together and the water temperature will drop rapidly. Be careful not to soak the rice cakes in the warm water for too long, or they will become too soft.

12. Dry the rice cakes for at least one month.

13. The best place to dry is where there is a slight breeze. If the breeze is too strong, the rice cakes will crack.
Dried rice cakes should be made around the time of the coldest day in winter.