Naisho Mochi / Nabe Mochi ｜ Our Regional Cuisines

1. Wash and cook glutinous and non-glutinous rice together.

2. Boil the raw mugwort until colorful and chop into small pieces.

3. Roll red bean paste into 30 pieces of about 30 grams each.

4. When rice is cooked, put mugwort on top of rice and let it steep for about 15 minutes, then add salt to the rice. Pour the mixture into a pot or a large bowl, and pound the rice while it is still hot.
Regarding mugwort, while processing, adjust the amount based on the color: add more if it appears insufficient, and reduce if it is too intense.

5. When the dough becomes sticky and looks like rice cake, divide into 30 pieces, wrap the dough in bean paste and sprinkle with kinako (=roasted soybean flour).

6. [Note]
If you prefer a sweeter taste, you can mix sugar into the soybean flour, but it will become sticky after a while, so it is best to sprinkle the kinako (=roasted soybean flour) with sugar just before eating.