Japanese cuisine · Desserts & Sweets

Warabimochi

Translucent starch cubes rolled in roasted soybean flour and drizzled with dark sugar syrup.

Ingredients · for 4 servings

• 100g warabiko (bracken root starch, or substitute potato starch)
• 400ml water
• 60g sugar
• 40g kinako (roasted soybean flour)
• 2 tbsp powdered sugar
• 100g brown sugar
• 100ml water for the syrup
• 1 pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Rinse a shallow pan (about 20 × 20cm) with cold water; mix the kinako with the powdered sugar and salt and sift it onto a large plate.
2. Simmer the brown sugar with 100ml water for the syrup, uncovered, for 5–6 minutes until a dark, slightly thick kuromitsu forms, and let it cool completely.
3. Stir the warabiko with the sugar and 400ml water in a pot until smooth, then pour through a sieve so no lumps remain.
4. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 5–8 minutes – the mixture will first turn milky, then thick and stringy, and finally glassy and translucent.
5. Spread the glassy mixture into the pan right away, smooth it out, and let it set in the fridge for 60 minutes.
6. Cut into bite-sized cubes with a dampened knife, toss generously in the kinako, and serve drizzled with the cold syrup.