(speaking foreign language)
- [Alvin] Hey, guys.
Welcome back to another episode of Anime with Alvin.
Today, we are going to be taking a look
at the kikufuku mochi from Jujutsu Kaisen.
The mochi from the show seems to contain a sweet bean paste
made from edamame and cream,
so first I'm going to start with the edamame
I'm pretty sure we've all done this at some point
in our lives, but just give 'em a little (Alvin popping)
and out they go.
And now that we have our bowl of perfectly peeled edamame,
it's time to cook them.
So in a pot of boiling water, these go in
for about 10 to 15 minutes, just until they're, uh...
Until they're nice and tender but not brown.
And while the edamame are cooking,
I'm getting started on the cream filling.
So that's mixing together heavy cream, powdered sugar,
and using a stick blender to whisk it
until I'm getting soft peaks.
I don't want it to be too stiff,
so after a couple of minutes, it looks like this.
You remember how I said that these
weren't supposed to be brown?
I think I spent a little too much time making the cream
and these overcooked.
The correct color should be a bright, beautiful green
on the left, not the brown-yellow on the right.
After making a correct batch off-camera,
the next step is to take the edamame
out of their little jackets one by one.
So we're going to do that and peel, oh, thank you, Kendall.
Appreciate that.
We're peeling the skins off
because they're gonna make the filling kind of chunky
and we want a creamy, smooth filling.
And to make that filling, I'm putting the edamame
in a stick blender with a blender attachment
along with a little bit of water and blending it
until everything emulsifies.
Now, this part takes some time because I have to scrape down
the sides to make sure that the chunky bits
get reincorporated, but also, sometimes I have to add
a little bit of water when things get a little thick.
But with some patience and with some time,
we will end up with a beautiful green filling for our mochi,
but we're not done with the filling yet.
This needs to cook down in a pot over low heat
with some sugar so that we can get the water out.
I like to also add a little bit of salt to sweet things,
just so it adds some flavor.
We're gonna cook this down and the color should darken,
the texture should thicken up,
and the water should be coming out in the form of steam.
And if you've had Asian desserts before,
this texture probably looks very familiar
as a sweet bean paste.
So now I'm spreading the paste evenly
on the bottom of a bowl so that it can go into the fridge
where the starches and sugars will set up
before we can use this as a filling in our mochi.
These are some pretty fun molds we got off of Amazon.
So after giving them a quick quality check,
I'm gonna try and form the filling
to the shape of these molds.
So the filling has set up and the starches and sugars
are kind of sticky, so it is a little tricky.
I'm trying to figure out the best method on how to actually
insert the filling into the molds.
I'm using pretty much every utensil we have in the studio
to create the best shape.
This one seems pretty good, so onto the next step,
which is making an indent on the inside
of each of these things, because that is going to be
the vessel that holds the cream.
Found a little cake dowel and that seems to be
doing the trick, so after a little bit of trial and error,
these are ready to be filled with cream.
A little trick I like to use to make sure that
the piping bag doesn't get all scrunched up is to fill
the cream in the bag while the bag is in a cup,
or in this case, a sundae glass.
This allows that taper to hold the cream
so you don't have to throw it around your house
to make sure that it gets to the bottom.
Now that the bag is ready,
it's time to pipe the cream into the, oop.
It's time to pipe the cream into the edamame molds
that we made earlier.
And these do need a little bit of a hat,
so I'm making a makeshift cap for each one of these
edamame molds, laying them gently on top and delicately
tucking them in so that these are nice and sturdy.
There you go, six sealed up edamame balls,
ready for the freezer.
After about 20 minutes or so, these have now solidified,
but there's still one last step before we can move on
to the mochi, and that is rolling these balls
into as perfect of spheres as we can.
So moving quickly before they start to melt and stick,
these go back into the freezer to set
in their nice little round shapes.
Finally, onto the mochi.
So this is shiratamako, a certain type of glutinous
rice flour that is often used to make mochi.
There are other types of flour called mochiko,
but I decided to use this one, because it creates
a softer, more elastic texture, which I like.
After combining it with some sugar and some water,
this gets mixed together and cooked in the microwave
for 30-second to one minute intervals.
Now, the precise number of times we'll have to do this
depends on the strength of your microwave,
but the goal is to basically not have
any liquid remaining after stirring.
It's also important to mix the mochi in between
heating so that it's evenly, hey!
Who turned this on to the largest setting?
Was it you, Brad?
- [Andrew] Uh, yes, that was me. Brad.
- [Alvin] It's important to mix this on a low speed
before each heating interval, so that way,
the starches can get reincorporated before they go back
into the microwave for another spin.
Now, as we continue to mix and heat and mix and heat,
the starches are going to get more and more elastic
until you can no longer mix it with something
like this blender, which I apparently broke.
And after mixing a little bit more with a wooden spoon
or rubber spatula, the starches will start to look
beautiful and elastic, and that means the mochi
is ready to be spread.
And after dusting some cornstarch to make sure
it doesn't stick to the tray,
I'm slowly coaxing the mochi out from the bowl,
trying to make sure it comes down in one single piece,
and after a little bit of cornstarch,
both on the top of the mochi and my hands,
I'm slowly pounding and rolling it out
until I can get it to an even thickness,
at the very end, using a little rolling pin to make sure
that everything is smooth.
The mochi does need to cool down if it's still warm,
so after about 10 to 15 minutes or so,
I'm also taking the edamame balls out from the freezer
and cutting little circles using a ring mold,
as if they were dumpling skins.
Now, this is the tricky part.
I was never good at making dumplings,
so let's just say that folding these balls
and wrapping the mochi around them is not one of my fortes.
If you ever ate dumplings with me, let's just say,
you kind of know which ones are mine
when they hit the table, but I'm doing my best
to get full coverage around the edamame, oop.
So after these rest a little bit more so starch is set,
I think it's time to dig in.
Hey, that's a pretty cool cross-section,
if I do say so myself.
I personally like eating my mochi with tea,
so I have a little bit of hot green tea here,
and let's see how it tastes.
Huh! I don't know if I've acquired that taste
of the sweet edamame with the cream just yet,
but it does pair very well with the tea.
And if someone got me this as a souvenir,
I'd be a pretty happy person.
(smooth music)