Glutinous rice - Sweet Brown Rice - How to prepare Mochi

Short grain rice is the smallest and hardiest and contains the most minerals and a high amount of gluten. Sweet Brown Rice, the most glutinous variety, is high in protein and as delectable as its name implies. It is also very nice mixed with round Brown Rice.

Sweet Brown Organic Rice as medical food; Try to obtain the highest quality organic brown rice available! Always check that the rice (whatever kind) is not mouldy (black small fungus spots)! Rice often turns rancid, especially the glutinous rice.

We are used to prepare them as "Mochi", the word Mochi means "flattened food" or "flattened cereal grains". Mochi is usually sweet rice made into cakes.

It is prepared by pounding steamed sweet rice for a long time, until the grains open and start to stick together. It is best to learn this preparation with a macrobiotic cook. The glutinous rice contains more protein than any other sort of rice, and is a very good source of energy.

Mochi is useful for people doing physical labor, and very good for nursing mothers as it stimulates the formation of breast milk and strengthens the new mother. It is also good for babies and children. It can be given to children that are bedwetters, mochi strengtens the muscles of the bladder. Cooked with Azuki Beans, is given in case of diarrhea, stomach troubles, or other intestinal troubles.
Sumo Wrestlers are used to eat Mochi...

HOW TO PREPARE MOCHI:
Mochi is available in frozen or vacuumed form in selected natural foods stores. Either way, it can be stored in the refrigerator, taken out, sliced as needed, and heated up in a few minutes, in soups, fried, baked or as mochi-cakes rolled in almonds and nuts.

It is easy to prepare Mochi at home;

2 cups sweet brown rice
1 to 1 1/4 cups spring water per cup of rice
Pinch of Sea Salt per cup of rice

Wash the brown rice properly - in 5-8 waters, stirring it with your hand in a counter-clockwise direction.
until water becomes almost clear. Rice is stored in big barns, on the floor, people wear boots and its not really clean.... stones, particles of soil, heavy dust...the dust from the hulls is not god for our kidneys... and the taste after cooking is really delicious if you clean the rice properly!

The Sweet Brown rice is soaked preferabley several hours. Bring it to a boil in a pressurecooker. If you want a more sweet mochi, you can add 1-2 tbs rice-malt. When it boils add the salt. Bring the pressure up, and close the cover. Medium grain rice, round brown rice or long grain rice can be soaked 1-2 hours, preferably with some sauerkraut-juice or juice from picles or kwass. Then it is pressure-cooked for 45 minutes.

Sweet Brown Rice for Mochi is cooked only 20-30 minutes, depending if you cook on electicity or flame, use only stainless steel pots!

When cooked, pound the rice in a wooden bowl with a heavy pestle or mallet until all the grains are crushed and sticky and the texture is smooth. Wet the pestle occasionally to prevent the rice from sticking to it. Good mochi takes 30 minutes or more of pounding. This "handpounded" mochi is the most medical. You can also use a electric kitchen mashine or your Green Power juicer... to mill the rice.

Form the rice into small balls with two spoons, wet the spoons! Roll them into chopped almonds, roasted sunflowerseeds or black sesamseeds. Make a nice decoration with the different moch`s on a round tray. Mochi may also be steamed, baked, sauteed in oil, deep-fried, or aded to soups and stews. You can add herbs while pounding like mugworth.

From Aveline Kushi`s book: Complete guide to Macrobiotic Cooking, for health, harmony and peace... A very good Macrobiotic books, another is a old book, maybe not availiable anymore; The Lima Ohsawa Cookingbook; The art of natural cooking... (A very good book too ;-)

Aveline Kushi:
SWEET RICE AND MOCHI
Sweet rice is more glutinous than regular rice and is eaten plain, combined with other grains, or made into mochi, amasake, sake (rice wine), or other special foods and beverages. Mochi is sweet rice served in cakes or squares. They are made by the rice into smaller units, and alllowing them to dry. In Japan, mochi is eaten throughout the month of January in celebration of the
new year. When I was teaching, my pupils would return to class after th holidays with gifts of mochi for their teacher. Their presents consisted of 5 to 10 tasty sweet rice cakes wrapped up in gaily colored paper. We would all sample the mochi at a school party, and each student`s mochi would have a slightly different taste and texture.

Similarly, each region in Japan has its own way of preparing mochi. Some prefer mochi in clear soup. Others make it with seafood or sweeten it with rice syrup to make a snack or dessert. In Tokyo, pan-frying or baking mochi with tamari soy sauce and ginger. Remember to heat up to boiling point and store it in a small bottle at the table if you use raw Soy sauce directly on your food!

Best regards from lilliAN


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