Daifukumochi 大福饼 (with custard and sweet potato filling)

Daifukumochi or Daifuku 大福饼 is a Japanese soft mochi (glutinous rice cake) commonly with different stuffing. The meaning of 大福饼 if directly translated from its Chinese words means great luck rice cake. The common stuffing for Daifukumochi is sweetened red bean paste.

I used to order Daifuku from Miku a Japanese Restaurant in Doncaster East, it costs me AUD3 per piece...but very soft and delicious! I am so glad that Masa（上下胜）has this dish in his 在厨房遇见Masa cookbook! Masa's Daifuku is with 地瓜 which he translated as yam, but I think is sweet potatoes because it is in orange. It needs a bit of preparation, I had prepared the sweet potato filling a day in advance.   

Eating homemade Daifuku is satisfying, the sweetness from the custard blended so well with the natural sweet taste of sweet potato while you bite on the cold and soft chewy Daifuku, ahhh...can imaging? If not, you should try to make one too. ^.^

Tomorrow is my birthday, this is a nice sweet treat for myself :)

Recipe from Masa（山下胜）
Ingredients for sweet potato:
300g sweet potato

Method: peeled, steamed and mashed. Make into seven small balls. Keep six in the freezer to form the shape. (one more sweet potato ball is to mix into daifukumochi skin)

Ingredients for custard sauce:

250ml milk

3 egg yolks

35g sugar

30g all purpose flour

Method:

1. In a mixing bowl, place the egg yolks. Add the sugar. On top of the double boiler, whisk the egg yolk mixture until it turns pale. Add the flour, mixed well. 

2. Heat up the milk in a saucepan, when the milk starts to bubble, add the step 1 egg yolk mixture into it. Keep stirring the mixture with medium low heat until it is cooked. When you see bubbles appeared on the wall of the saucepan, is time to switch off the heat.

3. Sieve the custard mixture (I didn't do this), pour it on a container, cover and let it cool in the fridge for an hour. 

4. Take out the cold custard mixture, divide it into six, flatten it a bit on the wrapping cling, wrap in the sweet potatoes filling. Tighten the wrapping cling into a ball with the custard filling and sweet potatoes in side (as in my photos). Place them in fridge. (I placed it in freezer for an hour) 

Ingredients for Daifukumochi skin with changes:

50g glutinous rice flour (I find it too little for six, I used 200g)

25g fine sugar (used 50g, ~2 tbsp)

70g water (used ~200ml)
1.5 tbsp sweet potato puree 
some potato starch (used 100g)

for pink Daifukumochi skin:
add a drop of strawberry paste instead of the sweet potato puree

Method:
1. In a small bowl, add glutinous rice flour, sweet potatoes puree, gradually add water (may not need to add all as it depends on how wet is your sweet potato puree), stir well and make sure no lumps of flour is found. Add in the sugar, stir until the sugar dissolved. 
2. Cover the bowl with wrapping cling. Place in the microwave for 1 min, take out and check the mixture, stir it using a wooden spatula which has dipped in the water before will prevent sticking. Place the flour mixture back to the microwave for another 1 min. (It depends on your microwave power, place for another 1 min if the mixture is not yet cook)

Assemble:
1. Take out a portion of cooked Daifuku skin, roll and flatten it on a plate of potato starch. Wrap in the custard filling. Place in the fridge for half an hour before serving. (I place mine in the freezer for hour an hour before cutting into half)

Note: The Daifuku with sweet potato skin is much softer than the one with strawberry paste, I have to place both in the freezer to stabilize their shape before cutting.