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Daifuku is a Japanese sweet pastry made from glutinous rice dough filled with sweet filling, usually red bean paste. It can be dusted with flour, cocoa or sugar. The name means “rice cake of great fortune” and is a popular traditional gift. Modern recipes involve making mochi by combining rice flour and water and heating it in a microwave oven or steamer. The traditional filling is anko, but there are numerous variations, including yukimi daifuku, which uses ice cream as a filling.
Daifuku is a type of sweet Japanese pastry. In this type of pastry, a small cake made from glutinous rice dough, called mochi, is filled with a sweet filling. The most common filling is red bean paste, but other sweet fillings are possible. Daifuku can be dusted with flour, cocoa or sugar. This adds flavor and prevents the sticky rice paste from sticking to your fingers.
The name “daifuku” is an abbreviation of “daifukumochi”, which means “rice cake of great fortune”. The name suggests that these pastries bring good luck, making them a popular traditional gift. The name may have developed from the fact that the words for “luck” and “belly” sound very similar, with the original name meaning “large belly rice cake”.
Most modern daifuku recipes involve making mochi by combining rice flour and water, then heating the mixture in a microwave oven or steamer. The result is a thick, pliable dough that the cook can work with his hands and a rolling pin while still hot, shaping it into foil and cutting it into rectangular blocks. Each individual block forms the outer shell of a single daifuku; the cook stretches and flattens it before wrapping it around the filling and dusting it with flour or sugar. As the paste cools, it hardens in shape.
Making mochi using a microwave or steamer is a relatively quick process. The traditional preparation of mochi, known as mochitsuki, is a time-consuming process with an element of ritual. To make mochi, cooks soak glutinous rice in water for hours, often overnight, then steam it before pounding it into a paste with wooden mallets in a mortar. Then they shape the resulting mochi into patties or blocks. Mochi, and by extension Mochitsuki, is an important part of many Japanese New Year celebrations.
The traditional filling for daifuku is anko, a sweet paste made from red adzuki beans and sugar or honey. There are numerous variations, including pies filled with whole strawberries, fruit slices, or melon paste. Adding dyes to mochi paste produces sweets in a range of colors, including pink and green. In some cases, additives such as mugwort give the mochi a distinctive flavor.
A variation, yukimi daifuku, uses ice cream as a filling. The Japanese pastry company Lotte markets this product. The dessert consists of a scoop of ice cream surrounded by a layer of mochi, which stays soft at freezing temperature. The name means “daifuku who observes the snow.
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