Strawberry Matcha Daifuku Mochi

This strawberry matcha daifuku mochi consists of a strawberry wrapped in matcha white bean paste and stuffed in a chewy mochi shell. Dust with additional matcha on top!

Are you all sick of strawberry matcha yet? I know I’m kind of obsessed… darn you Boba Guys for introducing me to this flavor combo. I’m already thinking of what strawberry matcha treat I can make next. ALTHOUGH, I did recently try Bopomofo’s guava matcha latte when I was last in California, and I think I like it even better than strawberry matcha?! Now, how to start incorporating guava into my recipes… hmm..

Anyway! Back to the main point. This daifuku is a strawberry wrapped in matcha flavored shiroan, a.k.a. white bean paste. That whole thing is then wrapped in a chewy mochi dough, called gyuhi. I dust a little matcha powder on top just to remind me what’s inside. It actually makes it look kind of Christmas-y, though, so I guess if I’m making this outside of holiday season, I may skip that step.

What is Daifuku?

In case this is your first time visiting one of my daifuku recipes, daifuku is a Japanese mochi dessert. It typically consists of a ball of mochi dough, which is technically called gyuhi. Inside is a ball of sweet bean paste, often the red bean variety. However, it is very common to find white bean paste inside as well. Also very common is to have a fruit in the middle, classically strawberry.

For more detailed information on mochi and mochi desserts, check out my Ultimate Guide to Mochi page!

Ingredients for Strawberry Matcha Daifuku

Making daifuku at home is not so complicated, but you do need some special ingredients.

Rice Flour for Mochi Desserts

Firstly, you’ll need some glutinous rice flour to make the gyuhi (mochi dough). I use shiratamako, which you can find at Japanese markets or on Amazon. Alternatively, you can use mochiko, which is much easier to find in stores, at least in America. Mochiko and shiratamako are both flours made from the same glutinous rice, but they are milled differently. Shiratamako absorbs water better and results in a softer mochi texture, which is why I prefer it. But feel free to use mochiko instead, if that works better for you!

Shiroan – White Bean Paste

The second ingredient that may give you trouble is the white bean paste, called shiroan. Unfortunately, you cannot find this on Amazon. Trust me, I looked. I usually buy it at my local Japanese market, BUT there have been times when they’ve been sold out. I much prefer white bean paste to red bean paste in most of my daifuku recipes. The flavor of white bean paste is easy to pair with a variety of fruits and other mix-ins. Plus, the white color makes it easy to dye with natural flavorings. I highly recommend trying to get your hands on some white bean paste instead of looking for substitutes. Traditionally, shiroan is very tedious and time consuming to make, but if you have a pressure cooker, you’re in luck. I have an Actually Easy Shiroan recipe that I promise you, is ACTUALLY EASY. So definitely go check that out if you need some homemade white bean paste.

Matcha for Desserts

Lastly, for this strawberry matcha daifuku recipe, you’ll need some high quality matcha. There is a lot of misinformation on the internet about grades of matcha to use for specific recipes. The only thing you need to care about is the flavor. For most of my desserts, I use maeda-en ceremonial matcha. This particular brand is too bitter for me to drink, but it works really well in desserts where lots of sugar is added. In daifuku, I don’t typically add too much additional sugar, so you could use a less bitter matcha for this one, if you’d like. I personally enjoy Ippodo Tea’s matcha for drinking, and it would work great in this recipe as well.

For more information on matcha, including why you can ignore the “culinary” and “ceremonial” labels, check out my Ultimate Guide to Matcha post!

And for more ingredient recommendations, check out my Amazon storefront, where I have my favorite matchas and more saved in my Asian grocery list.

Tips for Making Daifuku

Daifuku is not that difficult to make. Essentially, you will take your cored strawberries and use your hands to smush the white bean paste around them to form little balls. The tricky part here is that sometimes the white bean paste can get sticky if it’s too wet. So keep a wet towel nearby to wipe your hands.

The next part that may give you trouble is wrapping the mochi dough. Flatten the gyuhi as best as you can, stick the strawberry ball in the middle, ideally with the flat side pointing up. Then when you wrap and pinch the dough around the strawberry, the seam will be on the bottom of the daifuku. Wrapping and pinching to create a nice spherical daifuku does take some fine motor practice. Make sure to keep the rest of your gyuhi under a damp towel while you work, and working while the gyuhi is hot is actually the easiest for shaping and pinching the dough. If you know you are not the greatest in fine motor skills, you can increase the amount of water in your mochi dough BEFORE you cook it. This will make the gyuhi more pliable and easy to stretch and wrap. HOWEVER, it will also make your dough more floppy. So you’ll be able to wrap your strawberries easier, but your daifuku will probably be floppy and lumpy, not round like a ball. But it’s up to you! Do whatever works!

In the end, texture and flavor is more important than appearance, right? Right?

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this recipe! Be sure to check out my other mochi recipes too!

More Strawberry Matcha Recipes

Want to fully embrace strawberry matcha like me? Check out these other recipes!

• Strawberry Matcha Macarons
• Strawberry Matcha Neapolitan Cookies
• Strawberry Matcha Latte