This ube daifuku mochi consists of ube flavored mochi surrounding sweet ube halaya jam. Make the ube mochi in the microwave for quick cooking and cleanup!
Ube. Stuffed. Mochi. Do I even need to say any more? It’s the Japanese-Filipino dessert mashup of my dreams.
When I was making my ube cupcakes recently, I realized that ube halaya jam is almost the exact same texture as red bean paste, with similar flavor qualities as well. Obviously my next thought was that I better stuff some into mochi! Et voila. These fun purple daifuku mochi were born.
What is Ube?
Ube is a purple yam most commonly found in the Philippines. Similar to its yam and sweet potato cousins, ube has a mild sweetness that’s perfect for desserts. If you are already familiar with Asian sweets, ube is similar to taro or Okinawan sweet potato. In the Philippines, ube is also used to make ube halaya jam, which is used in various dessert recipes.
What is Daifuku Mochi?
Daifuku mochi is a Japanese confection consisting of a sweet mochi dough wrapped around a ball of red bean paste. Traditionally, it can be served with a strawberry in the middle or on top. Less traditionally, the strawberry can be swapped out for other fruits and the bean paste can be subbed out for white bean paste, chocolate ganache, or other sweet fillings.
Needless to say, you probably won’t be able to find ube daifuku mochi in Japan, although you miiight be able to find it in Hawai’i these days, where both ube and mochi are very popular.
For more information on different types of mochi foods both in Japan and Hawai’i, check out my Ultimate Guide to Mochi post!
Homemade vs. Store Bought Ube Halaya Jam
Just like with red bean paste, ube halaya jam can be bought from a store or made from scratch at home! Also like with red bean paste, I recommend using homemade for this recipe. Both store bought red bean paste and ube halaya jam are a little too sweet for my tastes. But, I have absolutely used store bought of both ingredients while making daifuku. It is easy and convenient, and I absolutely do not judge anyone for choosing convenience.
Plus, sometimes, as when I was making this recipe to photograph it for the blog, my local Asian market was totally out of ube, so I couldn’t even make the jam from scratch if I wanted to. Sigh.
But if you ARE lucky enough to have fresh ube in stock and want to try making your own, Serious Eats has a great homemade ube halaya recipe.
By the way, you can buy ube halaya on Amazon, but it’s twice as expensive as buying it at my local store. Same goes for ube extract, which I use in the mochi dough portion of this recipe. But you gotta do what you gotta do.
Making Mochi Dough in the Microwave
There are two ways to make the sweet mochi dough, also called gyuhi, for daifuku mochi: steaming or microwaving.
I’ve had some friends say they think steaming keeps the gyuhi from drying out too fast, and they’re probably right.
But steaming on the stovetop takes about 15 minutes, whereas microwaving takes two. So, you can guess my preference.
Either way, in BOTH cases, I have a little trick for you. Line your dish with a wet dishcloth before your pour the mochi batter in. Cooked mochi will turn right out without leaving a sticky mess behind! I saw this on a very old Japanese cooking show from the 80s, and it has saved me so much time in kitchen cleanup. And by me, I mean my husband. Thanks, honey.
One last note about microwaves – as with ovens, microwaves vary in cooking power and settings. For me, it takes exactly two minutes of microwaving in a shallow dish. Your microwave time may vary, and it will especially vary if you use a very deep dish. Using a shallow dish helps the mochi dough cook more evenly. A deeper dish may have the outsides cooking faster than the insides. To troubleshoot this, you can pause the microwave every 30 seconds and stir, but I find that to be very annoying.
What you’re looking for in the end is for your rather opaque mochi batter to turn into a more transparent-ish mochi dough that looks uniform in color throughout. You could also rip a tiny piece off to taste to make sure it’s thoroughly moist and chewy, not powdery or dry.
After that, it’s just wrap and roll, baby! Your daifuku are done!
More Mochi Recipes
If you liked this fun mochi recipe, definitely check out some of my other mochi desserts:
- Strawberry Daifuku Mochi
- Mandarin Orange Daifuku Mochi
- Mango Daifuku Mochi
- Grape Daifuku Mochi
- Kiwi Daifuku Mochi
Ube Daifuku Mochi (Ube Mochi with Ube Jam Filling)
Ingredients
- 100 g shiratamako can sub mochiko
- 25 g granulated sugar about 2 tbsp
- 130 mL water
- 1/8 tsp ube extract
- 240 g ube halaya jam store bought or homemade
- katakuriko (potato starch) for dusting
Instructions
- Scoop ube halaya jam into eight balls about 2 tbsp or 30g each. Refrigerate while preparing the mochi dough.
- In a microwave safe bowl lined with a wet dishcloth (see note), mix shiratamako, sugar, water, and ube extract. Cover and microwave for 2 minutes, or until mochi dough is cooked through.
- While still hot, turn out mochi onto a surface dusted with katakuriko. Divide into eight equal parts. Roll or pat each part into a flat circle, roughly 3-4" in diameter.
- Take one circle, keeping the rest of the mochi covered with a damp towel to keep it from drying out. Place an ube halaya jam ball in the center, and wrap the mochi around it, pinching the edges to seal into a ball. Roll daifuku in more katakuriko to keep it from sticking.
- Repeat with the other seven mochi circles and ube jam balls and serve immediately. Daifuku mochi need to be eaten the day they are made as they dry out quickly.
Notes
- 100g shiratamako is about 3/4 cup, but I highly recommend using a kitchen scale
- 240g of ube halaya is about 1 cup or eight balls of jam of two tbsp each
- You can substitute mochiko for shiratamako, but your dough may not be as pliable or stretchy
- Homemade ube halaya jam is recommended, as I found store bought to be too sweet for my tastes. However, store bought works just fine if you can’t find fresh ube to use at home.
- You can substitute cornstarch for the katakuriko (potato starch), but I find the taste and texture of potato starch to be much better.
- When making mochi in the microwave, I line my bowl with a wet dishcloth (not the fluffy kind, the smooth kind). It is very easy to remove cooked mochi from a wet cloth, and you can use the cloth to cover the mochi later so it doesn’t dry out. You can definitely cook it in a dish without the cloth, but expect to have lots of sticky residue.