HARMFUL EFFECTS OF MICROWAVES

It's Memorial Day! No work today. I wanted to test out my "fruit" themed recipe for my food club, today - Strawberry Mochi! I've never made it before, but have tasted it once before from a friend back in high school in Hawaii. It's not the easiest thing to make. Most of the people who tasted the one i made today didn't like the textures very much, so I decided not to be making this for my food club. Glad I did a test run! Though it wasn't well liked i thought it came out pretty and it was fun getting my hands all powdery and playing with the mochi dough. I couldn't find the tsubushian from the asian store so had to buy ogura-an which is the whole bean in sauce rather than the paste... so that presented its own challenge. I had to blend it up and then add all kinds of mochi flour to it to make it the right consistency. If i can find tsubushian i might try to make it again, though it is kind of a waste since only I would be eating it and it's way too much sugar for my diet! In any case, here is the recipe for basic microwave mochi, which you can make any sort of variation on:
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MICROWAVE MOCHI
1-1/2 cups mochiko (rice flour)
1-1/2 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch salt
Katakuriko (potato starch) or kinako (roasted soybean flour), for dusting
1 cup tsubushi an (mashed bean paste) or koshi an (smooth bean paste)

Mix mochiko, water, sugar and salt in a bowl. Lightly coat a microwavable tube cake pan with cooking spray. Pour mixture into pan and cover with plastic wrap or a microwave cover. Microwave 3 minutes on low, then 3 minutes on medium and 3 minutes on high, for a total of 9 minutes.

Cool in microwave 5 to 10 minutes, then turn onto a Teflon-coated baking pan sprinkled with katakuriko or kinako. Cut into 16 pieces.

Dust hands with katakuriko or kinako and flatten each piece. Place 1 tablespoon an in center of each piece. Bring edges together and pinch to seal. Shape as desired.

Note: This recipe is based on microwave wattage of 1,000. Depending on your microwave wattage, cooking time may need to be adjusted.

Variations
> Add fresh strawberries, peanut butter or sweet chestnut covered with bean paste.
> For chocolate flavor, stir 1/4 to 1/3 cup melted chocolate chips into mochi batter before cooking.
> Add a few drops of food coloring into batter for color variation.
> A few drops of flavoring (strawberry, grape, orange, blueberry, etc.) may also be added.

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