Ichigo Daifuku

   A juicy strawberry covered with sweet red bean paste, and wrapped with sweet, chewy mochi! Delicious!
   
   Hey peeps. Yesterday was my 14th birthday and I was gonna post a recipe for my fab birthday cake but now I'm sick and don't have the energy to take more pics of the cake. That's the bad news. You'll just have to wait longer for the most fabulous cake ever, but I will give you a recipe for delicious ichigo daifuku.

   Ichigo daifuku is a Japanese dessert consisting of a strawberry covered with red bean paste, then wrapped with mochi. Ichigo means strawberry, and daifuku is the dessert with only a filling wrapped in mochi. Daifuku is usually just called mochi. Also, I have a post with a recipe for daifuku/mochi.
 

Ichigo Daifuku

Servings: 16 pieces

   Ingredients

16 small to medium strawberries
1 cup of sweet red bean paste
2 and 1/4 cups sticky rice flour
150mL or 3/5 cup water
2 tbsp white sugar
corn/potato/tapioca starch for dusting

   Instructions

1. Wash the strawberries and cut off their stems.
2. Divide the red bean paste into 16 tbsp sized balls.
3. Press the fat end of the strawberry into the bean paste ball so the excess paste squeezes out to the sides. Then, distribute the excess bean paste all over the strawberry from the bottom up. Pat down the paste so it sticks.
4. Stir together the sticky rice flour and the sugar in a microwave safe bowl. Then, add the water and stir until smooth. Cover the bowl partially with plastic wrap.
5. Microwave the mixture for 1 minute at a time and stir after each minute. It'll be a thick, gelatinous consistency when done. My microwave is low powered and old and it took 4 minutes. Yours will probably be less.
6. Dust the table with starch and put the hot mochi on it. Sprinkle the mochi with more starch and cut into 16 equal pieces.
7. Stretch out a piece of mochi and place the tip of the strawberry into the center. Bring the edges of the mochi to the bottom of the strawberry and pinch together the edges to seal.
8. Place them in cupcake liners, chill, and enjoy!

   I hope you enjoy this delish dessert in the summer heat. Take care and don't get sick like me.
                                           -Lori