I am so pleased with how these turned out! My first attempt to make mochi was messed up. I tried to wrap mango into fruit juice sweetened mochi. It didn't go well because the mango cubes were so so difficult to wrap! On my second attempt I made pandan mochi like the one shown in this recipe, but they were terrible on the eyes so I had to try a third time and finally the mochis (WHAT IS PLURAL FOR MOCHI) were up to my expectations :-) The texture and taste of these are so perfect! My mum who kept saying how she didn't like mochi wanted more after she tasted these gems. I couldn't resist having more than a piece, and no, I didn't feel guilty because these are really quite healthy.

Normally green coloured mochi are matcha/green tea flavoured but these are pandan flavoured because firstly I don't like green tea, and secondly pandan and red bean combine wonderfully together. 

The red bean filling is sweetened with actual fruit not processed sugar so its healthier. I made extra red bean filling because it didn't make sense to spend over an hour boiling less than 1/3 cup of beans haha. You can actually use store bought red bean paste or used pre-cooked adzuki beans if you like. I also think making the paste and assembling the mochi on two separate days is a good idea (:

Also note:

Glutinous rice flour = Sweet rice flour = Mochiko 

Red beans = Adzuki beans

I even made a recipe video (quite unprofessional) to give you all a better idea of how to form up the mochi! The iMovie app kept malfunctioning and it took ages to edit the video but I finally got it done. Hope you all try out the recipe!

Pandan mochi red bean filling

Gluten free, fat free

Yields 4 pieces of mochi 

1/3 cup dry red beans (soaked overnight for 10h)

Pandan leaves 

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup glutinous rice flour (or mochiko)

1 tbsp sugar (can be omitted) 

1/3 cup pitted dates 

Corn flour (UK) Corn starch (US)

1. Drain your red beans that have been soaking overnight. Pour enough water to a depth thrice of that of the red beans. Heat until boiling. Cover the sauce pan and gently boil for around 1.5 hours until soft. If the beans are squished easily it's done.

2. When the beans are halfway done you can start on the mochi skin. In a bowl, mix glutinous rice flour with sugar. 

3. Blend pandan leaves with water and strain the mixture into the glutinous rice flour. Stir with a fork to obtain a smooth batter.

4. Microwave the batter for 1min. The batter should become a dark green and thicken a lot. Stir to get a dough that can be pulled away from the sides of the bowl. If not thick enough microwave 10s longer or until the batter becomes a sticky dough like shown in the video. Leave to cool.

5. Blend adzuki beans and dates together in a blender or food processor to get red bean paste. Add water tablespoon at a time if required.

6. Dust work surface liberally with corn starch and dump dough onto it. Dust corn flour over dough. Flour your palms too. Roll dough into a log and divide into 4 equal pieces.

7. Flatten each piece of dough into a disk, and place a ball of red bean paste into it. Seal the dough and roll it in your palm to smoothen out the surfaces as much as possible. 

8. Chill for at least an hour before serving for the mochi to taste its best ;)