Pounding the Mochi

Mira here. Unfortunately, Eric had to work today, so he wasn't able to join Maiko, Joey, and me on our excursion to Mitsuwa Marketplace, the Japanese "mall" in Arlington Heights (a suburb of Chicago). It's the only place like it in the Chicagoland area and Maiko (who moved here from Japan about five years ago) was really excited to eat mochi, a doughy rice treat covered in bean paste that is a common treat in its processed form, but is generally only made fresh on New Years Day.

In Japan, some families own their own old-fashioned pounding bowl and mallet for this New Years event and, traditionally, the father figure pounds while the mother reaches in to move around the ball of dough. When the lengthy process is finished, the man offers mochi to each person as a symbol of his ability to provide for the family. We arrived at Mitsuwa in time to see their last "pounding of the mochi" demonstration of the day. First, the bowl is cleaned with a cloth and water, then a tub of steaming rice is dumped inside. One person walks round and round, mashing the rice down with the mallet. Another person wipes the sticky rice off the mallet occasionally with a rag (Joey suggested that they develop a non-stick mallet). It is obviously strenuous work and the men switch places often.

After some time, the pounding begins. There is a rhythm to the work, with the crowd giving a shout (I can't remember the Japanese word now) at each whack, and then an "oy" on the off-beat, when the other man reaches in to fold the dough, just narrowly avoiding his hand becoming a pancake.

Between each session, someone else would pull the dough out and throw it back down.

Eventually, they started inviting men from the audience to pound as well. The folding guy got his hand whacked once by a guest pounder.

The children were enthralled at the beginning...

...but some grew quite bored...

...until they were invited to pound the mochi as well.

It was worth the wait! Mochi is really sticky and gooey and naturally sweet. And the bean paste that they slather on top is so great.

There are now machines that make mochi, and very few families make it the old-fashioned way anymore, so it is quite a treat for lots of folks to both see the process and taste the treat fresh off the mallet.

Here is another blog I came across that talks a bit about the mochi-making tradition in Hawaii and in Japan, in case you are interested.

We wandered through Mitsuwa's bookstore, which had some very *interesting* magazines. This one is almost entirely filled with tiny dogs wearing really elaborate clothing and costumes. A little bit disturbing, if you ask me:

And of course we had to eat some Japanese food! Yakisoba noodles were a must, and I also sampled okonomiyaki for the first time--it's kind of like a big hashbrown patty, but it's got cabbage and egg and all sorts of other yummy stuff mixed up in it before it's fried. Maiko says that people ask her all the time if she makes a lot of sushi, but she says that that is only for special occasions (mostly because it is so much work to prepare!). The Japanese food that she eats most at home is noodles and she tries to eat okonomiyaki every chance she gets--though it can be expensive to make for only one person.

Joey and Maiko have cleaned their plates and have nothing left to feed each other. So sad.

Japanese desserts are also very interesting. Unlike in the U.S., their after-meal treats are not usually super sweet, and they often have a mix of different flavors. Also inside Mitsuwa is the Pastry House Hippo. You've got to go to this website and click on the links to see the goodies. Like かめさん for example. You can't tell me that a turtle-shaped pastry resting on a doile is not cute. And 三色パン -- it looks like an ordinary pastry, but you'd never guess that inside that little bun would be hiding a trio of surprises including red bean paste, fluffy cream, and chocolate cream! It's called "san-shoku-pan" ("san" means three, "shoku" means color, and "pan" means bread)."

For dessert, we opted for the green tea parfait, which combines ice cream, red bean paste, green tea "topping," a "pie" (flaky stick), some multi-colored mochi, and some sort of green jelly made from seawee at the bottom. It was unlike anything I had ever had--and quite delicious (except for the green jelly, I must admit).

Well, Mitsuwa was definitely an experience--and it was so nice to visit lots with Joey and Maiko and learn more about the Japanese New Year!

Arigato for reading through the whole blog. And happy new year to you!