Kurumi daifuku / soft rice cake with sweetened azuki bean paste and walnuts

Toasted walnuts add a rich taste and crunch to a standard everyday daifuku rice cake. Turbinado in soft gyuhi mochi goes really well with walnuts and tsubuan crumbly azuki bean paste inside. Best on Day 1 for contrasting texture with walnuts, especially while still warm.

1 daifuku cake (1/4 of recipe):
130 calories; 2.8 g protein; 3.0 g fat; 23.4 g carbohydrate; 21.6 g net carbs; 1 mg sodium; 0 mg cholesterol; 1.8 g fiber; 145 mg potassium

<Ingredients>

(Makes 4 daifuku cakes)
For gyuhi mochi
35 g shiratamako sweet rice powder
20 g turbinado
70 cc water
15-17 g walnuts (16 g in photo)

About 90g tsubuan crumbly sweetened azuki bean paste (88 g in photo)

3-4 tbsp katakuriko potato starch (to prevent gyuhi mochi from sticking to tray and hands; not in photo)

<Directions>
1.

Dry toast walnuts.

Remove skin, and chop.

2.

Divide tsubuan into four, and make round balls.

3.

Make soft gyuhi mochi rice cake.
In a medium bowl, put shiratamako, turbinado and water, and mix well.

Make sure all shiratamako lumps are gone.

Loosely cover bowl, and microwave for 30-40 seconds.

Remove, and mix well with moistened spatula. 

Cover and microwave again for 30 seconds.
Remove, and mix well with moistened spatula.
Repeat one more time, microwaving for a shorter time (15-20 seconds). 

Fold walnuts in gyuhi, and microwave once again for 10-15 seconds.

Gyuhi with walnuts is done.

4.

Empty gyuhi on tray covered with potato starch.

If gyuhi is in the shape of an oblong blob, put potato starch on long sides, and flip over (fold in half) with fingers, and make a log form. 

Squeeze or pinch between fingers to divide gyuhi in half, then divide each half into two to get a total of four mochi pieces.

5.

Flatten a gyuhi mochi piece, aiming to make the center thinner and outside fatter.
Place tsubuan, and wrap.

When finished wrapping, place daifuku on your palm with closed side at bottom, and roll with fingers of your other hand to shape it into a globe (or gently press with your other palm to a form round cushion shape).
Ready to serve.

<Notes>

• Any natural brown sugar works great for gyuhi with walnuts.
• Walnuts gradually soften over time and by Day 3 their taste starts to blend with gyuhi mochi, which also is nice in its own way.
• Cooking time is when using a 1,000-watt microwave oven.