sakura mochi is eaten during the cherry blossom viewing festival as well as hinamatsuri (girls' day) in japan. there are generally two kinds of sakuramochi - the kanto (tokyo) style one where azuki bean paste-filled pancake/crepe is wrapped with pickled sakura leaf and the kansai style's which is made with domyoji-ko, a kind of glutinous rice flour that is steamed and filled with azuki. when a blogger friend asked if i needed anything from her tokyo trip, i jumped at the chance to request for these pickled sakura leaves. she also came back with an additional pack of pickled sakura flowers and some limited edition kitkats for me, so thank you, CY! i really couldn't wait til next spring to make these :p


oh how i adore these leaves! they're so pretty to look at and are sweet smelling as well. they actually smell like a cross between umeboshi plums and bitter almond. strong-scented but goes really well with the mochi. i do like the mochi but it reminds me of chinese dumplings. i prefer mochi made with real glutinous rice flour and not the rice itself but these are quite good and not too sweet. when it comes to red bean paste, i like using tsubu-an over koshi-an. tsubu-an is chunky which means its less sweet and also has more texture.


and its amazing how japanese tea REALLY complement their wagashi well. i had the mochi with genmaicha and it was such great pairing.

recipe source : wagashi maniac