Kurumi Mochi (Walnut sticky rice cake)

Kurumi mochi ‘くるみ餅’ is sticky rice cake with creamy walnut paste, the traditional sweets from Iwate prefecture (North Japan).
This is the recipe from my mom who is originally from Iwate prefecture.

We have many pastes and seasonings for mochi in Japan.
Most famous ones could be sweet red bean paste (Azuki), soy powder (Kinako) & sugar, soy sauce with chili and seaweed paper, sweet mung bean paste (Zunda), and etc.

Sweet bean pastes and sticky rice are very common in Asian countries and we are all very familiar with them but I found quite many Westerners don’t like them.
Even you have never been a fan of mochi, this might be the first one that you love!
The walnut paste has a rich and creamy texture. A brilliant harmony of the sweetness of sugar and saltiness of soy sauce with the flavor of walnuts. When I had Kurumi mochi at the first time, I could not stop eating and asked my mom to make it again and again.

Ingredients

• 60g walnuts chopped
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1-2tsp soy sauce
• 30ml- hot water
• 4 pieces of sticky rice cake (mochi)

Instructions

1. Place walnuts into a suribachi mortar and grind them until it has a slightly grainy texture.
   You can also use a grinder.
2. Add sugar and salt, and mix well.
3. Add hot water little by little, dissolve to your favorite thickness.
4. Add soy sauce to taste.
5. Grill rice cakes, split them by hand in half and let it go to hot water once.
6. Put the rice cakes in a bowl, add as much walnut paste as you like and marinate with the rice cakes.