Yakimochi — Grilled Rice Cakes in Japanese Cuisine

Ingredients

• 8 pieces Kiri-mochi, dry-cut blocks, approximately 7 cm × 4 cm × 1.5 cm
• For soy-nori (iso-style)
• 60 ml Soy sauce, for dipping
• 4 strips Nori, premium grade, cut to wrap mochi
• For kinako
• 4 tbsp Kinako, toasted soybean flour
• 2 tsp Sugar
• For anko
• 120 g Anko, sweet red bean paste
• For natto
• 100 g Natto, with accompanying soy and mustard sachets

Method

1. 1
   Set a broiler to medium-high. Line a tray with foil and arrange the dry kiri-mochi blocks on it in a single layer, well separated. Position the tray at middle distance from the element — neither at the highest rack position nor at the lowest. Do not oil the foil or the mochi. The blocks should lie flat, chalk-white, and completely dry.
2. 2
   Grill without moving the mochi for the first 6–8 minutes. The exterior must set and form a resistant skin before any handling. Moving the blocks during this initial stage prevents the crust from developing and causes the mochi to stick or deflate. The sign that the exterior has set is a faint tautening and whitening of the surface — it will begin to lose its raw, chalky flatness.
3. 3
   Continue grilling at medium-high for a further 4–7 minutes, checking every 3–4 minutes. This is where the dish lives or dies: the heat must be moderate and patient — too close or too fierce, and the exterior chars before interior steam has time to build pressure and push outward; too distant, and the exterior dries and hardens without puffing. The mochi is done when it has puffed to approximately double its original height, the top surface is golden with darker blistered spots, and a gentle press with a finger through a folded cloth yields soft, yielding resistance rather than hard density. The interior is molten at this point.
4. 4
   Turn the mochi once only if the underside requires colour; frequent turning prevents exterior crust development. The finished block should be taut, blistered, golden-brown, and visibly swollen. Do not cut or press the mochi before it has fully puffed — this deflates the preparation.
5. 5
   Serve immediately with the chosen accompaniment. For soy-nori: dip the hot mochi directly in soy sauce, then wrap at once in a strip of nori — the residual heat softens the nori against the mochi surface and the soy caramelises. This preparation must be eaten immediately. For kinako: combine the toasted soybean flour with sugar and dust heavily over the hot mochi. For anko: place a spoonful of red bean paste directly on the puffed surface. For natto: spoon natto with its soy and mustard over the mochi — the stretching natto threads interact with the stretching mochi interior.