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1
Bring a generous pot of water to a full rolling boil. Salt it with 1 tsp salt. Add the fresh edamame pods and boil until the beans are tender through but still brilliantly green — press one bean between thumb and forefinger; it should yield completely with no starchy resistance. Drain at once.
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2
Shell the beans while still warm, discarding pods and the thin inner skin that covers each bean where possible. Speed matters: the longer the beans sit exposed to air, the more chlorophyll degrades. The beans at this stage should be vivid jade green — any shift toward olive is a warning.
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3
Transfer the shelled beans to a food processor. Add the sugar and the pinch of salt. Process continuously, scraping down the sides repeatedly, until the paste is as smooth as the machine will allow. This is where the dish lives or dies: under-processing leaves a grainy paste that is not zunda — the correct texture is silky and cohesive, with no perceptible bean fragments. Pass the paste through a fine-mesh sieve to remove any remaining coarse matter.
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4
Taste the paste. It should be distinctly sweet with a clear fresh, slightly grassy soybean undertone. If the edamame character is masked entirely by sugar, the balance has tipped too far. Adjust salt by a small pinch if the sweetness reads as flat.
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5
Spoon the zunda paste immediately over freshly prepared mochi. The correct presentation is a generous mound of vivid green paste against white mochi — the color contrast is the dish's defining visual signature. Serve without delay; zunda discolors within a few hours of preparation and must not be held.