Vegan wagashi

Step 1

Mix together the glutinous rice flour, water and sugar. Put them in a pot and heat them on low heat while constantly mixing. Do this until a sticky mochi dough is formed and the mixture is no longer watery.

Step 2

If you are using store bought white bean paste, put it in a bowl and add the mochi that you just made. Mix everything together with a spatula until it is well combined. Knead it until you get the wagashi dough.

Step 3

If you made the white bean paste at home and it is too soft and watery, add it to the pot with the mochi dough and mix constantly on low heat until the water has evaporated and the wagashi dough is formed. Cover it with a plastic wrap or a wet cheesecloth and let it cool down.

Step 4

Meanwhile, disolve each food color in a small amount of water in separate small containers. If you do not own the wagashi shaping kit, prepare some chopsticks, a butter knife, a sieve, and some toothpicks. Roll the red bean paste into small balls, depending on how many wagashi pieces you’re making.

Step 5

When the wagashi dough has cooled down, divide it into several pieces (depending on how many you are making) and roll them into balls. Roll 2 small white dough pieces (for the pink cherry blossom flower), 2 small balls that you are going to color yellow and green. Dip a toothpick in a food color of your choice and drag it across the white piece of wagashi dough. Knead it with your hands until it is colored evenly. It is better to end up with lightly colored pieces than with  heavy color, so add it gradually in small doses.

Step 6

Since the shaping process is kind of complicated and difficult to write down comprehensively, I am going to leave a few videos that inspired me and taught me how to do this:

Step 7

Wagashi shaping video 1Wagashi shaping video 2

Step 8

Make sure to cover the pieces you are not using, so they don’t dry up. Serve the wagashi with some tea.