Wagashi is a traditional Japanese dessert. Japanese sweets are less sweet than European ones. In the upper strata of Japanese society, it is considered good form to serve wagashi with traditional tea drinking. The art of preparing each type of wagashi must be subject to strict canons. Wagashi look like a real piece of jewelry.
Wagashi contain a large amount of vitamins, fiber and trace elements. Due to its natural composition, Japanese sweets are low in calories. For a person who leads a healthy lifestyle, wagashi is a real find.
Types of wagashi
There are more than 20 types of wagashi. Here are just a few of them:
- mochi (made from mochi glutinous rice, stuffed with adzuki beans);
- ama-natto (a mixture of beans cooked in sugar syrup);
- manju (sweet cakes with sweet potatoes, apples, and bean paste);
- botamochi (rice cakes with adzuki bean paste);
- daifuku (composed of rice dough, sweet anko paste and fresh fruit).
Japanese wagashi mochi
The most famous type of wagashi is mochi. It is mochi that is the basis for the manufacture of many Japanese sweets. To make mochi, you need the following ingredients:
- 1 kg mochi rice (regular rice is also possible);
- 0.5 kg of soybeans or medium-sized red beans;
- 0.5 kg of sugar;
- blueberry syrup to taste
- green tea powder (sold in specialized tea shops) to taste;
- flour (rice or wheat).
Cooking mochi begins with preparing rice and beans. The beans are soaked in warm water for 24 hours. Rice is pre-washed and soaked in cold water overnight.
The next day, the beans are boiled with sugar until smooth. Rice is boiled for half an hour. Then the rice is crushed to a homogeneous sticky mass. A little blueberry syrup and tea powder (for color) are added to the rice mass. The dough is ready.
The dough is cut on the table, on a floured surface. Small cakes are formed from the mass, a paste of beans or beans is put inside. Mochi is ready.
Manju is a type of wagashi
No less interesting is the recipe for manju - sweet pies. To prepare the dough you will need:
- 0.25 kg soybean paste;
- 6 tbsp. tablespoons of wheat flour;
- a pinch of sugar.
The following products are required for the filling:
- 5 tbsp. spoons of water;
- 0.15 kg sweet potato (sweet potato);
- a quarter of an apple;
- 0.2 liters of water;
- 2 tbsp. tablespoons of sugar;
- a quarter of a lemon.
To prepare the manju, mix the dough ingredients until smooth. For the filling, the sweet potato is cut into cubes and soaked in cold water for 5 minutes (to eliminate bitterness).
Boil the chopped apples and sweet potatoes over medium heat with added sugar until soft. At the end of cooking, lemon juice is added. The water is drained from the pan, and the apples and potatoes are kneaded until smooth.
Small cubes are molded from the resulting mass. Then the cubes must be dipped in batter and fried in a pan. Dessert is ready.
Features of wagashi
Wagashi are not just an ordinary dessert, they express the characteristics characteristic of Japanese traditions. Wagashi with its shape and color should please the "eye", and the aroma should be combined with the taste of green tea. Japanese sweets are made only by hand, and the name of each dessert evokes associations with nature and harmony in humans.
