Ichigo Daifuku

One of my favorite Japanese dessert is Ichigo Daifuku. Daifuku is sweet Japanese glutinious rice cake/ mochi. Ichigo means strawberry. Ichigo Daifuku contains strawberry wrapped in red bean paste.


Red bean paste is a common daifuku filling, however mashed red bean is fine too. The thing about red bean paste is that you have to find the right kind, Japanese vs Chinese. Make sure to get Japanese red bean paste as the canned chinese red bean paste is a little too wet and not suitable for the daifuku filling.


How to make the filling:


1. Place a piece of lint-free cloth and put a spoonful of red bean paste.
2. Flatten the paste with the same piece of cloth.
3. Add a strawberry (stem removed) on top.
4. Using the cloth, wrap the paste around strawberry.
Paste can be wrapped by hand too. But by using a piece of cloth, it can remove excessive water from the paste.

The dough recipe can be found here Kyoto Cooking Circle