Mochi Bacon

Japan is currently undergoing a massive heat-wave - that's summer for you - but I'm still kind of freezing a bit here in Brisbane. After feeling homesick for a summer festival, I thought I would look at one of my favourite summer-goes-well-with-cold-Kirin-type foods.

I first had this at an izakaya and instantly loved it. I began to notice it more on menus here and there, and I had to add this to my repertoire of stuff I've ripped off from places I like. For those unaware, mochi is basically just sticky rice, pounded to the point of ridiculousness. Here is a video showing someone making mochi at home with a home-mochi-pounding-appliance :

Now they're using it to begin the process of making daifuku or something similar, but essentially you end up with a gigantic sticky mess of glutinous gluten where all the grains have been ground together. It's really sweet and it's nothing but rice! Of course, my recipe doesn't require you to own a cross between a garbage disposal and ice cream maker - we use dried mochi.

The best thing about this is the saltiness of the bacon matches SO WELL with the sweet creaminess of the mochi - here's how we go about it.

Ingredients

• Wooden/bamboo skewers
• Bacon
• Dried mochi (Asian food store - comes in a big bag of individually wrapped little blocks about the size of a matchbox)

 Method

1. Soak the skewers so they don't burn.
2. Cut the mochi up into small pieces, rectangular like - roughly the size they will be in the centre of the bacon.
3. Put the mochi into a flat dish containing hot water - I use a casserole or baking tray.
4. Cut up your bacon - I get 3-4 to a regular Australian rasher, or two to a tiny Japanese processed one.
5. Remove mochi from water, shake off excess, wrap bacon around mochi and impale on skewer. Put 2-3 rolls on each skewer.
6. Grill over coals or in toaster oven or under regular grill - be sure to turn.

Cooking Notes

• Be careful not to burn your mouth on molten mochi or stab yourself making skewers.
• You really need to soften the mochi - the dried stuff is too hard to stab the skewers through.
• If you can get fresh mochi then even better! Just roll it into little sausages and use that instead.
• Mochi is consumed mostly during new years - it is very chewy and soft. Old and young people die as a result of airway blockages. Beware!