Ube Mochi

Soft and chewy purple ube mochi filled with a sweet and creamy ube custard

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• What is ube?
• Ingredients
• Frequently Asked Questions
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

What is ube?

If you aren't familiar with ube, it is a purple root vegetable originating in the Philippines. It has a sweet, slightly nutty, vanilla-y taste and is commonly used in desserts.

Ube is often confused with taro and purple sweet potato. Taro is not as vibrant in color and sweetness and is used more often in savory dishes. On the other hand purple sweet potato has a more intense purple colour and sweetness. If you can't find ube, purple sweet potato is often a great alternative.

Ingredients

Ube Filling

• Whole milk: Milk makes up the body of the custard. I prefer to use whole milk as it has a creamier flavor and texture, but skim and non-fat milk work great too.
• Ube extract: Ube extract brings all the ube flavor to the custard! A little goes a long way so don't add too much.

• Cornstarch: Cornstarch acts as the thickener in the custard. It may seem like a lot but we want the filling to be super thick so it can easily wrapped in the mochi skin.
• Granulated sugar: Sugar sweetens the filling! Feel free to increase or decrease this according to your personal preference.

Mochi

• Glutinous rice flour: You can use mochiko flour, which is made from Japanese short-grain rice, aka mochigome, or Thai-style glutinous rice flour which can be found in almost all Asian grocery stores.

• Granulated sugar: Aka white sugar, is used to sweeten the mochi dough as well as give it a softer texture.
• Cornstarch: Cornstarch helps to thicken the mochi dough as well as give it more structure.

• Whole milk: Milk is used to hydrate the dough as well as add extra fat and protein to the dough, this results in a softer mochi with a smoother mouthfeel. If you want to make this dairy-free you can replace this with water.

• Vegetable oil: Kneading vegetable oil into the dough not only makes it softer and chewier it also makes it easier to handle as it'll be less sticky.
• Corn starch or potato starch, for dusting

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does this last?

Mochi is always best eaten the day that it is made as the skin is the softest and stretchiest. However, they will last up to 2 days when stored in an airtight container in the fridge. Anything made with glutinous rice flour will start to harden up as it sits.

How do I store ube mochi?

The best way to store any leftover mochi is in an airtight container in the fridge. As the custard is made out of milk it's important to keep it refrigerated otherwise it runs the risk of spoiling.

Can I freeze mochi?

You can freeze leftover mochi, and it will keep for up to a week in the freezer. When you are ready to eat just let it defrost on your countertop, or with quick 5-10 second bursts in the microwave.

Keep in mind that the texture won't be exactly the same as it was before frozen. The mochi will be a little harder and less stretchy.

Can I use coconut milk instead of regular milk?

Yes, you can! Ube and coconut is a common flavor combination and coconut milk is a great alternative when making both the mochi and custard. You can even roll the finished mochi in desiccated coconut for an even coco-nuttier mochi!

Can I use ube powder or ube halaya to flavor the mochi?

If you have access to either of these they would be an even better option than ube extract!

You can replace the ube custard filling directly with ube halaya for an ube jam filling. As for the ube powder you can add it to the ube custard filling to give it more structure and a natural ube flavor.

Why is my mochi so stiff?

There are a couple of reasons for stiff mochi:

• The mochi dough was overcooked
• Not enough liquid was added to the mochi
• The mochi hasn't been kneaded with vegetable oil for long enough

Ube isn't the ube filling thickening?

Making sure the ube filling is thick is important if you want to be able to scoop it up and fill the mochi.

Here are a couple of reasons why it's not thickening:

• Not enough cornstarch was used
• The heat is too low
• The filling hasn't been cooked for long enough- keep stirring!

Let's Get Cooking!

Ube lovers this is the chewiest, stretchiest ube sweet treat you'll eat!

If you liked this recipe make sure to leave me a comment and rating down below, I would love to know how you went.

Also, don't forget to tag me on Instagram @catherine.desserts and hashtag #cattycakes so I can see and share your desserts. Follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Youtube, and TikTok for more of my baking creations and updates! Until next time... happy caking!

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