By Request Betty Shimabukuro

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’Tis the season for
special mochi recipes

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An envelope arrived in the mail the other day: no name, no return address. It included an anonymous request for a recipe.

I am always suspicious of unsigned recipe requests. Is the requester a fugitive from justice, afraid of apprehension but unable to get by without a batch of -- in this case -- homemade mochi? Is he/she trying to influence public attitude in some radical way by fueling a desire for -- in this case -- coconut?

I hesitate to guess. But in this line of work, you must suspect all motives. I usually squint at such requests and cast them aside. But not today.

Today's recipe seeker is after a recipe for haupia mochi. "Also," the inquirer writes, "I have heard that there is a recipe for a similar type that is made with one package of Noh Haupia Mix."

I am making an exception to my anonymity-exclusion policy because the new year is looming and mochi is in demand. And although I regret that I have no knowledge of a recipe using a packaged haupia mix, I did find these two promising candidates, one using the oven, the other the microwave.

Coconut Custard Mochi

"Favorite Island Cookery Book III," Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin (1979)

1/2 cup butter
4 eggs
3 cups sugar
4 cups mochiko
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 13.5-ounce can coconut milk (plus water to make 2 cups liquid)
1 13-ounce can evaporated milk (plus water to make 2 cups liquid)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Sesame seeds, for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9-by-13-inch cake pan.

Cream together butter, eggs and sugar.

Combine mochiko, baking powder, coconut milk and evaporated milk. Add vanilla. Add mochiko gradually to butter mixture; stir to combine. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 1 hour. Cool and slice.

Coconut Mochi

"Hawaii's Best Mochi Recipes" by Jean Watanabe Hee
(Mutual Publishing, 2000).

2 cups mochiko
1 13.5-ounce can coconut milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Katakuriko (potato starch)

Combine mochiko, coconut milk, sugar and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Pour into a greased, 5-cup microwave-safe tube pan. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave at medium-high for 10 minutes. Rotate pan several times during cooking.

Let stand a few minutes, then pull mochi from sides of pan and turn onto a surface dusted with potato starch. Cool. Cut into pieces using a plastic knife. Coast with more potato starch.

Nutrititional information unavailable.

And so, dear anonymous requester, I hope you are reading the newspaper on this Christmas Eve, as I have no way of contacting you otherwise. Also, if anyone out there knows how to make mochi using a packaged haupia mix, please share. View it as an act of generosity that will set the tone for the new year.

But do include your name.

See the Columnists section for some past articles.

Send queries along with name and phone number to:
"By Request," Honolulu Star-Bulletin,
500 Ala Moana, No. 7-210, Honolulu 96813.
Or send e-mail to bshimabukuro@starbulletin.com

Asterisk (*) after nutritional analyses in the Body & Soul section indicates calculations by Joannie Dobbs of Exploring New Concepts, a nutritional consulting firm.