By Request

By Catherine Kekoa Enomoto

Wednesday, February 18, 1998

By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
7-Up adds zip to mochi flavored with lemon and lime
gelatin, butter and eggs add richness.

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Another
mochi mystery solved

Phone calls track down
missing measurements in a recipe

AFTER Hannah De Motta's son visited her on the Big Island, he found an intriguing recipe in the Aloha Airlines inflight magazine on his return flight to Oahu. He phoned his mom to relay the recipe, but the amount of sugar was missing.

Mom De Motta wrote to By Request from Pepeekeo: "I called the airlines, which referred me to the publisher. The answer I got was, 'That's the way we received it.'

"Would you be able to help me?" she implored.

Several phone calls revealed that Eunice Ahtuck, manager of international customer service, uses three-fourths cup of sugar in her original recipe.

"Of course, local people like mochi," said Ahtuck, who created the confection about 15 years ago. "The taste is very good."

Here's the 7-Up recipe for De Motta and a Mochiko coffee kulolo for those who enjoy collecting and trying popular recipes for sweet glutinous-rice cakes.

7-Up Mochi

3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 box mochiko (sweet rice flour)
1 box (3-1/4 ounces) lime-flavored gelatin crystals, such as Jell-O
1 box (3-1/4 ounces) lemon-flavored gelatin crystals, such as Jell-O
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cans 7-Up
1 block margarine (1/2 cup)
Kinako (soybean powder), optional

Mix eggs and sugar well. Add mochiko, flavored gelatin crystals, baking powder and 7-Up, and beat well. Add melted margarine and beat well.

Pour mixture into greased 9-by-13-inch pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Cool before cutting. To keep mochi from sticking together, lightly sprinkle kinako or cornstarch on all sides of mochi squares. Makes 48 pieces, each 1-1/2 inches square.

Approximate nutritional analysis per piece: 90 calories, 2.5 grams total fat, 0.5 gram saturated fat, 15 milligrams cholesterol, 65 milligrams sodium.*

Mochiko Coffee Kulolo

From "Dd's Table Talk" by Deirdre Kieko Todd,
Morris Press, 1997

5 cups mochiko (Japanese sweet rice flour)
3 teaspoons instant coffee
1-pound box dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
12-ounce can coconut milk
2-1/2 cups water
6 to 8 ti leaves, spritzed with nonstick cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 9-by-13-inch baking pan with 3 or 4 prepared ti leaves.

Combine dry ingredients. Stir in liquids mix well. Pour into prepared pan. Top with remaining ti leaves. Cover with aluminum foil. Place an additional pan of water on the lowest shelf in the oven. Bake 1 hour. Cool and cut into 36 squares.

Approximate nutritional analysis per serving: 150 calories, 2.5 grams total fat, 2 grams saturated fat, no cholesterol, 40 milligrams sodium.

Per serving, using low-fat coconut milk (1 gram fat per tablespoon coconut milk): 140 calories, 1 gram total fat, 0.5 gram saturated fat, no cholesterol, 45 milligrams sodium.*