Sakura Mochi (桜餅) is a type of wagashi (Japanese confectionery) made of sweet pink mochi (sweet rice or sometimes called glutinous rice). It’s usually filled with sweet red bean paste and wrapped in a salty pickled cherry leaf. Sakura means cherry blossoms in Japanese and both flowers and leaves are used in Japanese cooking, especially with making sweets. Sakura mochi is usually eaten on Girl’s Day (known as Hinamatsuri) on March 3rd and enjoyed throughout the spring season in Japan.
Watch How to Make Sakura Mochi
Chewy mochi with sweet anko filling is simply delectable! Mix in the aroma of cherry blossom leaves and the experience is simply amazing!
Kanto-style vs Kansai-style Sakura Mochi
The style of Sakura Mochi in Japan actually differs by region. Generally, the east of Japan or the Kanto region (Tokyo area) uses shiratamako (sweet rice/glutinous rice flour 白玉粉) as the main ingredient for mochi. It resembles a mini pancake rolled up. The west of Japan or Kansai region (Osaka, Kyoto etc) uses domyojiko (coarsely broken sweet rice/glutinous rice 道明寺粉) and you can actually see grains of sweet rice, like the one I shared for this recipe. Domyojiko is cooked sweet rice that is dried and broken into smaller pieces. Both shiratamako and domyojiko are available in Japanese supermarkets but not in Asian grocery stores.
Important Tips on Making Mochi
For this recipe, I actually used regular sweet rice and cooked from scratch. Then I broke the grains into smaller bits and pieces by pounding the sweet rice. If you could find domyojiko, go ahead and use it instead since it’ll save you a bit of work. Now please remember that Japanese short-grain sweet rice/glutinous rice is NOT the same as Thai/Chinese long-grain glutinous rice. Mochi made of long-grain glutinous rice is more starchy and it’s not the same as Japanese mochi texture (I wouldn’t recommend substituting Japanese glutinous rice with Thai/Chinese variety). Sometimes you might see a cherry blossom on top of the Sakura Mochi. They are pickled just like pickled cherry leaves. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the luck to find them this season so I omitted it. If you could find them, soak in water to remove the brine and salt, just like how I did it for the leaves. Decorate the mochi with cherry blossom on top.
Sakura Mochi has a nice balance of the taste between the salty pickled leaves and sweet red bean paste. The texture of the chewy sweet glutinous rice with sweet Anko filling is simply delectable. Mix in the aroma of cherry blossom and the experience is simply amazing! Make some green tea and enjoy the mochi with it. Happy Spring!
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Other Japanese Sweets on Just One Cookbook
If you are interested in learning about wagashi, check out Wagashi Guide: History of Japanese Confectioneries. Strawberry Mochi (Ichigo Daifuku)iec
