We had our first mochi pounding in Japan on December 31st. When I lived in Hawaii, we did it every year on December 30th. A few years ago, my family stopped making mochi as my grandparents got older and the cracks in our wooden usu became unrepairable. Our wooden seiro for steaming the rice also started falling apart. The flavor and texture of mochi made by machine cannot compare to that of handmade. So as my family now buys machine-made mochi from our local temple, my friends and family in Japan started up the tradition again on our own.

We bought a stone usu with a wooden stand, two sizes of kine for pounding the mochi, aluminum seiro for steaming, steaming cloths to hold the mochi rice, commercial propane gas burner and regulator for boiling the water, plastic containers for holding the mochi and a non-stick pad to lay on the table as we form the mochi into round patties. It’s a big operation starting from scratch. However, with several home centers in the area, Amazon.co.jp and a helpful propane gas company, we were able to get everything we needed.

The day before mochi pounding, we had some preparation. We had to soak the rice one day ahead to soften it, changing the water at least once. We also soaked the wooden kine in water the night before.

On the day of, we cooked the rice in 20 cup batches. 10 cups of rice, about 1.5 kg, is measured as one shou. So, each of our batches were two shou, the same capacity as our stone usu. Our seiro had a capacity of three shou so, we had room to spare in cooking the rice. We started around 09:50, hoping to start 40 minutes later, but the rice wasn’t ready till around 11:10. My Grandma had always prepared the rice back in Hawaii. I was just the pounder. I asked her about it later and she said the first batch of rice always takes extra time to cook, but after that, it’s fast. She sometimes pours hot water over the rice if its taking long. Another tip we used from the internet, was to make a divet in the center of the rice to help it cook faster.

We mashed the rice together with the kine so that it wouldn’t fly apart when we started pounding. Once we started pounding, we had no problems. The rice was soft, but not mushy. It appears harder than regular rice, but it blends very smooth. There’s different techniques to pounding such as using two people pounding alternately in rhythm or speedy guys turning the rice while another furiously pounds. We’re a little more old school. One person pounds in a steady rhythm while another pulls corners of the rice to the center in time with the pounder’s rhythm. No rocket science. Just pound until you can’t see the grains of rice. The turner will use water on their hands so it won’t stick on the rice and will add some water so the rice won’t stick to the usu. However, you don’t want to add too much water to the rice or it’ll have a hard time sticking to itself and will form cuts.

In the end, we had wonderfully soft mochi. We put anko in some, ate others with kinako, and made kagami (or kazari) mochi to put in our houses. Plain mochi is still my favorite. I love ozoni on New Years’ Day morning and also pan frying it and eating it with shoyu and sugar as a snack. Not all people love mochi as I do, but I think everyone has fun making it. If you can make a show of it, all the better. I’m looking to continue making mochi with family and friends as long as I can. It’s a tradition I hope to pass on.