Black sesame coconut mochi

I'm not really the forgetful type, so when there's something that I just can't seem to remember, no matter how hard I try, it really bugs me. Most of the time, if I think about it long enough, I eventually do remember it, but then there's times when it never comes to me. Like these mochi- not that it's important, but I can't seem to remember where I used to have mochi as a kig! Was it yum cha? Was it from a bakery? Was it home made? All possible but still no closer to remembering.

It's not something I had often as a kid, and to be honest, the only memories I have of eating any type of mochi are the frozen sort that we used to buy from the 7-eleven downstairs from my grandma's place in HK when we used to visit. Infact, it was those mochi balls that inspired me to make (ice cream) mochi for the first time years ago.

I was in the mood for some mochi the other day, the soft chewy kind rather than the frozen ice cream kind, so I went through my collection of Asian recipe books (which has grown quite large nowadays), to pick out a recipe. The general formula is glutinous rice flour + water, but I found that a couple of recipes add wheat starch as well, to make them a little softer so I combined a couple of recipes together to get this one.

I really really love homemade black sesame desserts because there's nothing much that beats the taste of freshly ground sesame seeds! Couple that with freshly made mochi dough, which is at its softest and chewiest and a light sprinkle of fragrant desiccated coconut, and you've got yourself a pretty delightful little treat! :)

Black sesame coconut mochi

Mochi Dough
75g wheat flour
300g glutinous rice flour
190g sugar
375g water (or milk)
19g shortening (I used oil instead)

filling:
100g black sesame seeds
20g sesame oil
30g light corn syrup (I used honey)

Desiccated coconut

1. Preheat wok or steamer by heating up the water
2. Combine all the ingredients for the mochi together and mix well.
3. Pour batter into a bowl that will fit in your steamer, then place in steamer and steam for around 5-10 minutes, until the batter is firm to touch. 
4. Meanwhile, make the filling. Heat sesame seeds in a pan until fragrant (some of the seeds will start jumping) but not burnt. Place into blender with sesame oil and corn syrup and blend until it becomes a smooth paste. 
5. When the mochi batter is done, remove from steamer, Working quickly (the dough is most pliable when it is hot), pinch of small portions of the dough, roll into a ball, and then flatten into a circle. Scoop some of the black sesame filling onto the dough (you want around the same volume of filling as the volume of dough you used), and then wrap the dough around the filling and roll into a ball. Roll the completed mochi ball through the desiccated coconut to coat. 
6. Best eaten whilst they're fresh!