Easy Homemade Mochi (Chi Chi Dango)
This easy chi chi dango recipe is the best and the simplest mochi dessert recipe you'll ever see. It's naturally gluten free, vegan, and only uses four main ingredients. I give instructions for making it in the oven, but you can use the microwave too.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup mochiko 8 oz
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup water updated, see note!
- 1/2 13.5 oz can coconut milk about 200mL or 3/4 cup
- 1 drop food coloring optional
- potato starch (katakuriko) for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease an 8x8 baking dish. A glass dish is recommended to prevent the most sticking.
- Mix mochiko, sugar, coconut milk, water, and food coloring until fully incorporated.
- Pour into the baking dish and cover tightly with aluminum foil.
- Bake 45-55 minutes or until mochi is cooked all the way through. See notes for microwave cooking instructions.
- Let mochi cool. When mochi is completely cooled, dust with potato starch to prevent sticking and slice into rectangles using a pizza cutter or plastic knife, continuing to add more potato starch as needed. Chi chi dango will keep sealed at room temperature for a few days.
Notes
-This recipe can easily be doubled to fit in a 9x13" pan. Increase mochiko to one 16 oz box and use the whole can of coconut milk. Bake time will be at least an hour.
-For microwave mochi: pour batter into a greased plastic microwave bundt pan. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave on high for 8-9 minutes. Allow to cool and slice as instructed above.
-Do NOT substitute other types of rice flour for mochiko.
-My original recipe called for 1 cup of water, and I made my chi chi dango this way for DECADES. Suddenly in the past few years, it's been too watery. I suspect that the coconut milk is different now that most things are moving to be more organic, but I still do not know why there's a sudden difference with the same recipe. That said, I decreased the amount of water by half, and it seems to be back to normal. If you are using a coconut milk that has added emulsifiers (such as guam gar) you may want to use 1 cup of water as the original recipe stated. If using organic, reduce to 1/2 cup.