What Is Mochiko?
Mochiko is glutinous rice flour, and sometimes called sweet rice flour in English.
To make mochiko, glutinous rice is washed with water, drained, dried for a while, and then milled.
Mochiko is also known as gyuhiko in Japan because it can be used as a material for gyuhi. Gyuhi is one of the materials of Japanese confectionery and a kind of rice cake made by kneading.
By the way, shiratamako is also made from glutinous rice. But, its manufacturing method is different from mochiko.
Mochiko is coarser than shiratamako.
Shiratamako vs Mochiko vs Joshinko: What Are the Differences?
How Is Mochiko Used?
Mochiko is mainly used for Japanese confectionery.
There are so many types of them using mochiko as a main ingredient. Here, I would like to introduce 2 representative confectionery.
Gyuhi
It is made by kneading sugar and starch syrup into mochiko. In many cases, shiratamako is used instead of mochiko.
Gyuhi is the main ingredient in various types of rice cake-based confectionery. Daifuku is a typical Japanese sweet that uses gyuhi.
▲Daifuku
▲Anmitsu (The green, pink, and white on the right are gyuhi)
Dango (Dumpling Ball)
It is often made from shiratamako too. But, people also make it with mochiko. Dango made with mochiko is very soft and chewy. It’s much more chewy than the one made with shiratamako. Also, you can strongly feel the great flavor of glutinous rice.
You can use mochiko for other cooking besides Japanese confectionery.
Mochiko Chicken
It’s fried chicken made by deep-frying chicken sprinkled with mochiko after seasoning it with garlic and soy sauce. It’s known as Hawaiian local food.
Japanese-style of fried chicken (karaage) is usually sprinkled flour or potato starch. The fried chicken made with mochiko has extremely nice and crispy texture. The flavor is totally different from ordinary karaage and so delicious!
Pancake / Okonomiyaki
You can use or add mochiko in place of flour when making pancake, okonomiyaki, takoyaki, etc. By doing so, the texture will be soft and chewy. You can enjoy very interesting texture than usual.
Is Mochiko the Same As Glutinous Rice Flour?
Mochiko is often described as glutinous rice flour in English. So, they are usually the same thing.
However, people sometimes use the term for shiratamako too.
Mochiko and shiratamako are both made from glutinous rice, but the finished flavor and texture are slightly different.
So, please check which glutinous rice flour (mochiko or shiratamako) is needed first, and use properly.
Is Mochiko the Same As Rice Flour?
Mochiko is a type of rice flour. Actually, there are many types of rice flour in Japan.
Some are made from ordinary rice (non-glutinous-rice), others are made from glutinous rice. Some powders are made by mixing these.
As long as the powder is made from some kind of rice, it can be called “rice flour”.
The typical ones are as follows:
・Mochiko (made from glutinous rice)
・Shiratamako (made from glutinous rice)
・Joshinko (made from ordinary rice)
