All You Need Is 20 Minutes and a Microwave to Make This Delicious, Colorful Mochi
These are the Asian desserts you need to be baking this summer, from microwavable mochi to berry matcha cream bars.
© 2022 Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc. Text © 2022 Kathleen Lieu Photography © 2022
Picture this: You’re in a hurry to get to a summer gathering, maybe a backyard barbecue or wine night with the girls, when you realize you’re going to arrive empty-handed. You forgot to make dessert.
There’s a simple and delicious solution to this last-minute emergency, and it only requires seven ingredients you may already have on hand.
It’s colorful—and microwavable—mochi from popular online baker Kat Lieu!
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The recipe is just one of various sweet and savory treats in Lieu’s new cookbook Modern Asian Baking at Home: Essential Sweet and Savory Recipes for Milk Bread, Mochi, Mooncakes, and More, out July 26. From velvety nama chocolates to berry matcha cream bars, it’s chock full of a “straight-from-the-heart collection of recipes” that Lieu encourages readers to “steam, fry, boil, and bake” their way through.
© 2022 Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc. Text © 2022 Kathleen Lieu. Photography © 2022
The desserts are a mix of original creations and inspired adaptions from members of the online community that Lieu founded, called Subtle Asian Baking. (You can find it on Facebook or on Instagram @subtleasian.baking.)
“I saw a need for an online community where beginner and experienced home bakers could share, search for, and obsess over Asian baking,” Lieu writes in the book’s introduction. “I knew I had to build this community, one that would bridge cultures and help people collaborate, innovate, learn, and get instant inspiration.”
Launched in 2020, the group saw more than 100,000 members across the globe join its Facebook page in less than a year, according to Lieu. “Members have curated and shared thousands of essential Asian sweet and savory baking recipes, along with countless heartwarming stories,” the baker adds.
So, what are you waiting for? Here are three of our favorite recipes from Modern Asian Baking at Home.
Recipes to Bake at Home
Nama Chocolates
“Before I leave Narita Airport on my return trips from Japan, I always stock up on Royce’s famous nama chocolates,” writes Lieu. “These confections are the epitome of perfect velvety chocolate truffles. I love biting into a soft nama chocolate and letting the ganache melt on my tongue. I’m a sucker for anything comforting and delicious yet simply made. This recipe is inspired by Royce’s nama chocolates. Note: Nama means raw or fresh in Japanese, and nama chocolates are easily made with fresh cream and chocolate. Please have a digital or candy thermometer for this recipe.”
Quick Microwave Mochi
“Mochi (rice cake) was once considered a sacred food in Japan,” writes Kat Lieu in Modern Asian Baking at Home: Essential Sweet and Savory Recipes for Milk Bread, Mochi, Mooncakes, and More; Inspired by the Subtle Asian Baking Community. “Now it is eaten all year round. When I traveled across Japan, I loved sampling many varieties of mochi: daifuku, warabimochi, sakuramochi—I can go into detail about each type, but then I’ll have to write a second book! Feel free to experiment with this recipe. Flatten the mochi dough into discs and then fill them with your favorite savory or sweet fillings, like ice cream. I know you’ll have so mochi fun. (Yes, I had to go there.) To change the color of your mochi, mix in food coloring gel or colored food powders.”
Berry Matcha Cream Bars
“One bite of these dreamy creamy bars and I’m transported to Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden in Tokyo during the springtime when sakura are in full bloom,” writes Lieu. “This berry cream layer atop a buttery and earthy shortbread combo is, without a doubt, a matcha made in heaven. This recipe is adapted from one found on SAB by Hali Mo (@halicopteraway on Instagram).”
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