In the movie Tampopo, there’s a scene in a restaurant in which an elderly gentleman chokes on some gummy, stretchy food. He’s saved when someone uses a vacuum to suck the stuff out of his throat? What was that gummy food substance?
Oshiruko. It’s a sweet red bean soup with rice cake.
So it’s the rice cake that he choked on?
I imagine so - it’s very sticky.
The “rice cake” is called mochi. It’s made of glutinous rice (even more sticky than regular Japanese “sticky rice”), steamed and then pounded into a dense lump.
Death by mochi is a rather too common occurence for elderly Japanese especially at New Year (when most mochi get’s eaten). The shame is that mochi is really nice to eat.
Does anyone know the name if any for plain mochi, without any filling just the glutinous rice stuff? Also does anyone know of a westernized version that uses marzipan instead of bean paste?
Everyone should try the westernized Mochi Ice creams if you get a chance.
Yes, it’s called mochi. 
If you add some sort of sauce or use it as an ingredient, you’d call it by different names. Oshiruko has already been mentioned (sweet red bean soup with mochi). If you dip it in soy sauce and wrap it in nori (seaweed), it’s an isobe mochi. If you serve it with an edamame sauce, that’s a zunda (or zunda mochi). A savory soup with mochi is called zouni - a standard New Year dish.
But all the shops here sell “Mochi” but they all contain bean stuff or lotus stuff or unidentifieble stuff. I’ve never seen the Mochi plane without any filling at all.
zouni sounds really nice.
Eating plain mochi is like eating white bread. 
Plain mochi with a sweetner added such as fruit juices or just plain sugar exists.
However, plain mochi is often found in soups or dredged in sweetened kinako(toasted soybean flour)/sugar mixtures.
I personally fry it in oil first, or steam it or when I’m lazy, zap it in the microwave before dredging.
This is TMI: too mochi information.
I’ve heard descriptions of something called natto, and it sounds to be something similar to mochi. Is there any relationship?
Nope. Natto is cooked soybeans inoculated with a bacteria which causes them to ferment. They give off a cheesy/coffeelike odor, and have an extremely stringy, glutinous texture. Some folks are nauseated by them, but I utterly adore them, mixed with an egg yolk, asian mustard and slivered green onions.
Mochi is just sticky rice, cooked and pounded until it becomes a smooth, stretchy dough. I like it when a patty of it is filled with sweet red bean paste - it makes a good, if filling, dessert.
If you’re shopping at a well-stocked Asian market, you’ll probably find it in the dried food section. Packaged mochi isn’t really dried, but it does last for many months without refrigeration. Just heat it up in a toaster oven and it’ll become a sticky goo again (though not as soft as freshly pounded mochi, of course). Or just cut and drop into soup.
But I want it fresh and chewy and sweet and without beans and whhaaaaaaaa!
P.S. this is TMI, too much indigestion.
As you probably already know, Bippy, go to Mitsuwa Supermarket on Saratoga in west San Jose. They’ll have what you crave. In addition, Japantown in San Jose is about to open a new Japanese market called “Nijiya”, which promises to stock all manner of Japanese goodies, including bento boxes and sushi to go.
Then you need an electric mochi maker. My aunt has one and it’s awesome. Even in Japan, that’s what it takes to get fresh plain mochi.
I remember ten years ago, the Japanese Club bought one for a thousand dollars!! :eek: