Review: 3 Uncle Japanese Style Mochi

If you're not familiar with mochi you're missing out. The japanese style glutinous rice cakes have an unusual texture and come in a whole range of flavours. The term mochi covers a wide range of glutinous rice cakes, and the sweet-filled ones such as these are 'daifuku' mochi. In the US you can find mochi ice cream balls, even vegan ones, but sadly not in the UK. What we can get here are brands such as 3 Uncle (from Taiwan) who produce several vegan types of mochi.

Left: Red Bean Mochi, Right: Peanut Mochi

We picked up two flavours of the 3 Uncle mochi, the traditional red bean and the more unusual peanut. Mochi such as these are somewhere between cakes and sweet dumplings. The outside made of glutinous rice flour is quite springy, like a dense marshmallow with a mild sweet flavour. The fillings are sweet but not overly so. Freshly made mochi are lighter and puffier than packaged mochi.

You'd be forgiven for being a little disappointed that the contents within, don't match the picture on the 3 Uncle box, but the mochi are reasonably good. The red bean mochi have a very mild, sweet taste, while the filling in the peanut ones is very much like peanut butter. We preferred the peanut mochi because of their distinct nutty taste.

Sweet mochi are usually eaten at room temperature, but like all mochi they can be toasted. Stick them under a hot grill (broiler) until they puff up and the outside turns crispy. The inside will turn all gooey and stretchy...and really delicious. Toasted mochi are rather like toasted marshmallows. If you can only get packaged mochi you may find this is the best way to eat them..especially to a western palate. A word of warning though...mochi are very calorific...

Look at that picture though...hot gooey marshmallow with peanut butter filling...how can you resist finishing the box!

Verdict: Gooey Goodness

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Veganoo Score: ★★★★☆
3 Uncle Japanese Style Mochi (Red Bean / Peanut)

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Footnote: Ingredients

Here are the ingredients panels from the packs we reviewed.

Note: E473 (Sugar esters of fatty acids) present in the peanut mochi is normally produced from plant oils, but we haven't verified this.

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