We are in March now and going to have one of the Japanese customs tomorrow on the 3rd of March. It is Girl’s Day called ‘Hinamatsuri’ and we pray for the health and happiness of girls by decorating special Hina Dolls in our houses on the day. This day is also called ‘Momo no Sekku’ which means Peach Festival and we place peach flower in a room or eat peach fruit or peach flower shaped sweets. I have created some sweets in a shape of Hina dolls in the past but I made a simple dessert for the coming event this year.

 

Momo-Mochi Matcha Zenzai

I created ‘Momo’ (Peach) flower shape in a bowl and had it with Matcha tea in ‘Zenzai’ style. Zenzai is a sweet soup type dessert that we normally make with sweet Azuki (Red) bean paste during a cold season. I created this Matcha version to make it suitable for spring. It is very easy to make at home so I am going to share how to prepare this dessert.

You need just three steps to make this dessert.

[ Step 1 – Make Tsubu-an]

‘Tsubu-an’ is a type of sweet Azuki (Red) bean paste. Although it is easy to make, it takes the longest amongst all the processes for making this dessert so start from this one first. I have posted ‘How to make Tsubu-An’ recipe before so please follow the instruction.

 

[Step 2 – Make Shiratama]

‘Shiratama’ is a ‘Mochi’ type sweet which is easy to make at home. If you have glutinous rice flour and sugar you can make this quickly. ‘How to make Shiratama’ was also posted on this blog in the past so please follow the instruction.

*One thing you have to have in your mind is that this time Shiratama is going to be placed as a Momo (Peach) flower in a bowl so make Shiratama in a very small size of about 1cm in diameter. I coloured some in pink and also made much tiny size ones in yellow to place forming the flower shape.

*You can add one Tbsp of sugar when you mix the ingredients. Sugar keeps Shiratama soft longer

 

[Step 3 – Making Matcha green tea]

So this is the process you should take in the last minute just before you are going to serve the dessert.

You need

• 1/2 Tsp of Matcha Green tea Powder
• about 50ml of hot Water (the amount depends on how strong you’d like the tea)

1. Warm a bowl with hot water for a while and then throw the water away.
2. Place 1/2 tsp of Matcha powder in the bowl and loosen any lumps by using the corner of the tea spoon
3. Pour hot water into the bowl. Whisk the mixture with a ‘Chasen’ (bamboo whisk, see the photo below) or a froth maker if you don’t have Chasen until it gets frothed up.

Now you are ready for combining all the elements together.

1. In a serving bowl place a small mountain of Tsubu-an in the middle
2. Place Shiratama Mochi balls to create a Peach flower shape on top of the Tsubu-an mount
3. Make Matcha and pour the frothed tea slowly into the bowl around the Tsubu-an.
4. Serve it hot with a spoon

If you prefer you can make this dessert with cold Matcha tea as well.

Bon Appetit! 😋