Making Rice Cakes (Omochi) in a modern way

　　(Image from http://illpop.com/season_a1203.htm)

(It looks as if he is hitting the partners head.)

Unlike the Japanese traditional way of making raise cake (above), my parents have made rice cake, at least in part, using an electric rice cake-maker, considering that the traditional way needs much labor causing sever arm and back pain and it has some risk to smash the partners hands. Also in this winter, we used the machine, which is already over 40 years old but still working perfectly (proving how good job did a Japanese electric manufacturer in those years and how good was my father's maintenance). This was the best we, 79 and 50 years old guys, could do with a help of wives and a young but beginner.

1. Wash and immerse the rice of an amylopectin-rich strain (sticky rice or Mochigome in Japanese) in a water overnight to swell. (Thanks Mayumi san!)
2. Collect the rice on a colander to drain excess water for an hour or two.
3. Pour the drained rice in a pot of the machine, supplied with a half liter of water, and start to steam in the machine. It will automatically stop by timer setting (45-60 min).
   
   
4. Turn the machine switch to "pounding mode" and run the machine to make them into a dough for several minutes.
   
   
5. Collect the dough (very hot!) on a wooden plate covered by a dry rice powder, which prevents dough from sticking to the plate.
   
   
6. In this case, the dough is made into a sheet of 1.5-2 cm thickness using a rolling pin, and let it settled and harden for a few hours. (If you would like to make round race cakes or the one stuffed with black bean jam, you need take a bit of dough off by hands and shape it, while the dough is hot and soft. In my home town region, we prefer rectangular cakes.)
   
   
7. Cut the sheet into small blocks, and store in cold for several days, or frozen for longer term. They easily get moldy.
   

Would you like to know how the machine works? Mmm, I do not know exactly the mechanism. The chamber only has such a spinning blade (Teflon coated, ~6 cm diameter). You understand?