MOCHI DONUTS | Matcha & Sweet Potato

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sweet sticky rice flour (mochiko)
  • 1/4 c of this will be used in starter dough
• 1/2 cup milk
  • + 2 tbsp milk for starter dough
• 3 tbsp melted butter
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2-1 tbsp matcha green tea powder
• 1 small purple Okinawan sweet potato

 

Instructions:

1. To make the starter dough: Mix together 2 tbsp of milk and 1/4 cup of rice flour and microwave it for 30-45 seconds until it becomes slightly opaque. While researching how to make a basic mochi dough for this recipe, I came across several recipes that suggested to use a starter dough to act like the “gluten” that allows the dough to be elastic. 
2. Combine the rest of the rice flour (1 3/4 cups), milk, butter, sugar, egg, and baking powder and mix until thoroughly incorporated. Add the starter dough and knead. If you have a mixer, use the dough hook to knead the mixture until you reach a soft, formed dough.
3. If you plan to make plain doughnuts, roll the dough out flat and use round cutters to make desired doughnut shapes, or as I did in the video, divide into logs and manually form the doughnut shapes.
4. To make different flavors, divide the dough accordingly.
   1. Matcha Flavor: Knead in 1/2 to 1 tbsp matcha green tea powder to a portion of the dough until combined.
   2. Sweet Potato: Mash sweet potato, add splash of milk and knead in portion of dough until combined.
5. Canola oil or any vegetable oil. If you use a wide pan like I did, the oil should be about 1 inch. The smaller the pan, the less oil you need to heat up. So if you’re making a small batch, use a smaller pan instead. Fry the doughnuts and enjoy!