Isobe Yaki Butter Shoyu Mochi Rice Cake

In Japan, winter is the season of “Mochi (餅)“, and in fact, I have often eaten the plain rice cake since around the beginning of December. Although Mochi is typically served in soup (e.g. O-Shiruko, O-Zoni), it is also used in simple dishes including Kinako Mochi and Oroshi Mochi. 

Recently, I sometimes read online articles about Mochi and the other day found one saying the rice cake pairs well with butter. In the article, there were several examples of how to enjoy Mochi with butter, in which Butter Shoyu Mochi was included.

As I wrote in this post, Japanese people tend to like the combination of butter, Shoyu or soy sauce, and rice, and Butter Shoyu Mochi is the Mochi version of Butter Shoyu Gohan.

Isobe Yaki Butter Shoyu Mochi 

Inspired by that online article, just now I tried making a Butter Shoyu version of “Isobe Yaki Mochi (磯部焼き餅)”. Isobe Yaki Mochi, also called “Isobe Maki Mochi (磯部巻き餅)”, is a traditional Japanese Mochi dish consisting of a baked piece of “Kiri-Mochi (切り餅, 切もち: Mochi that’s been cut into small rectangle pieces)” wrapped in a dry sheet of Nori seaweed.

The rice cake for Isobe Yaki Mochi is usually seasoned with soy sauce or Shoyu, but onto that today I additionally put a pat of butter. The Isobe Yaki Butter Shoyu Mochi was very delicious as I expected. The Nori is aromatic and the seasonings butter and soy sauce add an exquisite taste of savory saltiness and rich mildness to the rice cake.

Recipe

Are you curious about the taste? For people who will answer yes to this question, lastly, let me share the making process of the Japanese snack food Isobe Yaki Butter Shoyu Mochi with photos. 

Instructions 

Note that cooked Mochi rice cake is chewy, stretchy, and very sticky, so please be cautious not to choke on it.

1		Bake a piece of Kiri-Mochi in a toaster oven. For 4 to 5 minutes at 230°C (446°F), until it swells and bursts
2		Take the rice cake out from the oven. If there are big air bubbles left on the surface, break the bubbles by flattening them by hand
3		Place the toasted Mochi on a dry sheet of Nori and drizzle some soy sauce
4		Put a pat of butter on the seasoned rice cake
5		Melt the butter by the heat of the cooked Mochi and spread it over the surface of the rice cake
6		Wrap the Mochi rice cake in the seaweed sheet
7		And enjoy the Isobe Yaki Butter Shoyu Mochi!