Mochi rice cake + waffle = Moffle?
Japanese mochi [餅], glutinous white rice pounded into rice cakes, is one of the more deadlier[1], ubiquious bland foods of Japan.
Finally the Japanese have come up with a way to make mochi more edible: Moffles!
Trend: Moffles
CScout TrendBlog, by Rebecca Milner on March 15, 2008–Japan takes fusion snack food to another level….the latest food craze! Sweet or savory, the moffle is a waffle made from traditional Japanese mochi rice cakes…more…
UPDATE:It seems that Reuters reads Japanese blogs now…
Stop waffling: Japan invents the moffle
Reuters —Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:33pm EDT
TOKYO (Reuters Life!) - Japanese pastry connoisseurs and technology fans have found a new obsession: the “moffle”, a cross-over between a waffle and Japan’s traditional “mochi” rice cake.
Made by toasting a rectangular slab of “mochi” paste in a Belgian waffle maker or a special moffle machine, the moffle is served as a dessert with ice-cream or chocolate sauce, or as a savory snack with cheese, ham or cod roe.
[…big snip…]
Mochi, mostly sold as soft, round little cakes, are among Japan’s most popular sweets, although every year there are reports of elderly people choking on the chewy, sticky mass.
Since I have my own Rice Ranch here in Japan, I am forced to find uses for mochi leftover from New Years. Not knowing this was now “trendy”, this year I tried cramming some mochi rice cakes into my electric waffle maker.
My moffles weren’t bad and somehow they seemed less bland than regular methods of mochi munching.
The Moffle [モッフル] maker available via Amazon.co.jp.
1. From Wikipedia:
Mochi is very sticky and somewhat tricky to eat. Every new year, the Japanese media reprts how many people die from choking on mochi, usually elderly. Because it is so sticky, it is difficult to dislodge via the Heimlich maneuver and lifesaving experts say that a vacuum cleaner is efficient for stuck mochi.
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March 21st, 2008 at 11:32 am
UPDATE:It seems that Reuters reads the 3Yen!