East Meets West: Kirimochi with Confiture de Lait

What do you think of when I say mochi?  I bet those little mounds full of ice cream with rice cake wrapper pop up to mind.  For me, mochi (or nian gao in Chinese) is so much more.  I discovered these Japanese dry mochi, kirimochi, a few years ago in college and I used to love eating it nicely toasted and puffy with a drizzle of maple syrup.

I had picked up a pack of the kirimochi at a Japanese deli on Sunday and just this morning, I stumbled across a jar of Fauchon’s confiture de lait that I had bought back in shamelessly large quantities over Christmas in Paris.  What a strangely interesting combination, I thought poking my head around the fridge after dinner and landing on the confiture, the French equivalent to dulce de leche.

I tossed two mochi pieces onto a nonstick pan on the stove top for a few minutes at high heat.  After both sides were toasted, the mochi puffed and that was when I knew they were ready.

Just enough of the confiture de lait to coat the hot mochi on one side and they were ready to be eaten.  I didn’t bother with fork and knife, going with my fingers instead.  The toasted mochi had developed a crisp crust that yielded to a soft and chewy inside and the confiture gave it just a hint of sweetness.  Sometimes, it’s the strange and unusual combinations that make one deliciously satisfying snack.