Japanese zunda mochi dessert is made with sweet edamame paste
In Japan’s Tohoku region, zunda mochi is traditionally prepared—a dessert made from sweet edamame paste that coats dumplings made with shiratama flour. The dish originates from the city of Sendai in northeastern Japan, The Japan Times reports.
Edamame are green immature soybeans. They are most often boiled in their pods and served with salt as a light snack. For zunda mochi, the shelled beans are puréed, mixed with sugar and a small amount of water, then heated over low heat until the sugar dissolves and the paste becomes glossy.
The legend of the name
One common version links the dessert’s emergence to the one-eyed warlord Date Masamune of the Sengoku period, which the article dates to 1482–1573. According to legend, he mashed edamame with the hilt of his jintachi sword, intended for combat. It is believed that the word “jintachi” may later have transformed into “zunda,” the name for crushed edamame beans. The publication notes that this story is likely apocryphal.
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How to make zunda mochi
For four servings, 300–400 grams of edamame in pods are needed, yielding about 150 grams of beans after shelling, as well as one teaspoon of salt, three tablespoons of white sugar, and one tablespoon of water. The beans are boiled in salted water for 15 minutes, cooled, removed from the pods, and peeled of their thin skin. They are then ground in a blender, food processor, or mortar.
For the dumplings, use 200 grams of shiratama flour and 180 milliliters of water. The ingredients are mixed into a soft dough, shaped into small dumplings with an indentation in the middle, and dropped into boiling water in batches. They are boiled for one minute, removed with a slotted spoon after floating to the surface, cooled in ice water, and dried. The finished dumplings are served coated with edamame paste.
