Ichigo Daifuku - Japanese Sweet bean and Strawberry ball

I used to eat these almost every day when it was Strawberry season.
I finally got around to trying to make my own...
Step one was making sweet bean paste. I boiled dry white beans with sugar until they were tender, then pureed them with a bit of the water in the food processor.


The next step was to prepare the strawberries.
I washed and trimmed them, and then molded a layer of the cooled bean paste around them, leaving the base exposed.


The next step was combining the rice flour, sugar and water and microwaving it briefly (2 minutes, stir, 1 minute, stir)





Then I divided it into 8 pieces and rolled it (on a floured cutting board) into round discs about the size of a saucer. After they were rolled, I picked up a bean-coated strawberry and wrapped the flattened dough disk around the berry, pinching the dough together at the bottom to close the bundle. Mmmm...


A brief dusting of cornstarch and they're ready to go. I ate 3 (they were ugly and crackly) and brought 5 to work to share.
Next time: Don't let the dough sit for more than a minute or two in the open. A dry skin forms on it and it's tough to get it silky again.
Actually, there might not be a next time...at least not for awhile. This may turn into a yearly strawberry season once-off.