Pressed Rice Flour Sweets (落雁, Rakugan)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wooden kashigata confection mold, or a small silicone candy mold
• •Fine sieve
• •Coarse sieve
• •Wide mixing bowl
• •Straight edge or bench scraper
• •Parchment-lined tray

Instructions

1. 1

   Sift the dry base

   Sift the rakugan-ko and sugar together into a wide bowl, then add the salt. Sifting is not fussiness here. Dry sweets show every lump, and a lump of sugar makes a hard spot where the sweet should melt evenly on the tongue.

2. 2

   Make the syrup

   Stir the mizuame into the water until smooth. If you are using color, tint the syrup very lightly now. The color spreads more evenly through liquid than through flour, and rakugan should suggest the season, not shout it across the room.

3. 3

   Moisten the flour

   Drizzle the syrup over the flour mixture a little at a time, rubbing with your fingertips as you go. Stop before it looks wet. The mixture should feel like damp sand: it holds a clear shape when squeezed in your fist, but breaks apart when you rub it between your fingers.

   This moisture is the whole dish. Add water by the half teaspoon only if the mixture will not hold together. Once it is too wet, the molded edges blur and no amount of pressing will give them back.
4. 4

   Rest and resift

   Cover the bowl with a cloth and let the mixture rest for 10 minutes, then press it through a coarse sieve with your hand. The rest lets moisture travel through the flour. The second sifting breaks up damp clumps so the mold fills sharply.

5. 5

   Dust the mold

   Dust a wooden kashigata mold lightly with rakugan-ko, then tap out every excess speck. A little flour helps release the sweet. Too much dulls the pattern, and rakugan depends on that clean relief.

6. 6

   Press firmly

   Pack the mixture into the mold in small pinches, pressing each addition firmly into the corners before adding more. Scrape the back level with a straight edge. Firm pressure is what makes the sweet hold together without needing more water.

7. 7

   Unmold gently

   Turn the mold over and tap it once or twice against your palm or a folded towel. Let the rakugan drop by its own weight. Pulling at it bruises the edges, and those edges are the whole pleasure of a molded sweet.

8. 8

   Dry overnight

   Set the rakugan on a parchment-lined tray and leave them uncovered in a dry, airy place for 8 to 12 hours. They should feel dry on the surface but not stone-hard. Store them in an airtight tin once dry, with parchment between layers.

Chef Tips

• •Use rakugan-ko or kanbaiko if you can find it. Plain raw rice flour tastes chalky here, because there is no cooking step to soften it. The roasted flour is the flavor and the texture, not a decoration.
• •Wasanbon is the honmono sugar for very fine tea sweets: pale, soft, and quick to melt. Powdered sugar is a sensible stand-in for learning the method, but it will taste flatter and a little heavier.
• •If you don't own a wooden kashigata mold, use a small silicone candy mold or a clean mooncake press with simple shapes. It will make a pressed sweet, but the old wooden mold gives the dry, clean edge we want.
• •Make fewer colors than you think. One pale pink plum blossom and one white chrysanthemum look calmer than a whole tray trying to become a festival.

Advance Preparation

• •Rakugan is made for advance preparation. Dry the sweets overnight, then store them airtight for up to 2 weeks in a cool, dry place.
• •Do not refrigerate them. Moisture is the enemy here, and the refrigerator softens the surface and blurs the molded detail.
• •If your kitchen is humid, dry the sweets near a fan on its lowest setting, not in heat. Gentle moving air preserves the clean edges.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 10g)