Japanese Sweets

Japanese Sweets are not so sweet. The traditional kinds are made from rice flour and are often filled with bean paste. Wagashi are the best known ones. Master patisserie's form flowers and fruits out of the rice dough. They look too impressive to eat.

I bought a small tray of three Matcha Mochi filled with chocolate - this balances out the bitter taste of the green tea.

The 3 balls on the stick are called Dango.  They are made from rice flour too, but different kind. One was filled with roasted soy bean flour, it tastes a bit like peanut butter. The other two were filled with Anko, azuki bean paste. This are small red beans, they were cooked and later mashed and mixed with sugar.

I sometimes make this at home. The beans are sold as dry goods at our health food store.