So as you guys can probably tell

I'm in a different kitchen today

because I'm actually in LA for a short while.

While I'm here,

I figured I should try and make something for Rie.

A lot of you have been asking about it.

She's awesome.

She's made so many amazing recipes

and she challenged me to make these really cute seal mochis.

Mochi is a type of rice cake.

It can be sweet and savory.

This is what a normal mochi looks like.

It's chewy, this one has a sweet filling,

a red bean paste filling

which is what we're actually gonna be doing today.

Mochi on the outside and then red bean paste

with a strawberry on the inside

and then we're gonna try and shape it into a cute baby seal.

It looks relatively simple to make.

It's just a mochi and then you put little arms on it

and then you dot their faces.

Things can be deceptively simple.

There is still a possibility

that this could all go very wrong

but as always I'm gonna try my best

and make a cute seal mochi

that Rie will hopefully really like.

Yeah, so let's give this a shot.

I was looking at recipes online.

I found out that one of my favorite YouTubers, JunsKitchen,

has actually done this before.

So I'm basing my recipe off of his.

His videos are amazing.

I've watched all of them.

His cats are adorable.

So you should go check his channel out.

Recipe is really simple.

You only need a couple ingredients.

Sweet rice flour, mochi flour and then sugar.

Prepackaged red bean paste

which are also really, really good.

My mom usually makes the red bean paste from scratch.

We just don't have the time to do that today

and then we have potato starch.

You can use cornstarch just to keep it from being sticky.

Of course, there are the strawberries.

I bought the really fancy kind.

It's for Rie.

It has to be high quality.

Making it fancy as Rie says.

What is that thing she does?

Make it fancy.

Make it, make it.

This will be the star of today.

Now let's get started making the mochi first.

Making the dough is pretty much just sweet rice flour,

sugar and water.

The mochi flour, we need about 100 grams.

100, yay.

Two tablespoons of sugar.

Stir that together and now is when we add the water.

Slowly combine this until it forms a paste

until hopefully there are no lumps left.

Do you hear the little plops?

I think that is well combined.

So this is kind of the texture we're looking at.

What we're gonna do is to actually pop it in the microwave

for one minute intervals until it becomes super sticky.

Put plastic wrap on it and put it in the microwave.

One minute.

Now we wait.

Ah, okay, it's done.

This still might need some time.

I'm just gonna look at it right now.

It's not quite there yet.

It's in solid clumps.

Definitely needs more time.

It is becoming more solid though which is good.

Hot.

Hot, hot, hot, hot.

Oh boy.

Okay, guys, we're getting that goopy texture now.

Wow, this is so goopy, I love it.

Nice.

So far so good.

Put some potato starch onto the cutting board.

Whoa.

That was cool.

Cover that up.

I feel like this might be too soft and ow, it's hot.

I'm just going to knead this a little bit

to give it some shape.

It's really hot.

This is what I have so far.

It's a little bit jiggly which means it'll taste great

but it's a little too soft right now for me to shape

so let's try that again.

This is what we have now.

This batch looks slightly more solid.

I put a little less water.

Looks like it can hold a shape.

That looks like a giant mochi.

Okay, not giant, a medium sized mochi.

I think we're on the right track here.

I'm gonna set that aside.

Mochi dough is ready.

Now we're gonna cut the strawberries

and get the red bean paste ready to go.

Open this.

Smells so good.

I'm just gonna mush this a little bit

'cause it's still in bean form.

Strawberries.

I am going to wash these really quick.

This box of strawberries was actually $13.

When I said fancy strawberries, I meant it.

So I'm just gonna cut the top off.

I'm gonna try and wrap the whole strawberry in there.

It's just much more indulgent and if I can't

then we'll half it.

This is the red bean paste.

I'm just trying to crush it, make it more into a paste.

Right now it's still very beany.

Smush it kinda like mashed potatoes.

Smush, smush, smush, smush.

Don't be like me, guys.

Buy the paste, don't buy the beans

but if you want an arm workout, this is perfect.

That's pasty.

The red bean paste is now actually red bean paste.

So that's good.

What I'm gonna do now is roll out the mochi dough

so we can cut them into little pieces.

Okay and let's roll that out.

Oh no, it's sticking.

I don't even know really how thin.

It just needs to be big enough

to wrap around the strawberry and the paste.

I'm just winging this, people.

I am just winging this.

Let's just experiment with one first.

No, don't stick, oh no.

No, it's all sticking.

This is a lot trickier than I anticipated.

Oh dear.

Oh dear.

All right, let's try that again.

Guys, this piece looks manageable.

That's a square.

I'm gonna get a strawberry.

Wrap the red bean paste around it

surrounding the strawberry like that.

Try to put it in there and wrap it around it.

Might have been a little too thin.

You can definitely see the strawberry and the red bean

and it definitely doesn't have a pretty shape.

I don't even know what this looks like.

I think what I need to do is be a little less ambitious.

So I'm gonna cut the strawberry in half now.

I'll taste it though.

Mm, it tastes good.

It looks good though from the inside.

I need it to look good on the outside too

so let's try that again.

Stretch this out.

Oh, there we go.

So this one looks a little bit better.

How do I make this into a seal now?

It needs flippers and a tail.

Trying to squeeze a little tail out

and then if we get the eyes and then the nose here maybe

I just cut this.

So that's the tail.

This is what we have so far.

It's a little bit janky

but you can see the beginnings of it, right?