Living in a small developing country in South America, where trends are a bit late in comparison to more developed countries, and such is the case with the "trend" of everything related to mochis, that's also known as rice cakes. Rice cakes have of course been around for centuries, but it's because of social media (mainly YouTube) that I've come to know this snack and every time when a YouTuber was tasting this I wondered "when will I get the chance to taste this food candy?"
That time came sooner than I thought; especially how traveling is out of the question at the moment; and in an unexpected way. We were at an aunts' birthday and I overheard some of the guests mentioning having mochi at another event and I thought to myself "oh yes! Mochi has finally reached Suriname! 😁" And to my surprise, at the end of the evening @rarej's mother asked if I wanted to take some Oreo filled mochi home with me and she didn't have to ask me twice and we went home with four of those balls. Oreo filled mochi isn't very traditional, I know, but it may be a good introduction into the more classical/traditional rice cakes.
As we had enough snacks and food at home, it took a while before I touched the mochi though and because it was my first time trying it out I didn't know if it was still any good and didn't know how I should eat it coming out of the fridge. I did some online searching and I read that mochi could be "warmed up" in a microwave or even be steamed again in a pot, but I wasn't sure if that applied to Oreo filled rice cakes, so I just ate them as is. I was a bit hesitant, because it's new, but I quite enjoyed the filling. The outer shell of rice was a bit hard (don't know if that's how the texture should be), but it was a "normal" flavor as rice is a staple in this region. All in all, I enjoyed the rice cakes with the nice creamy Oreo filling and would recommend others to try it out.
Having experienced mochi for the very first time, I'm now wondering what those more traditional fillings taste like, such as the red or white bean paste or the Sakura filled ones. And do tell; if you're a mochi connoisseur; should I have warmed up or steamed those rice cakes before eating those? Love to learn more about this delicious Asian snack.
