Mochi

Doneness

Done when the outside is puffed and lightly golden with a thin crisp shell, while the centre stays soft, chewy, and stretchy. There's no internal temperature to hit — go by a golden crisp surface. If you want even browning you can give the pieces one gentle turn near the end, but they don't need flipping.

Oil & seasoning

Light spray on all sides — a little oil gives the chewy mochi a thin, golden, crisp shell instead of a pale, dry surface.

Season with: Cinnamon-sugar: toss the warm mochi in cinnamon sugar straight out of the basket., Glazed: a vanilla or matcha glaze brushed on after cooling — the classic pon-de-ring mochi-donut finish., Ube glaze: a purple-yam glaze for the Filipino-Hawaiian mochi-donut flavour., Black sesame or kinako: dust with toasted black-sesame sugar or kinako (roasted soybean flour) for a nutty, Japanese finish..

Watch out for

• !Never air-fry mochi ice cream — the frozen ice-cream centre melts and bursts long before the dough shell can crisp. Only air-fry dough-style mochi (mochi donuts) or bakeable mochi batter.
• !Use glutinous / sweet rice flour (mochiko or shiratamako), not ordinary rice flour or wheat flour — the signature stretchy chew comes from glutinous-rice starch and won't happen otherwise.
• !Mochi dough is sticky and puffs as it cooks; spray lightly and leave space so pieces don't fuse together.
• !Don't overcook — past golden the chewy centre dries out and turns hard and tough rather than soft and stretchy.
• !The inside gets extremely hot and stretchy; let each piece cool a minute before biting so you don't burn your mouth.