Ai mochi, or as it's more popularly known nowadays, green dumplings, are actually the same thing. Mochi is green in color, soft and sticky, inside, whether it is bean paste filling, sesame peanut filling, or the popular salted egg yolk meat floss filling, are very delicious.

Mugwort is a treasure, especially good for women's health, and it is recommended to eat mochi. Normal handmade mochi is a little dark, especially with fresh moxa, now some businesses in order to look good color to add other additives, so it looks very bright. So how do you keep mochi bright green when you make it at home? Below I talk about the key issues to keep mochi green to prevent it from turning black:

1, mugwort leaves choose young leaves

The fresher and more tender the leaves of the mugwort, the better, take off the old leaves and dead leaves. The amount of mugwort will also affect whether the color is green or not, if the mugwort is too little, the whole green dough will look yellowish grey and unattractive.

2, cooking mugwort put edible alkali, the color is more bright green

It is really a very critical step. Cooking mugwort, put about 2g of edible soda (baking soda), which can make the color of mugwort more bright green.

3, do not use iron pot, reduce oxidation, control the time

1) iron pot to cook mugwort easy to turn black, try not to use iron pot, and cooking without the need to cover the lid;

2) water boiling into the washed mugwort, make sure that each leaf can be scalded, and those who are not scalded by the boiling water, the leaves will be darker in color, and will undergo serious oxidation and blackening.

3) In the past, many people who did not have a blender at home would cook the mugwort for a longer period of time in order to let it rot a little bit, and it would come out darker in color or even blackened. Make sure the leaves have softened and can be fished out in about 1 minute, you can stir the cooked mugwort with the help of a blender, meat grinder or other tools.

4, over cool water more stable

Cooked and fished out of the mugwort, it is best to over cool water, which can keep the leaves more stable. I did not do this step last time I was lazy, and I feel that it would be more perfect if I did.

5, steamed and brush oil, isolation oxidation

A mochi just steamed, immediately brush a thin layer of corn oil (corn oil is recommended, because there is no taste). Brush the oil mochi, on the one hand, can lock the color, isolate and air contact, reduce oxidation; on the other hand, after brushing the oil and so on after the cooling is not so sticky hands.

6, mochi should not be left for a long time

When mochi is first made, the color will be very bright. However, when left for a long time, it will easily come into contact with the air and the color will become darker, even black. So eat it as soon as possible, and if you can't finish it, wrap it in a plastic bag and store it in the refrigerator. When you eat it again later, steam it again. This will prevent it from drying out and hardening as it cools, and it won't discolor or darken.

For the following mochi (green dumplings), I used peanut dumplings for the filling. Because there was no time to prepare the filling. It came out very tasty too.