Vegan Bunny Elle

Why eat one big pumpkin when you can turn it into many mini pumpkins~ The treat of the season – chewy, soft, bouncy, pillowy pumpkin mochi bites glazed with a rich, sweet, and spicy gochujang sauce.

Did you know you can cook a whole pumpkin by simply microwaving it?! I only recently tried this method and wow it proved to be the easiest and quickest way to cook an entire pumpkin I’ve tried to date! Just stab the pumpkin a few times to create some venting slits then into the microwave it goes, minutes later you’ll have a perfectly cooked pumpkin that’s buttery soft and so easy to peel.

Once you have your hot, steamy, freshly mashed pumpkin, add a little glutinous flour and we can turn one big pumpkin into many mini pumpkins~ For the stem part, use hot water and a little match powder. You can also use any leftover pumpkin or even canned pumpkin puree, just make sure to heat it up first as the hot liquid is key for the the glutinous rice dough to form properly.

You can eat these mochi bites just as is, they’re hearty and subtly sweet from the pumpkin. Or, up the flavor even more by making a glazing sauce! I did a sweet and spicy gochujang sauce since I love a sweet and savory combo. If you’d like to keep the dish sweet you can pair the little pumpkins with a caramel sauce, sweetened condensed coconut milk, or simple maple syrup etc.

Mini Pumpkin Mochi Bites

Turn your one big pumpkin into many chewy, bouncy, flavorful little mini pumpkins~

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients Method Video

Ingredients

  

For the pumpkin part-

• 120 g mashed pumpkin hot
• 120 g glutinous rice flour

For the green stem –

• 1 tablespoon glutinous rice flour
• 1/2 teaspoon matcha
• 1 tablespoon hot water

For the Gochujang glaze –

• 2 garlic clove minced
• 1 tablespoon gochujang paste
• 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon coconut amino
• 1-2 tablespoon water
• Cooking oil

Method

 

1. Wash then stab your pie pumpkin a few times to create venting slits, microwave on high for 3 minutes at a time, check the cook and add more time until the pumpkin is fork tender. The total time depends on your microwave and the size of your pumpkin, I used a smallish pie pumpkin and it took 5-6 minutes;
2. Measure out 120 hot steamy pumpkin flesh, mash till smooth, then add the glutinous rice flour, bring together and knead to form a dough;
3. Please note that different brands of glutinous rice flour have different levels of “moisture” in them, so adjust the amount of flour and pumpkin puree accordingly, you wanna form a dough that’s soft but not sticky;
4. Bring together the ingredients for the green stem part and form another dough;
5. Take about 25 grams of pumpkin dough, or your preferred size, roll into a ball;
6. Use a cotton string to create the creases to look like pumpkins, watch the video for visual instruction;
7. Take a small piece of the matcha dough and pinch with your thumb and index finger to shape it into a stem, moisten the bottom of the stem and attach it to the top of the pumpkin ball, using a toothpick or skewer to prick around the stem base onto the pumpkin to secure it;
8. Repeat till you use up all the dough;
9. Bring a large pot of water to boil, gently drop the pumpkin balls into the water one by one, don’t. over crowd the pot;
10. Boil until they float to the surface, then let them cook for one minute after that;
11. Remove the cooked pumpkin mochi and drop them immediately into an ice water bath;
12. Meanwhile, make the glaze, fry off the garlic with a drizzle of cooking oil till aromatic, about 2 minutes;
13. Then add gochujang paste, soy sauce, and coconut amino, stir to make sure the gochujang is fully dissolved;
14. Add the water and bring to a gentle simmer, let the sauce reduce to your preferred thickness;
15. Serve the pumpkin mochi with the sauce on the side or drizzle the sauce on top, enjoy!

Video