From Alice

• 200 g joshin-ko (rice flour)
• 30 g mochi-ko (mochi rice flour)
• 20 g granulated white sugar
• 320 ml tap-hot water

Sauce

• 1 ⅓ Tablespoons Maggi (or soy sauce)
• 50 g granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon sake
• 60 ml water
• 1 Tablespoon katakuri-ko (potato starch)
• 1 tablespoon water

Directions:

Combine sauce ingredients (except katakuri ko) in a saucepan. Heat. Add katakuri-ko to 1 tablespoon of water. Add katakuri-ko mixture to sauce. Remove from heat as soon as the katakuri-ko is mixed in. Set aside.

Mix dry ingredients in a glass bowl. Add water a bit at a time, while stirring. Mix thoroughly.
Put into a microwave at 600 watts for 2 minutes. On our microwave (1500 watts) this is setting 4 of 10.

Mix with a wooden spoon as best you can. Repeat until it is so stiff that you can cut it with a knife and it stays in place. You should start microwaving it 1 minute at a time as you get close to this point. It will be a little bouncy/springy.

Wrap in a cool, damp cloth and knead for 2-3 minutes. Rinse your hands often in cool water – the dough is very hot.

Split into 6 parts. Roll each into a 16 cm long sausage. Keep wetting your hands so they don’t stick to the dough. Cut each roll into 8 equal pieces. (“Marume naosu hitsuyou wa nai” – you don’t have to make sure they are all perfectly round. How nice.)

Skewer 4 onto each skewer and roast. “Kirei ni yakeru” – roast until they look pretty.

We roasted them on the oiled rack from a toaster oven positioned over a stovetop burner set on high.

This is very much like roasting marshmallows – you want a nice crusty (though not completely browned) layer on the outside.

Set on a plate, drizzle with sauce. Eat as soon as they’re not too hot for your tongue.