Ohagi

XXXHolic by Clamp was one of my first anime when I got back into the genre in my early 20’s. It appealed to me for many reasons, but a few of the biggest were its unique art style, the characters, and the story. I love paranormal shows, and ones that deal with spirits and mythology have always appealed to me. Holic centers around a young man in his teens named Watanuki. We find out very early on in the story that he can see spirits. One afternoon on his way back from school he is being terrorized by a spirit that is following him, when he comes upon a shop and the spirit mysteriously vanishes. The shop is owned by Yuuko, one of the other main characters. She is a witch of sorts, and knows how to deal with pretty much any paranormal issue. She believes in fate, and that everything happens for a reason. One phrase that is repeated often throughout the series is that there is no such thing as coincident, only fate.

Yuuko takes Watanuki on as her apprentice and shop staff, and from there we meet many characters and see many strange events happen. One of the other main characters whom we meet pretty early on is Doumeki. He is a classmate of Watanuki’s whom Watanuki very vocally dislikes (at least at the beginning of the series). Doumeki is a stoic young man who is popular with the girls (although he doesn’t really do anything to encourage their attention), is good at sports, and lives at a temple where his grandfather used to be the head priest. He is helpful to Watanuki because when Watanuki gets into trouble because of his ability to see spirits, Doumeki is able to neutralize the spirit. His grandfather was a powerful priest, able to exorcise evil and lingering spirits, and Doumeki has inherited some of his abilities.

Despite the bickering that goes back and forth between Doumeki and Watanuki they become friends and allies throughout the series. Watanuki often makes Doumeki lunch because of the many times Doumeki has saved him. Yuuko also has Watanuki cook food for her every day as part of his job. Despite his griping you can tell Watanuki enjoys making food for his friends, and often goes above and beyond to create delicious meals for them.

In one episode they are celebrating Obon, a holiday in Japan that honors ones relatives who have passed away. Watanuki makes Ohagi, which is a type of Mochi. Instead of the rice mixture being on the outside, the rice is on the inside of a thin layer of red bean paste.

I have always wanted to try this recipe for myself, and was pleased with the results. It is a very easy snack to make once you have the parts assembled. I had made red bean paste for a different recipe on my blog and had it stored in the freezer, so I didn’t have to prepare more. The rice took about 10 minutes to make, so this snack came together pretty quickly. The only thing that made this recipe take longer to make was the fact that each one had to be hand molded to form, and the recipe made more than I expected, so I was at it for a while.

I would say that if this is a recipe you just want to try for yourself and aren’t planning on serving it to a number of people, you should halve the recipe.

Because I have never made this recipe before, and it is already a vegan recipe I just followed a recipe I found on Youtube. I made the red bean paste that I previously featured on the Taiyaki recipe, but if you don’t want to take that step you can buy it at pretty much any Asian grocery store.

You can try the recipe for the Ohagi yourself by watching the video on Youtube. It is on a channel called TabiEats, and was very quick and easy to follow. The video itself is pretty cute because it is a mother and son duo making it. I recommend watching it if you have the time and want to make the recipe yourself. Because it is their recipe I didn’t want to copy it down word for word, but you can continue reading to see the steps I took to make this recipe.

Ohagi

You will need Sweet Rice aka Mochi Rice for this recipe.

Smooth Red Bean Paste

Plastic wrap for flattening the bean paste and forming the paste and rice into a ball.

Cooked Sweet Rice and Red Bean Paste all set to start!

After putting a small tablespoon of rice in the middle of the flattened bean paste take the two ends of the mix on the right and left side of your palm and lightly pinch them together. Using the plastic wrap, close up the other sides and form into a ball. They kind of resemble dumplings at this point. It is ok if you can see a bit of rice in the seam after you unwrap and remove the plastic. I just placed each ball seam side down on the plate, and then you don’t even see it.

I saw in other recipes that some people put crushed walnuts on the outside of some of their Ohagi, but I just went with the traditional basic style. Try out the walnuts if you like them and want to have some variation! Let me know if you like either more than the other.

They are not the most beautiful treats, but they have a nice lightly sweet flavor, and if you like traditional Japanese snacks you will probably like these. I encourage you to try the recipe out for yourself. I will be enjoying these as a light sweet snack for the next few days, and I hope you enjoy them too if you try them out!

If you are interested in checking out XXXHolic you can watch it on Funimation’s website, and you can buy the manga translated into English to see more of the story (the anime doesn’t show all of the story arcs). You can buy the manga at any large bookstore (I’ve seen it at Barnes & Noble) or online at Amazon or Rightstuf (or your favorite anime/manga retailer). I hope you enjoy this show! It’s still one of my favorites after all these years.