Mochi donut, well known as Pon-de-ring, is a delicious mochi-meets-donut Japanese hybrid sweet. You can even buy mochi donuts, “Pon de Ring” from Mister Donut now. Actually they just released their new donuts with actual mochi inside which has made Japanese people go crazy. I am in Australia now and miss these donuts so much. The good news is that we can make them with easily obtained ingredients!
What is a Mochi Donut?
Mochi donut is a delicious hybrid of mochi and donuts. It’s like the two joined forces to create the ultimate tasty treat. The flavour is just like a regular fried donut with a sweet sugar or strawberry glaze or any other topping you desire. The special part is the texture of the donut; it has a crisp outside with a bouncy, slightly chewy, soft mochi-like inside. But don’t be mistaken, mochi-donuts are not just fried mochi (if you do that, it’ll just be a rice cracker!).
Ingredients Required
To get the chewy, bounchy mochi texture, you will need:
- Tapioca starch
- All-purpose (plain) flour
- Katakuriko (potato starch)
- Baking powder
- Sugar
- Salt
- Unsalted butter
- Egg
- Firm tofu
Why Use Tapioca Starch?
Many mochi donut recipes call for mochiko flour (mochi rice flour); however, I wanted to replicate the texture of Mister Donut as closely as possible and actually Mister Donut uses tapioca starch. Mister Donut’s batter is runny and placed into deep-frying oil by a machine to create the shape of the donuts. Most of us can not make a mochi donut like that, so the best way for us to mimic their donuts is to use tapioca starch which can hold the shape of the donuts.
Are tapioca starch and tapioca flour the same? These are generally the same thing but to be sure, I specifically used Bob’s Red Mill brand as they state that their tapioca flour is the same thing as tapioca starch. Tapioca starch/flour is made from the crushed pulp of the cassava root plant. However, cassava flour uses the whole root of the plant whereas tapioca flour only uses the pulp. So cassava flour can not be used in this recipe.
How To Make a Mochi Donut?
1.Gather ingredients
2. Make the Mochi donut dough – Place all mochi donuts ingredients except tofu in a large mixing bowl and combine them with a wooden spatula. Then add tofu a little bit at a time to check the consistency of the dough. Aim to make the dough firmness as same as your earlobe. The water content of tofu differs from tofu to tofu. So you may not need all the tofu as I used or you may need more.
3. Shape the mochi donuts Prepare parchment paper cut into eight (10 x 10cm) squares. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions. Then divide each ball also into 8 smaller balls. Place the 8 balls neatly so they are just touching each other balls onto the parchment paper. See photo 10.
4. Deep fry Heat vegetable oil in a deep frying pan to (160-170°C). Deep fry the mochi donuts one by one or two at a time – 2 minutes on each side.
5. Glaze the donuts Mix glaze ingredients and dip the mochi donuts one by one to glaze the top of the donut.
Tips To Shape Mochi Donut Perfectly
- The original Pon de Ring from Mister Donut uses 8 mini balls to form the ring. The best way is to cut pieces of parchment paper which makes it easier to form the cute shape and keep the form when frying. Fold the parchment paper as shown in the picture. This will give you a clear guideline of where to place the donut balls to make them a perfect shape every time.
- If the dough is too sticky, wet your hand with water when you handle the dough to avoid it sticking to your hands.
- Deep fry the donuts in 300-320°F (150-160°C) oil for 2 minutes each side.
Shelf Life & How To Store?
It’s best to eat mochi donuts when they are freshly made. Since these donuts are fried, they tend to oxidise and lose their flavour over time. However, you can store them in the freezer if need be. Although, when you defrost them, the texture will not be the same so I would not recommend this. As with regular donuts, these are best to eat within a couple hours of making them so that you can truly enjoy how delicious they are.
What To Have With & Other Mochi Recipes
Try Hojicha and Matcha Latte with Mochi Donuts. Also check the following Japanese mochi sweets.
FAQ
No. This recipe uses all-purpose flour and is therefore not gluten-free. You can try to use rice flour instead, however, I do not know if the results will be the same.
No, as this recipe uses egg, it is not vegan. However, the amount of egg used is very small, so you can take it out and add more tofu until you get the correct consistency (it should feel soft like an ear lobe).
No this recipe is not dairy free as I used butter.
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Recipe Measurement Notes
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Mochi Donut “Pon-de-ring”
Ingredients
Mochi Donuts
- 100 g All purpose flour (1/2 cup)
- 80 g Tapioca starch (10 tbsp) *1
- 20 g Katakuriko (Potato Starch) (2 tbsp)
- 2 g baking powder (1/2 tsp) *2
- 40 g sugar (3 tbsp)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 20 g beaten egg (4 tsp)
- 10 g melted butter (5 tsp)
- 160 g Tofu *3
Strawberry Graze
- 60 g Icing sugar (1/4 cup)
- 1 strawberry
Milk Graze
- 60 g Icing sugar (1/4 cup)
- 2 tbsp milk *4
Instructions
Mochi Donuts
- Place all ingredients except tofu and stir to mix with a wooden spatula.
- Add tofu by crumbling tofu with your hand. Add a little bit at a time to check the firmness of the dough. Make the dough firmness similar to your ear lobe.
- Roll the dough into a large ball.
- Divide it into 8 equal size smaller balls. *5
- Roll the small ball into a long cylinder and cut into 8 equal size pieces.
- Shape the pieces into neat round balls and place them onto a parchment paper in the shape of a ring. Place 4 onto the cross lines, then place 4 in between. Each balls should be just touching. *6
- Do same for the remainder of the dough.
- Heat oil in deep frying pan to 300-320°F (150-160°C). *7
- Place a mochi donut dough on the parchment paper on a egg flipper and slide the dough into the oil with the parchment paper underneath.
- Deep fry one side for about 2 min, flip it carefully with the egg flipper and fry the other side for a further 2 min.
- Take the mochi donut out of the oil and put it onto a kitchen paper lined tray.
- Deep fry the same way for the rest of the mochi donut dough.
- While mochi donuts are still warm, dip them into the glaze.
Strawberry Glaze
- Place icing sugar in a ball and mix with squashed strawberry.
Milk Glaze
- Place icing sugar in a ball and mix with the milk.
Video
Notes
.
*2 Too much baking powder will cause cracks.
*3 Every tofu has different water consistency. Add a little bit at a time to see the dough texture. Dough texture should be similar to your ear lobe firmness.
*4 I used oat milk.
*5 The instruction photo indicating 4 equal size, because I made half for photos, and half for the video.
*6 Because each ball will expand when they are heated. If they are too close to each other, it will lose the cute ring of balls. If the dough is too sticky, wet your hand with water to shape.
*7 Oil that is too hot will cause cracks in the donuts.
Nutrition
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Hi! Thank you for sharing your recipe. If i wanted the batter to be more runny like you mentioned Mr donut, what ingredient would i change to do so? I actually have a machine and i tried your original recipe but it was too thick. Thank you in advance!
Hi Kimberly, I would think that you need to either use less dry ingredients or more wet ingredients though it will be completely different recipe.Lucky you have a machine 😀
I only have soft tofu. Will it work?
Hi Jdub, yes.
Hi Shihoko!
I just wanted to say that I love your website – I’ve tried several of your dishes now and all the recipes were huge hits with me and my family! Thank you so much for everything!
Quick question, I tried making these delicious pon-de-ring donuts last week, but really struggled to keep the balls together when it came time to flip my donuts over in the oil… several of my donuts fell apart by the time I flipped them. Do you have any tips for keeping them intact or is there something wrong in my batter? Thank you!
Hi Priscilla, you could try pushing individual uncooked batter balls a little bit close together before frying. However, if you push these balls together too much then the result will look more like a normal round donut. Practice makes perfect 😀
What can you substitute with if you don’t have tofu??
Hi Staci, substitute with water but be careful adding water a little bit at a time.
I luv donuts and also love the texture and taste of mochi so I had try this recipe. Simple to follow and my mochi donuts are deeeeelish. Thank you for sharing your recipe !!
You are welcome 😀 Thank you Frank for lovely comment and excellent rating!