Strawberry Daifuku Strawberry Princesses - Shiratamako

Method

• Wash the strawberries and remove the stems.
• Divide the anko sweet bean paste into equal portions (You can use any type of anko that you like.
• This time I used tsubu-an, the chunky type.)
• Cover the strawberries with the anko sweet bean paste, but leave the tops of the strawberries uncovered.
• Put the A. ingredients into a microwave-safe bowl and mix together.
• Cover in plastic wrap and microwave for about 3 minutes (for a 700 watt microwave).
• Mix well with a heat-proof silicone or wooden spatula.
• Place on a plate sprinkled with katakuriko.
• Divide the dough into equal portions.
• Keeping in mind the size of the strawberries, use your hands to flatten and stretch each piece of the dough into a thin circle, then cut in half.
• Wrap the strawberries from step (2) in the thin pieces of dough, as though you were putting kimonos on the strawberries.
• (You can cover the bottoms or leave them open).
• They're done...oops, I just realized I wrapped the kimonos the wrong way around, so they look like princes instead of princesses!
• If you mix in a little bit of red food coloring at step (3), you can make pink strawberry princesses.
• To make regular strawberry daifuku, just wrap the strawberries in the usual way.
• Cut open the daifuku to find a big juicy strawberry inside!