Abekawa Mochi vs Half-Moon Rice Cakes

Both desserts start from glutinous rice flour, yet they put the sweetness in very different places. Abekawa Mochi is a plain flour-and-water dough microwaved until translucent and stretchy, snipped into bite-sized pieces, and rolled in roasted soybean flour mixed with sugar and a pinch of salt, so it is served warm and chewy under a nutty coating. Half-Moon Rice Cakes wrap a kneaded, lightly salted dough around sweet red bean paste, are steamed until shiny, then rinsed and brushed with sesame oil. One is sweet on the outside, the other at its heart.