Today’s recipe merges one of the world’s great flavors with one of the world’s great textures.

I bring you mochi made with purple Okinawan sweet potatoes. Shelley Clark wrote in search of a recipe and I thank her for the suggestion. It turned out just chewy enough, not too sweet, toasty brown on top and lavender inside. Plus, purple is my favorite color.

This is a baked mochi, not steamed or filled. It’s almost as easy as making a cake from a box mix, except that you have to boil the potatoes and mash them, but on the other hand you don’t have to add eggs or butter, so that’s the trade-off.

I found several recipes, all similar in that they used mochiko and coconut milk. The potatoes were either pureed or finely diced, but the key difference was in the sugar — brown or white.

I decided I wanted a smooth, not chunky, mochi, but I didn’t want to get out the blender to puree, so I settled for extreme mashing, which is plenty easy if you boil the potatoes long enough.

The question was white sugar or brown? I made both.

You’d think there’d be a distinct difference in taste, but you’d be wrong. Sweet potato dominates. The white sugar, though, produced a better looking end product, so I’m going with that.

The original recipes were designed for 9-by-13-inch cake pans, but I’ve found this can create problems with dense doughs like this because the center takes so long to cook through, and can turn out too soft if you underdo it. So I’ve scaled this recipe to fit in a 9-by-9-inch pan. If you want quantity all you have to do is double the recipe and use two pans.

OKINAWAN SWEET POTATO MOCHI

By Betty Shimabukuro

• 3/4 pound mochiko (sweet rice flour), about 2 cups
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 (13.5-ounce) can coconut milk
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1-1/2 cups mashed Okinawan potato (see note)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch square cake pan or (better) line pan with baking parchment.

In large mixing bowl, whisk together mochiko, baking powder and sugar. Add vanilla, coconut milk and whole milk; stir until smooth.

Add sweet potato and stir until well combined. Break up any lumps of sweet potato. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 60-75 minutes, until a pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool, then slice, using a serrated knife (best for preventing sticking). Makes about 30 small squares.

>> Note: You’ll need about 1 pound raw sweet potato. Cut in chunks and boil in water until very soft. Drain well, then peel and mash until smooth.

Nutritional information unavailable.

Write By Request, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, Honolulu 96813; or email requests to bshimabukuro@staradvertiser.com.