Grilled mochi with cheese

What's your special food when you're tired, hungry, craving comfort or a treat?

Do you have a special food that is all yours, no one in your family can touch? Maybe something that you splurge on, or squirrel away, to draw out its presence and make it last longer. That maybe you would eat at any time of the day, but usually, standing by the stove, with your fingers, dripping things onto the counter. This is grilled kirimochi for me.

It is what I eat when I don't feel like cooking, when I'm hungry but I don't know what I want, when I'm tired, or when I want to treat myself to a moment of comfort. There is a little ritual to making this and when I do it, I think of my mum making these too, I imagine my sister is standing there in the kitchen with me and we are maybe fighting over the last one – or rather, making more so no one has to fight, and laughing about it. It is my instant connection to my family members far away.

Kirimochi is a dried rice cake. A perfect pantry item for times when you want a super quick, but filling, nourishing snack or meal. You usually grill it on a pan first, then put it into soup (an important New Year tradition is clear ozoni soup, below, where these mochi are the main feature along with vegetables, they're also commonly put in udon noodle soup, which is known as chikara udon soup) or dip it with soy sauce and wrap it up with nori. You can also easily cut them before grilling into smaller mochi (often they are already scored to help you).

These mochi are plain – so you can enjoy these hot, chewy rice cakes as a savoury snack, which is how we usually have them, or even sweet (topped perhaps with sweet red bean paste, anko) or with a kinako (roast soy bean powder) and sugar coating.

My family have always put a thin layer of easily melted cheese onto the top of the mochi – totally un-Japanese of them (apparently an addition added by my uncle) but it works so well. The dry block of mochi is grilled in a heavy, dry, frying pan until browned in spots but most importantly, until it puffs up. That's when you know the inside is completely soft and chewy. Loving mochi means loving chewiness. As soon as it gets to this point, you remove it with chopsticks from the pan and plunge the hot mochi it into a little dish of soy sauce – you'll hear it crackle and pop as you do this. Then, place a layer of cheese on it and wrapped it up tightly in a sheet of nori seaweed. I like to put it back into the pan – which is off but still hot – at this point just to make sure the cheese is melted. Or if you are making several of these, you can also stack them one on top of each other and that heat should do it too. Because if you're not dealing with soy sauce dribbling down your fingers and melted cheese blobbing onto your kitchen counter as you're eating this, I don't think you'll get the same amount of satisfaction.

Now take a bite – and be careful – grilled mochi is incredibly hot and retains its heat very well. My obaachan used to tell me to eat mochi in the winter because it would keep me warm for hours. She was right, somehow you can feel the heat in your stomach and your mouth long after you've finished it. Not only is mochi hot, even after you've let it rest for a while, but it is very chewy. So what happens is you take a bite, it's so hot, and it's so delicious with that melted cheese and soy sauce, that you chew it too briefly and try to swallow as quickly as you can. It has sadly been known to happen that biting off more mochi than you can chew has led to death by choking. It gives a whole new meaning to your last supper meal – and funnily enough, this would probably be mine. So, I repeat, proceed with caution! Chew well and try not to burn your mouth.

Grilled mochi with cheese (kirimochi)

For 1 person

• 2 dried mochi blocks (kirimochi)

• 1 tablespoon soy sauce

• 1 sheet of nori seaweed

• 2 slices of cheese, cut to fit the szie of mochi

Heat a dry, heavy frying fan over medium-high heat and place the blocks of mochi on the pan. Grill them, turning, as needed, until the mochi are browned in spots and look puffed, about 5-6 minutes altogether. They will appear still dry on the outside and may not be browned all over but only in parts — the key is that they will be puffy. Remove from heat.

Place the soy sauce in a small saucer. One by one, dip the hot mochi in the soy sauce, then place a piece of cheese on top and wrap in seaweed. Place the mochi, cheese side down, on the hot pan again (off heat) for a moment until the cheese is melted. Enjoy immediately – in between bites you may like to dip the mochi in the rest of the soy sauce.

What is your most treasured dish for instant comfort, nostalgia or just that thing that satisfies you any time of the day whenever you have a craving?