Hanami and Mitarashi dango are on the menu for today’s post. I’ve had these when i visited japan back in 2019 before but can’t really remember if this is a traditional recipe or not. Regardless, they’re delicious! I’ve been wanting to learn how to make these for the longest time. Many people keep telling me that this is similar but somehow different to onde or ronde in my country in Indonesia (๏ᆺ๏υ).
I think it would be fun to make them for the cosplay cons that are going on around here. The dango is in a small ball shape so you can put it in a bento box and add another layer of chocolate or something like that. I see a lot of people who make it resemble the shape of a flower, so you could decorate them as well, if you’re into that kind of thing!
INGREDIENTS (Available in Indoensia)
Dango:
- 200 gr – Glutinous Rice Flour (Rose Brand)
- 320 gr – SIlky Tofu
- 3 Tbs – Sugar
- Red food coloring/ Strawberry powder
- Green food coloring/ Matcha powder
Sweet Soy Glaze:
- 30 gr sugar
- 20 gr soy sauce
- 1 tbs cornstarch (tepung maizena) + 5 tbs water
- 70 ml water
Making Dango
- Make the dough by combining the rice flour, silky tofu, and sugar together.
- Divide the dough into four, but make one quarter slightly bigger of Mitarashi dango and rest small three dough for Hanami dango.
- Add any food coloring that you like to Hanami Dango dough or you can add any flavour powder if the dough to wet for you.
- To make the Hanami dango, roll the dango into a small ball shape, you can add a simple filling like red bean paste or anything firm and make it until they are all shaped to your liking.
- Now bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the dango until you see the balls rise up from the bottom pot, continue cooking for another 2 minutes.
- Then transfer the steamed dango and quickly place it into a bowl of ice water.
- begin cooking the white dango balls first, then move to the pink dango and the green dango last to avoid a colored water changing the color of your dango.
- You can skewer the dango onto the bamboo skewer, starting from green, white, and pink order. Hanami dango are typically eaten during spring cherry blossom season. You can eat them as they are or add toppings like sweet soy glaze or red bean paste, etc.
Soy Glaze/ Tare Sauce
- Before lighting the stove, mix sugar, soy sauce, and a liquid cornstarch together in a saucepan.
- Now cook this sauce over a low heat and keep stirring with a spatula until the sauce thickens.
- After that add the water slowly and keep stirring until cooked
- The Soy Glaze now ready to serve with Mitarashi Dango
To make the Mitarashi dango, roll the dango over a skewer until they are all shaped to your liking. Then brush with tare sauce and grill over a hot grill for about five minutes, or until slightly browned.
Serve all three kinds at once as part of a bento box or individually with tea.
With just a little bit of effort, you can make your own delicious Japanese wagashi from home!
