Description
Sweet Japanese Hanami Dango delights dessert enthusiasts with its colorful rice flour dumplings. Pink, white, and green spheres offer a delicate balance of texture and cultural significance for seasonal celebrations.
Ingredients
Scale
- 7 oz (200 g) dangoko (Japanese rice dumpling flour) (optional)
- ¾ cup (180 ml) shiratamako (glutinous rice flour/sweet rice flour)
- ⅔ cup (160 ml) joshinko (Japanese rice flour)
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) sugar
- ⅔ cup (160 ml) boiling water
- ¼ tsp matcha (green tea powder)
- 1 tbsp yomogi (mugwort) (optional)
- Red food coloring
Instructions
- Preparation: Immerse bamboo skewers in cold water to prevent burning during the cooking process, ensuring structural integrity.
- Dough Composition: Blend joshinko, shiratamako, and sugar in a capacious mixing bowl, creating a foundational mixture for the traditional Japanese delicacy.
- Dough Hydration: Gradually incorporate hot water into the dry ingredients, meticulously kneading until the dough reaches a cohesive, malleable texture that maintains structural integrity.
- Color Segmentation: Divide the dough into three equal portions, designating each for distinct chromatic expressions: matcha green, soft rose, and pristine alabaster.
- Dough Shaping: Craft uniform spheres from each colored segment, ensuring consistent size and impeccably smooth surfaces for visual elegance.
- Cooking Process: Delicately immerse the dough spheres into simmering water, observing their ascent as an indicator of optimal doneness, then immediately transfer to an ice bath to arrest the cooking and preserve their quintessential chewiness.
- Presentation: Artfully arrange the tri-colored dango spheres on prepared skewers, alternating the verdant, alabaster, and rose-tinted spheres, and serve alongside sweet red bean paste for an enhanced gastronomic experience.
Notes
- Prevent Skewer Burning: Soak bamboo skewers in cold water for at least 30 minutes before threading dango to avoid charring and potential breakage during grilling.
- Master Dough Consistency: Gradually add hot water while kneading, ensuring the mixture becomes smooth, elastic, and holds shape without cracking or falling apart.
- Color with Precision: Divide dough evenly into three portions, using natural food colorings like matcha powder, beetroot, and leaving one segment white for authentic hanami dango appearance.
- Cooking Technique: Boil dango gently in simmering water, watching carefully as they float to the surface, indicating they are perfectly cooked, then immediately transfer to an ice bath to stop cooking and maintain ideal texture.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 minutes
- Category: Desserts, Snacks
- Method: Boiling
- Cuisine: Japanese
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 5
- Calories: 120
- Sugar: 10 g
- Sodium: 0 mg
- Fat: 0.5 g
- Saturated Fat: 0 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 28 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg