Japanese Recipe: Natsu Furutsu Dango

Winter has finally decided to stick around here in the Midwest giving us in St. Louis a week long cold snap. When I say snap, I mean Ol’ Man Winter took this city and cracked it over his knee. On top of that, this ‘puter is acting up due to Bill Gate’s shitty software. So it’s cold and I can’t (reliably) do the work I need to. I’m reminded at this time why I hate the Midwest sometimes…the weather’s like my computer; unreliable and shitty. One good thing, though, about the Midwest weather is that the summers produce fantastic fruit.

Take peaches for example. Zingor once stated that she’s never had a better peach than the ones she’s had in Southern Illinois. I have family up north who know of a local farmer who travels six hours south to get said peaches. I must say that So. IL peaches are some of the best in the world and I’ve lived two hours away from Georgia. Which is why I have a load of them in my freezer along with four lbs. of So. IL blueberries, hmmm…maybe summer isn’t that far away after all! I’ll make nutsu furutsu dango!

Mochi (as we’ve been learning) is a form of glutinous rice made into cakes. Mochiko is glutinous rice flour that mochi is made from. Many, many wagashi, or Japanese desserts, are made from mochiko including daifuku and kushi dango. Kushi translates as skewered and dango translates as dumpling so kushi dango are skewered dumplings. Anime fans will recognize these treats as they are often featured on series and movies,

Traditionally kushi dango are covered with anko or a thick, sweet soy based sauce. Today in my desperate longing for a taste of summer, I’ve created Natsu Furutsu Dango, or summer fruit dumplings using summer fruit as a topping instead of beans or sweet soy sauce. I’ve dug into my freezer to use the frozen fruit I’ve had from last summer and I’ve used some Soulard-purchased strawberries as well.

Dango:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cup of mochiko (MUST be mochiko or you’re screwed)
• 3/4 cup warm water
• Katakuriko (potato starch) for dusting
• Non-stick cooking spray
• 6" Bamboo skewers (regular length skewers are fine but you can cut them down if you care)
• Steamer basket (I used my rice cooker for this)

Natsu Furutsu Sauce:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup peaches, blueberries, strawberries, fresh or frozen
• 3/4 cup sugar, more or less to sweeten fruit
• Water
• Katakuriko (corn starch’ll do the trick to if you don’t have katakuriko)

Directions:

1. If using a rice cooker, fill it about halfway with water and set it to cook. Mix the mochiko and a bit of the warm water together. Slowly add more water till the texture of the dough is as soft as an earlobe. The wetter the dough, the gooier the dango, the firmer the dough, the harder the dango will be. Blend the mochiko and water together using your hands. Treat the mochiko mix as if it were bread dough by kneading it and make sure all the flour is well blended.
2. To form the balls more easily, you can opt to pop the dough into the the freezer for 10-15 minutes to firm it up a bit, that’s your call.
3. Spray your steamer basket lightly with the non-stick cooking spray. Roll the dough into small dumpling, none bigger than a silver dollar. (You can get creative if you feel the urge and make hearts, stars, whatever.) Place the balls or shapes at least an inch and a half away from each other. This stuff expands and sticks together in a bad way if you’re not careful. I had to make two batches of the dumplings because my basket was too small to prevent the dumplings from becoming a dumpling.
4. Place the steamer basket in the rice cooker or pot and steam it on high for 10 minutes.
5. If you’re making two batches of dumplings because you only have one basket, like me, generously dust a cutting board with the katakuriko. Cool the dumplings enough to handle and place then on the floured cutting board. Repeat steps 2-4 till dough is gone.
6. While dumplings cool, preheat oven to broil. In a small saucepan mix peaches, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/2 cup water. Simmer on low, stirring constantly for five minutes. Add more water if you like a thinner syrup. Mash peaches and set aside in a separate bowl. Rinse saucepan.
7. Mix the blueberries, 1/2 cup water, and 1/4 cup sugar together in the small saucepan. Mash the berries and stir. In a separate bowl add one tablespoon katakuriko or cornstarch to ¼ cup water. Stir the mashed fruit mix quickly while pouring in the katakuriko mix. This last step gives the berries a thicker texture. Omit it if you like thinner syrups. Set aside. Rinse saucepan.
8. Repeat Step 6 for the strawberries.
9. Skewer cooled dango about four per bamboo skewer. Place on a wire rack and broil in broiler for about one minute per side. NOTE: All broilers ARE different. Keep an eye on the dango so they don’t burn. They should be lightly toasted.
10. Brush each skewer with your choice of the three syrups, covering them completely. Serve immediately.

Makes about 7 skewers.

A variation on this which will compliment the fruit is a green tea syrup I thought of after all was said and done.

For Ocha Dango you’ll need:

• 3 green tea bags
• 1 cup of water (if making a full batch to cover 7 skewers use 1 cup, if not, half this and use 2 tea bags, 1 tbls. katakuriko, and less sugar)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2-2 tbls.(depending on how thick you want the sauce) Katakuriko or cornstarch
• Honey to taste, optional

Directions:

1. In a small sauce pan, boil water and add tea bags. Turn off heat, cover and let seep for 6 minutes. Remove tea bags and squeeze them if they’re not too hot.
2. Turn heat to low and dissolve sugar and honey, if using, into tea. In a separate cup or bowl stir together 1/4 cup water and the katakuriko. While rapidly stirring the tea, add the katakuriko mixture. Remove from heat and brush onto skewered dango.

The green tea is very much there in the syrup. If you want a stronger flavor, however, add another tea bag or so and steep longer. You can also add more or less sugar depending on your preference.

I would serve this ocha dango with the natsu frutusu dango to clean the palette between different fruits. I would also eat this dango by itself it’s so tasty. This is definitely something green tea fans should try! And if you have any of the syrup left, you can top vanilla ice cream with it and/or any other fruit syrup left over.

Ok, enough tooting my own horn. I once again need to ask David to rate a recipe since I would be biased if I did it myself.

Rachel: What did you like about natsu furtsu and ocha dango?

David: I thought the ocha dango tasted delicious. I could really taste the green tea! I also enjoyed the texture, liked how it wasn’t super-sweet and the variety of fruit toppings. It’s also fun to eat!

Rachel: What didn’t you like about nutsu furutsu dango and ocha dango?

David: I would have liked for you to have fed them to me! ^_^

Rigggghhht. Well, I’m glad you liked them, and hell, I loved ‘em and that’s a fact! I think you guys should give this recipe a try and tell us what you think ^^b!

• Difficulty: Easy-Moderate
• Time: 50-60 minutes depending on how many batches of dumplings you make
• Ingredient Availability: Moderate