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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Place the steamer basket in the rice cooker or pot and steam it on high for 10 minutes.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Repeat Step 6 for the strawberries.
- 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.
- 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:
- 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.
- 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
aww one of them is shaped like a heart
that’s soooo cute
yeah, what was a very nice surprise! they were all delicious – and looked great!
I know you say “MUST be mochiko or you’re screwed”, but what about rice flour? Are the mochiko ingredients different?
Other than that they look deli-umptios.
@chiro, there are different types of rice flour from all sorts of locales. Mochi-ko is flour made from Japanese glutinous rice. Since mochi’s glutinous, the flour sticks together and is able to keep it’s shape, something non-glutinous rice varieties lack.
Perhaps if you’re curious, an experiment would be in order; on one hand would be the control mochi flour and on the other would be other rice flour varieties. I’ve actually been curious about this myself but am too strapped for time to try.
Is there any other way to cook them besides steaming them or using a rice cooker because i have neither a steamer or a rice cooker.
@random guy, yeah, you’re going to need a steamer basket then. You can buy a bamboo steamer basket at an International or Asian grocery for $12. Or you can try using a metal steamer basket. they look like this:
http://images.inmagine.com/168nwm/photodisc/pdos049/pdos049077.jpg
I’ve always called that a colander. You can buy ‘em just about anywhere cooking utensils are sold. My advice to you is put as little water in the pot as possible if you go the colander route. Too much water will cause it to boil over the basket, ruining the dango. Use small amounts of water and check back frequently to refill.
I honestly know of no other way to make these. The cooking process is steaming and it imparts a texture no other form of cooking can. It’d be like baking fried chicken; same ingredients, different flavor and texture.
Good luck and feel free to let me know how they turn out or if you have any more questions!
Up in the ingredients for the dango it says this ¾ cup warm water. Does that mean 3/4 cup?
@Chris, yeah, it’s 3/4 cup water. Let me know how they turn out!
what other kinds of fruits can you use with this recipe?
@ Kakashisgal, you can use just about any fruit for this recipe. You can use bananas (just mash, heat gently with a smidge of water and stir in some brown sugar with an optional pinch of ginger), apples (you’ll need to either peel and cook them down, or opt for apple pie filling), mangoes, pineapple, etc. You could even use various melons by boiling the following together:
1 cup honeydew or watermelon or cantaloupe pieces, chopped
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
After the mix gets syrupy (about 30 minutes), add 1 tablespoon of katakuriko (potato starch) or cornstarch that’s been mixed together well with 1/4 cup water. Stir the starch in quickly to thicken up the melon syrup. Omit starch if you like a thinner syrup.
You can use just about any fruit, go crazy!
@ Chiro and Rachel ~ I tried making this once, but due to lack of Asian ingrediants I tried to just use normal rice flour. The dango came out really hard, and i’m pretty sure thats not what the texture should be like. Hope that helps =)
@Kelli J., Thanks for telling us about your non-mochi experience! And yes, the dango should be soft and gooey not hard and stiff. Sorry to hear about your results
.
ooooooh awesome that looks really yummy im gonna have to try that…. yeah i hate the midwest winters too, i feel your pain XD anyway if you can find a recipe for bocchan (not sure if i spelled that right) Dango that’d be even awesomer =D
@Therese, Do you live in the MW too?
The tri-colored dango you mention sounds good and would be perfect for spring. I’ll try my hand at it then. For now though, it’s chestnut, pumpkin, kinako, walnut, pecan and eggnog dango time! Whew, hope I don’t “fluff up” too much this winter >.>
Hey, I’m going to try making these dango. Oh, and also wanted to say, have a fun time trying to find a recipe for Hanami Dango (Bacchan Dango) online, I’ve been searching for hours with no results. D=
@Carly, hanami and botchan dango are 2 different dango. I’ll be developing a recipe for botchan dango in the near future since I also can’t find a recipe for it.
Botchan dango is one of those regional dango made famous in a novel about the main character, Botchan. The dango are flavored with matcha, egg yolk, and red bean paste. I have a fair idea how to make it but want to experiment before I post a recipe. Keep your eyes peeled!
Second recipe I used on this site, and again a big deviation. I didn’t have mochiko – but I did have a bag of glutinous rice (and isn’t that what mochiko derives from anyway?). So I soaked the rice in water overnight, ground it up in a food processor until it was quite fine (using rice flour likely would have yielded a much finer texture), squeezed the moisture out of the sticky slurry… Interesting but time-consuming (I don’t suggest this method)! It still turned out good-tasting (thankfully.) The fruit sauces are terrific, by the way.
@K.F., I didn’t have mochiko – but I did have a bag of glutinous rice (and isn’t that what mochiko derives from anyway?). So I soaked the rice in water overnight, ground it up in a food processor until it was quite fine (using rice flour likely would have yielded a much finer texture), squeezed the moisture out of the sticky slurry…
You’re a cook after my own heart: dedicated and creative! Good show.
Just a suggestion… Instead of bamboo skewers I am going to try sugar cane sticks when I try this tonight
@Christina, that sounds good! I bet it’ll look good as well. Will you be posting pics of your finished dango anywhere? I’d love to see how these look on different skewers; I’m weird that way…
I tried to make them, but I must of been doing something wrong, because when I mixed the water with the mochiko, it game me a super-sticky sort of drought and, after cooking, it was very… runny. They did not keep their ball-like shape. They were, however, delicious, but I’d really love for them to keep their shape, and be less of a goo. Any suggestion to help me out? Thanks so much.
@Julie, one thing I’ve discovered about dango is that while they’re perfectly spherical before you steam them, they flatten out on the bottom afterwards, but they should never be goo. The dough shouldn’t be too sticky either, but it goes towards one’s preference. My advice would be to use less of the water to begin with and slowly knead more in as you need it. The dough’s texture should be as soft as an earlobe. I’ll put that in the recipe so people can futz with the dough as they like.
have you ever used a mix of mochiko and regular rice flour? I think it works really well for the dango, having it a nice firmness to it yet still is chewy because of the mochiko. I made dango with just mochiko and it was way to soft and sticky and to my pallet unpleasent. I love daifuku and what not but comparing the dango with the consitinty of daifuku skin and the ones i have bought at japanese resturant it taste so goood. So ermm yea, try it with mixed rice flour. The recipes i have saw use more regular rice flour than mochiko.
@Cliff, I’ve used joshinko (non-glutinous rice flour) with mochiko in other dango recipes. It does produce a firmer dango but it’s hard to tell if the dango is firmer because of the rice flour, the added starch, the added sugar or the doubled cooking process, i.e. stove top then steam. Dango can be finagled any which way, to taste. I need to do a post solely dedicated to dango. And then one for daifuku.
Oh I will so love you if you post one solely on Daifuku. That stuff scares me XD I tried to make it and well with failed results and havent gone back to do it since! I really need to learn because I make all sorts of japanese stuff for my japanese tutors. Since they are traditional Japanese I use them to test out my foods to see if its suitable and what not so I was request to make Ichigo Daifuku @_@
@Cliff, honestly, daifuku scared me too when I first made it. But if you tweak a few things and re-heat it when you form it, it’s not so bad. In fact, it’s easy. I say that now, but I’ll post sometime and prove it!
Oh oh and when you make a blog solely on Dango you should put a recipe for hanami dango, I have been looking for that recipe and its hard to find, even in the .jp search! And if you need a recipe for Matarashi Dango I can hook you up!
@Cliff, I did have a great recipe for hanami dango. But the only problem is, I wrote it for a local foodie magazine (Sauce) who now owns the rights to my specific rendition of the recipe. I thought they might post the article on their website, but they haven’t as of yet.
If you’re interested, I could send you a copy of my article via snail mail. But I ask you use it for personal use only and not to post it online. E-mail me if you’re interested.
*Update* I e-mailed my editor and she informed me my article should be up on their website in the next few weeks. I’ll link to it then and you can make hanami dango!
Oh awesome, ok cool.
HI HI~!!
I was wondering, could u use shiratamako instead of mochiko? which one would u recommend more to use?
@Shin, I recommend using mochiko for the dango. It’s cheaper and gives a better, firmer texture. However, I have heard mochiko and shiratamako can be used interchangeably although I haven’t done so personally.
ahh koolz! thank you..
oh yeh.. i went to a japanese store to find mochiko or shiratamako but cudnt find any >_<.. instead i bought mitakeno… will that work the same way?
@Shin, I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of mitakeno. Is mitakeno the brand name or the product name? Is it a sweet rice powder? I’ve used sweet rice flour from Korean stores and found it’s the same thing as mochiko, but cheaper. If mitakeno is made from sweet glutinous rice, yes, it can be used just like mochiko.
You may just want to try a tiny batch with it to see if it’s mochiko masquerading under a different name. I’ve done that. It’s how I discovered “glutinous rice dumpling powder” is mochiko in disguise.
um…im gonna try making this recipe because I like cooking. But the part where u to broil them, can u use a griller?? Cause I dont think we have a broiler……but this looks very delicious to make. X3
One more question…do we HAVE to broil it. My mom said “you have to broil it????” so…..yeah…..thx for answerin. ^_^
@Jane, every oven should have a broiler setting. But there’s no reason you can’t grill this over a charcoal grill. That’s how it’s traditionally done. However, grill machines, like the George Foreman grill, will not work.
There’s nothing written saying, “All dango must be broiled.” That choice is ultimately yours as to whether or not you want to toast the dango. But toasting the dango does add an extra dimension to the dango plain steaming does not. It’s the difference between melting a marshmallow in a cup of cocoa or toasting it on a stick at a campfire.
Ahh…I see….thank u for answering my question! Im gonna try making it now. TY! ^_^
OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Something wrong happened!!! The green tea sauce, it came out terrible!! It wasnt sweet at all and I did exactly wat the directions and measurements said, but it came out thick but tasted like…..I cant explain it…..Wat is wrong wit it?????? O_0 Also, is the dango INSIDE supposed to be like…..hardish???like the outside is soft, but the inside is like firm…PLZ help me!! T_T
@Jane, the ocha sauce is a sauce that needs to be tailored to your taste. I recommended in the directions to add more or less sugar to taste or to add more tea bags. If you like a sweeter sauce, just add more sugar. Always taste your sauces so you can add a pinch of this and a dash of that so you’ll have something that suits your preferences. This is what I used, but it’s all good if you wanted something different ^-^.
No, the dango should be soft all the way through until it’s toasted, then it’ll have a firmer outside texture. Did you use mochiko, sweet rice flour? It has to be mochiko or it won’t turn out at all. Did the dough have enough water? How long was it steamed? Too short? Too long? Hope this helps!
Yes, you helped a lot. I used the mochiko rice flour. But I guess I did something wrong….hmmm…. O_0 Thank u for tellin me this. ^ ^ Ill try again when I have more time. =D When I used ur exact measurements, the mixture of water and mochiko came out VERY gooey…which is weird and i coulndt roll it up..hehehe. Strange isnt it???
@Jane, the ingredients do say 3/4 cup of water but the directions say to add it a little at a time till the dough is the consistency of an earlobe. For some really good tips on making fool-proof dango, I suggest you take a gander at my two very comprehensive articles all about this Japanese treat:
http://theanimeblog.com/2008/04/10/dango-digest-a-thorough-look-at-japanese-dumplings-part-one/
http://theanimeblog.com/2008/04/14/dango-digest-a-thorough-look-at-japanese-dumplings-part-two/
If you have any other questions after checking out these two pieces, let me know.
Mmm.. ^ ^ ty for those information Ill try again and I’ll ask when I have another question ^ ^
this recipe looks awesome but the last couple times Ive tried to make it the dango stuck to the steamer and ended up really gooey… it also made the steamer really really difficult to clean >.< I was wondering I was doing something wrong?
@Casey, I recommend checking out my comprehensive posts on making dango to suit any taste.
http://theanimeblog.com/2008/04/10/dango-digest-a-thorough-look-at-japanese-dumplings-part-one/
http://theanimeblog.com/2008/04/14/dango-digest-a-thorough-look-at-japanese-dumplings-part-two/
If they’re too gooey, add some regular rice flour and less water. If they stick to the steamer basket, spray a bit of “Pam” cooking spray in the basket before you cook the dango.
: (
I used the failure rice flour. Hard … but 2nd attempt came out better than first. Spherical shape lost … but not all of it tastes grainy. The sauce came out tasty though!
@brian Judar, which rice flour is the fail flour you refer to? Non-glutinous rice flour? It’s only half-fail since it’s needed to add firmness to the mochiko. I’m glad the second try was better! Keep making dango and you’ll be a pro!
Hi! I want to make matcha dango, but I don’t have it. I saw something in passing about using green tea bags. Do you know how would I do it?
Oh! Never mind! It was right here. Do you think I could grill the dango in a pan? I cooked the dango last night, and I don’t know if I did it wrong, but the texture was odd… O_O It was so squishy… *shudder*And the matcha sauce wasn’t strong either, so it was bland.
@Sabrina, one way you could make tea-flavored dango, without matcha, would be to steep around 6-9 tea bags in the water used for making the dango. Make that water dark!
One reason your dango might have been too gooey is using too much water. You should be adding the water a little bit at a time. Don’t toss all the water in or you may end up with gloopy sludge. Another reason your dango might be too squishy is that’s how mochiko rolls!
Mochiko is really pliable and marshmallowy when used alone. If that texture is too off-putting for your taste, add some non-glutinous rice flour to the recipe, about a tablespoon or two. Read more about making dango at my two very, very comprehensive articles on the topic!!
hard to find mochiko here or I look in the wrong stores so I tried to use glutenous rice flour and also tried to use a microwave steamer and it came out tasting right but was looking wrong
So,I had a dango recipe in my anime cook book that was written incorrect but I discovered how it was written wrong thanks to noticing from your recipe, the one in the book suggested 1 cup too much water so I fixed it in the book and used this recipe,
Dango, Ingredients:
2/3 cup jyoshinko ?rice flour?
2 tablespoons sugar
? cup shiratamako ?glutenous rice flour?
Directions:
1: pour the jyoshinko, sugar and 1/3 cup of hot water in a bowl, then mix and knead.
2:In another bowl mix and knead the shiratamako with ? cup of hot water
3:Combine the jyoshinko and the shiratamako doughs and knead until solid but soft (not too firm)
4.Roll dango into balls and add into a pot of boiling water.
5.Once the dango float to the surface, they’re ready to be removed from the water.
and after, I made the ocha dango sauce it was really good together
Thankyou so much for sharing, it was very yummy 