This humble vegetable has neatly elbowed it’s squashy way into popular food items, including ice cream and chai latte.

Pumpkin Dango!

I for one am grateful for Pumpkin’s culinary takeover and am a rabid fan of all things pumpkin. I’ve gone on a pumpkin spree like no one’s business this year, ever since the orange goodness has gone on sale at a buck a can.

I like to try new things with pumpkin every season, and since my main cooking love is Japanese desserts, I create a new, Japanese-inspired pumpkin dessert each fall. This year it’s Pumpkin Dango!!

Pumpkin Dango takes the traditional flavor of pumpkin pie, rolls it up and slides it on a stick. It’s gooey mochi filled with all the flavor of an American fave in an easy to eat Japanese snack food. What’s not to love?

Pumpkin Dango

• 1 cup mochiko (glutinous rice flour)
• 3 Tbsp joshinko (non-glutinous rice flour)
• 3 Tbsp white sugar
• 1/2 cup warm water
• orange food coloring (optional)
• 1 recipe Pumpkin An (filling), recipe follows
• 6, 4 inch bamboo skewers

Pumpkin An

• 1 cup pumpkin puree, plain
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp allspice
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp white sugar

Pumpkin Dango Details

Make the pumpkin an by placing the pumpkin puree in a piece of unbleached muslin cloth. Gather the ends of the muslin together and twist the fabric closed. Twist the cloth tightly over a clean bowl to drain the excess moisture from the pumpkin. Save the extra liquid and set aside. The pumpkin is strained enough when it can be rolled into a ball.

Place the strained puree in a small sauce pan and add the rest of the an ingredients. Cook over medium heat, adding the reserved pumpkin juice as needed to safely cook the puree without scorching it. The an is done when it becomes sticky and can be rolled into a ball. Cool the an in the refrigerator or freezer until it’s firm.

While the an is cooling, whisk the mochiko, joshinko and sugar together in a small bowl.

Add the food coloring to the water and slowly add the water a bit at a time to the flour mix. Mix with a fork at first but use your hands to knead the water the rest of the way into the dough. A fork won’t mix the ingredients together as well as your hands, and a fork will give no indication as to the true feel of the dough. Add more water until the mixture is as soft as an earlobe. Do not add too much water! Set aside.

Roll the cooled an into 18, 1/2 inch balls. Set aside.

Roll the mochi dough into 18, scant 1 inch balls. Set aside.

To make the dango, flatten a ball of mochi dough in a lightly damp palm and place a ball of pumpkin an in the center of the dough. Gather the edges of the mochi circle and pinch closed. Add a small dab of water if needed to seal the ball. Roll into a ball and set aside. Repeat.

After all the dango is rolled, skewer 3 balls onto a skewer and set it in a steamer basket. Repeat. Steam the dango on high for 10 minutes. Serve immediately.

Makes 6 Skewers

Difficulty: Moderate | Time: 1 hour| Ingredient Availability: Moderate

After rolling the filled balls into rounds, mold them into pumpkin shapes and use the middle of a skewer to lightly press ridges into the shape. Don’t press too hard, however. Adhere a green mochi-dough stem with a dab of water to the pumpkins and steam 10 minutes.

This recipe is the easiest dango to make. It’s simple, uses the least ingredients and can be used in soups or as a dessert.

Easy Dango

• 1 cup mochiko
• 1/4 boiling water

Fill a medium size saucepan with water and set it to boil.

Slowly add a small amount of the boiling water to the mochiko and carefully knead the mochiko dough together with your hands. Keep slowly adding the water until the dough is the consistency of an earlobe. Form the dough into small balls and add them to the boiling water. If using the dango in soup, add them to the simmering soup.

Cook the dango for 8 minutes or until they float to the surface. If making the dango in water, use a slotted spoon to remove the dango and then toast ‘em or top them with your choice of sauces.

Makes 10 dumplings

Difficulty: Easy | Time: 15 minutes | Ingredient Availability: Moderate

This basic dango recipe is a cinch to make if you have mochiko and joshinko. I find this particular combination of mochiko (glutinous rice flour) and joshinko (non-glutinous rice flour) yields dango with just the right amount of gooieness to chew on and enough firmness for the dango to hold their shape. These dango can be topped with a wide variety of sauces, from mocha to mitarashi. Use these blank slates as tasty canvases for your dango experimentation!

Basic Dango

• 1 cup mochiko
• 2 Tbls. joshinko
• 1/3 cup boiling water

Whisk together the rice flours till they’re well blended.

Slowly add the boiling water a little at a time to the flours, mix it as much as possible with a fork and then knead it with your hands, being careful not to burn yourself. *Note: Thoroughly mixing the mochiko and the water together with a fork or spoon does not work, and will give zero indication as to whether the correct amount of water is being added.

Slowly add more water until the dough is “soft as an earlobe”.

Form the dango into 1 inch balls and place them 1/2 inch apart on a lightly greased steamer tray. Steam on high for 7 minutes. Let the dango cool and thread 3-4 dango onto a skewer.

Either serve immediately or toast the dango. To toast the dango, heat an oven to broil and place the skewered dango in the pre-heated oven. Keep a close eye on the dango and remove them once they’re a golden brown. Top them with sauces and serve hot.

Makes 6-8 skewers

Difficulty: Easy | Time: 20 minutes | Ingredient Availability: Moderate

Here’s a popular dumpling recipe made using basic dango topped with a sweet soy-based sauce.

Mitarashi Dango

• 1 recipe Basic Dango

• 1/2 cup light soy sauce (dark may be used as well)
• 4 Tbls. mirin
• 4 Tbls. dashi stock
• 1/2 cup white or brown sugar
• 1 Tbls. katakuriko (potato starch) or cornstarch, (optional)

Make the dango as per the Basic Dango recipe. While dango are steaming, make the sauce.

Make the sauce by mixing the the soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar together in a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil and then simmer for two minutes until the sugar dissolves. You may thicken the sauce by reducing it, but the mitrashi may caramelize. This method produces an intense flavor and a very shiny mitarashi.

If reducing isn’t your preferential way of thickening, then dissolve the starch in a tablespoon of water. Add the starch water to the simmering sauce and stir it in quickly. Cook and stir the sauce over low heat until the sauce thickens to your taste. Set aside.

Toast the steamed dango and top them with the mitarashi sauce. Serve immediately.

Makes 8 skewers

Difficulty: Easy | Time: 25 minutes | Ingredient Availability: Moderate

This dango is a seasonal wagashi eaten during the cherry blossom season. Enjoy hanami dango on your next nature outing and savor a bit of hanami in your own picnic basket!

Hanami Dango

The recipe is off site in my article for Sauce’s March issue. Check it out on the right sidebar!

• Note: After the dango are steamed, the green dango (yomogi or matcha) will start to turn a very dark green, and in the case of yomogi, almost black. This is perfectly normal, but doesn’t look too appealing after an hour or so. To cut back on the oxidation process, use less yomogi or switch to matcha. Use less matcha for a pastel mint color. But less matcha also means less flavor so if you’re keen on green tea and are presenting the dango to friends, try and serve the dango straight from the steamer, or keep them warm till they’re ready to be eaten to delay the oxidation.

Makes 10 skewers

Difficulty: Moderate | Time: 1 hour | Ingredient Availability: Difficult

I was inspired to create a recipe for this famous dango by the many fans who were curious about it. Botchan dango is a regional dango from Matsuyama which was made famous by Soseki Natsume’s novel, “Botchan“. This dango is a sanshoku dango (three colored dango) made from bean paste (an), egg yolk (kimi) and green tea powder (matcha) and filled with white bean paste (shiro an). I used a microwave to help make the recipe, but you can also heat the ingredients on a stove top. This is a difficult recipe but well worth the effort!

Botchan Dango

Filling

• 1/2 cup shiro an
• 1 Tbls. mochiko

An Dango

• 1/4 cup plus 1 Tbls. mochiko
• 1 Tbls. joshinko
• 1/4 cup anko (tsubu or koshi)
• 2 Tbls. sugar
• scant amount hot water

Kimi Dango

• 2 egg yolks, beaten
• 2 Tbls. boiling water
• 2 Tbls. sugar
• 1/4 cup plus Tbls. mochiko
• 2 Tbls. sugar
• scant amount hot water

Matcha Dango

• 1 tsp. matcha
• 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbls. mochiko
• 3 Tbls. joshinko
• 3 Tbls. sugar
• 1 1/2 tbls. water
• scant amount hot water

• sugar water for smoothing

Make the filling by mixing together the shiro an and the mochiko. Spread the shiro an mixture onto a clean cotton cloth and steam it on high for 10 minutes. Allow the mixture to cool and form the dough into 18 equal sized balls. Cover the balls with plastic wrap and set them aside.

An
Make the an dango by mixing together the mochiko and joshinko and set aside.

Mix together the sugar and anko and heat the mix until it starts to bubble, about 30 seconds in the microwave.

Add the hot anko to the flours and knead it in well. Depending on evaporation and type of anko used, you may have to add some water to make the dough more pliable. Add hot water a few drops at a time to the dough until it’s soft enough to easily form into balls. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and set aside.

Kimi
Make the kimi dango by whisking together the mochiko and joshinko and set aside.

Add the sugar to the boiling water and stir to dissolve. Add the egg yolks to the hot sugar water and heat until the mixture thickens. In the microwave, heat the egg mix for 5 second intervals, then stir it well. Heat then stir. Repeat. The mixture should be a creamy yellow, slightly thick and frothy.

Add the cooked yolks to the flours. Knead the mixture well, and add enough water to create a supple, but not sticky, dough. Wrap in plastic wrap and set aside.

Matcha
Make the matcha dango by whisking the flours and matcha together.

Dissolve the sugar in the water and heat until it barely boils, about 30 seconds in the microwave. Add the boiling sugar water to the flours and carefully knead the dough well, adding enough water to make a supple dough .

Assembling the Botchan Dango
Divide the an dough into 6 equal size balls. Cover them to prevent drying and repeat with the kimi and matcha doughs. There should be 18 balls in total; 6 an, 6 kimi and 6 matcha.

Take a ball of the an dough and flatten it in a slightly dampened, clean palm. Place a ball of shiro an dough in the center of the an round and carefully cover the shiro an with the an dough. Do not overstretch the dough. Make sure it’s an even thickness throughout. Smooth the ball, using a dab of sugar water if needed.

Repeat with the rest of the an dough. Cover to prevent drying and repeat with the kimi and an balls.

Skewer the finished balls in order of an, kimi and matcha. Steam on high for 10-12 minutes. Serve immediately.

Makes 6 skewers

Difficulty: Difficult | Time: 1 hour 30 minutes | Ingredient Availability: Difficult

I love malted milk balls and I love dango. My insane desire to see the two merged was what fired the ol’ noogin to craft this recipe. It’s a great example of how creative you can be with dango!

Inside Out Malted Milk Dango

• 3/4 cup mochiko
• 3 Tbls. joshinko
• 3 Tbls. baking cocoa
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 Tbls. instant milk powder
• 1/4 boiling water
• 1/4 cup malt powder (not malted milk*)
• 3 Tbls. sugar
• 1/4 water

Mix together the mochiko, joshinko, cocoa and dry milk.

Add the sugar to the boiling water and stir to dissolve it. Slowly add the hot sugar water to the dry ingredients a little at a time. Knead the dough and add more water as necessary to create a supple, but not mushy, dough.

Roll the dough into 1 inch balls. Place the balls 1/2 apart on a steam tray and steam them on high for 7 minutes.

While the balls are cooling, make the sauce by mixing together the malt, sugar and water. Heat the mixture on low heat, stirring constantly. Let the sauce reduce to desired thickness and set aside.

Skewer the chocolate dango, three per stick. Top the dango with the malt sauce and serve immediately.

Makes 7 skewers.

Difficulty: Moderate | Time: 30 minutes | Ingredient Availability: Moderate

*I used malt flour, which is malt powder without the added milk or sugar. Malted milk powder, which already contains sugar plus milk and is readily available at supermarkets, may be used. Omit the sugar and cook till thickened to your taste.

There’s an incredible variety of sweet dessert-style dango, which makes the amount of savory varieties pale in comparison. Sweet dango can be filled, topped or crafted with all manner of traditional Japanese dessert (wagashi) foodstuffs. A few of these traditional ingredients include anko (also known as an), goma (black sesame) and kinako (roasted soybean flour).

However, dango aren’t limited to just Japanese ingredients. You can get creative like I did and create your own toppings for dango; it’s your wagashi- make whatever you want with it!

If you’ve ever considered making your own dango, either with traditional or personal ingredients, this is your lucky day! Today we’ll explore the possibilities with dango and look at the many varieties of the dumplings. Get your steamers ready guys, there’s more to dango than you think!

First, let’s break down the different ways of making dango, including cooking methods, ingredients, and end with varieties.

Cooking

Technically, all dango are cooked in some manner. There are many ways to prepare and cook dango, varying in degrees of simplicity and difficulty.

Boiling
The easiest way to make dango is:

• Mix together mochiko and water
• Make mochiko dough into balls
• Drop balls in boiling water, soup or other liquid
• Cook for about fifteen minutes

Steaming
The next step up from boiling would be:

• Form the mochiko dough into balls
• Steam the dango
• Skewer the balls (optional)
• Roast the dango (optional)

Twice Cooked
Higher up on the dango difficulty scale is what I call twice-cooked dango. To make this dango:

• Reduce dango batter from a viscous liquid to a solid dough
• Form dough into balls
• Thread balls on skewers and steam

Shiro An Method
This is a complex method of making dango, but will yield unique dumplings with an interesting flavor and texture:

• Mix mochiko with shiro koshian
• Steam mixture and work sugar into mix
• Add additional ingredients
• Form into balls and skewer

Flours

Mochiko, glutinous rice flour, is what gives dango their super chewy, gooey texture. Shiratamako, another glutinous rice flour, is also used to make dango. A dango recipe made entirely from mochiko or shiratamako will result in a very soft dango.

Shiratamako is lumpy, and must be dissolved in water or ground before using in a recipe. I’ve heard mochiko can be used interchangeably with shiratamako with little to no adverse results. I personally have used mochiko in place of shiratamako and haven’t noticed the difference. Mochiko is also waaaay cheaper than shiratamako, especially if it’s bought under the name “sweet rice flour”.

Joshinko, non-glutinous rice flour, can be added in varying amounts to create a firmer dango. I recommend a ratio of no more than 1:1 of mochiko to joshinko for dango which is firm but still has some gooey mouth feel. Anything above that results in a denser, less chewy, harder dango.

Liquids

Water is normally used as in making dango, and boiling water at that. However, nothing’s keeping you from substituting other liquids or semi-liquids (anko, mashed fruit, pumpkin filling, etc.) for a portion or all of the water. Fruit or vegetable juice, rose water, milk, tea, or coffee can all be added to dango to enhance the flavor and change the texture. Also, extracts and concentrated flavorings can be added to alter the flavor.

The more liquid used in dango, the softer and gooier it will be. Less water will create a firmer dango, but will also result in a drier dango. Keep in mind you want the liquids hot, unless you plan on cooking the dango ingredients together anyway. Boiling the liquids will dissolve sugars and help bind the mochiko to the other ingredients, which in turn results in smoother, less gritty dango.

Additives

Certain additives, such as powders, non-rice flours, beans, nuts and seeds can be added to the dough, but it’s important to keep in mind how they’ll effect the texture of the finished dango. Small amounts of powdered spices, espresso powder, cocoa, matcha and powdered milk can be added to the rice flour(s) or dissolved in the water/ juice to create flavored dough. Experimentation with amounts is important in finding a recipe that works with your preferred texture and flavorings.

Toppings

After the dango are steamed and/or toasted, it’s your choice what you top them with, if at all. I personally am a huge fan of anko and goma an (black sesame seed paste) on my plain toasted dango. Drowning freshly browned dango in a sea of beans and sesame seeds is more yummy than it sounds. It’s up to you, though, to choose what to cover your dango with.

Some traditional ideas are:

• Tsubu An: Chunky bean paste
• Koshi An: Smooth bean paste
• Shiro An: White bean paste
• Goma An: Black sesame paste
• Kurumi: Walnut powder
• Kuri: Chestnut powder or paste
• Kinako: Roasted soy bean flour
• Mitarashi: Sauce similar to teriyaki
• Matcha An: Green tea paste
• Zunda: Dango topped with slightly sweetened green soybean paste
• Nori: Savory dango wrapped in seaweed

Dango Varities

Dango are named after their toppings, their added ingredients to the dough and their fillings. The above are a sampling of dango named after toppings (goma dango, an dango) but there are also dango named after what’s in the dough and the finished dango or how they’re cooked:

• Matcha Dango: Green tea powder flavored dango
• Kibi dango: Dango made with millet starch
• Yomogi/ Kusa Dango: Mugwort flavored dumplings (kusa dango were originally flavored with cudweed)
• Gomasuri Dango: Lil’ dumplings filled with black sesame paste
• Zunda dango: Dango filled with green soybean paste
• Sasa Dango: Dumplings filled with anko and steamed in bamboo leaves
• Kushi Dango: Skewered dumplings
• Sanshoku Dango (Three Color Dumplings: Sanshoku (three colors): Dumplings made with three colors. Contrary to popular belief, sanshoku dango does not refer to a specific variety. Any dango with three colors is sanshoku dango, including hanami and botchan dango.

Dango are also named for festivals and even fictional characters!

• Hanami Dango (Flower Viewing Dumplings): Three dango on a skewer. Colors are pink (food coloring), white

(plain) and green (matcha, yomogi or food coloring). Hanami dango are eaten during cherry blossom season.

• Tsukimi Dango (Moon Viewing Dumplings): Non-skewered filled or plain dumplings. Usually presented as a pyramid shaped pile of dumplings, tsukimi dango are eaten during the moon viewing festival. I’ve seen ornate tsukimi dango shaped like usagi (bunnies!) as a homage to the mochi pounding rabbit in the moon.
• Ikinari Dango (All of a Sudden Dango): Don’t know why this is called dango, but this daifuku-looking dumpling is made with satsumaimo topped with anko, wrapped with mochiko dough and then cooked. It’s a specialty from Kumamoto where it gets its name from being so easy to make. If visitors pop by, all of a sudden, ikinari dango is so simple, it can be whipped up in minutes.
• Botchan Dango (Named after a fictional character): Three dango on a skewer made from red beans, matcha and egg yolk.

Hopefully, I’ve inspired you to try your hand at making dango. If I have, keep reading for recipes on basic dango and complete dango recipes!

© The Anime Blog

For anyone who’s never sat in the gentle rain of cherry blossoms in spring, I encourage you to do so. It’s an incredible sight to watch as millions of pink petals slowly tumble to the ground and then cover it with a pastel carpet. Profuse amounts of cherry blossoms, sakura, are a rare sight in America (unless you live in Washington D.C.) but in Japan, cherry trees line streets and are common in parks.

It’s a Japanese rite of spring to travel to parks and boulevards filled with sakura to drink sake, sip tea and hang with friends during what’s known as hanami, “flower viewing”. This ancient rite of spring is a way to celebrate the end of winter and to rejoice in one of Japan’s national symbols, the cherry blossom.

Hanami is an old tradition which is hugely popular. Everyone enjoys hanami in their own way, but most hanami-goers can be put in two categories: those who go to silently contemplate the drifting pink petals and those who bring their stereos, a barrel of sake and as many friends as can sit on a tarp. The latter mostly adhere to the popular adage, “hana yori dango“, translated as “dumplings over flowers”, alluding to the preference of eating dumplings over admiring the flowers.

Hanami is such a big deal in Japan, it continues into the night, when it’s then called “yozakura“, night viewing. I have yet to experience yozakura, but who knows? Maybe this year is my year to see cherry blossoms under the stars.

© The Anime Blog

Personally, I enjoy both sides of hanami. I like to stroll through MoBot’s Japanese Garden, sit in the mossy alcove by myself and imagine I can hear the sound the petals make as they drop. Then I’ll go home, call my friends, pack a lunch and hightail it to a park to giggle like schoolgirls in the slow warmth of the new season.

There’s much to be enjoyed during hanami and even if you don’t have a groove of cherry trees handy, you can still celebrate hanami by enjoying a picnic under some dogwoods or other local blooming trees. The spirit of hanami is to have fun, relax, and reflect on the beauty of the season. Create your own hanami this year!

If anyone’s interested in reading more about hanami or in a recipe for one of the star confections of the season, hanami dango, check out my article on Sauce magazine’s website! The article includes a recipe for delicious hanami dango in the right side bar!

*Note: The ingredients which have an odd symbol in front followed by “1/2″ should be noted as being “1/2″.