Mitarashi dango
One of Japan's most popular street sweets: springy rice-flour dumplings threaded on bamboo skewers, lightly charred and coated in a thick, glossy glaze of soy sauce and sugar. The flavour is sweet and salty at once, the texture soft and chewy. By tradition mitarashi dango come from around Shimogamo Shrine in Kyoto. At home two rice flours are enough: glutinous for chew and regular for shape.
Your own work in that: 5 min.
- Dough and balls 10 min
- Boiling 10 min
- Glaze 5 min
- Charring 10 min
- Serving 5 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneKnead a smooth dough
Mix both flours with the sugar and add the warm water gradually, kneading by hand, until the dough is smooth and as soft as an earlobe. Rice flours absorb water differently — add a spoonful if the dough cracks, a little flour if it sticks.
Ingredients: 100 g glutinous rice flour (shiratamako or mochiko) · 100 g regular rice flour (joshinko) · 1 tbsp sugar · 170 ml warm water
Shape 20 balls
Divide the dough into 20 equal pieces of about 19 g and roll smooth balls between your palms. Even size matters, so they all cook in the same time.
Ingredients: 100 g glutinous rice flour (shiratamako or mochiko) · 100 g regular rice flour (joshinko) · 1 tbsp sugar · 170 ml warm water
Even balls — they cook in the same time.Boil until they float, then 2 minutes
Drop the balls into a large pot of boiling water and stir so they do not stick to the bottom. Once they float, boil 2 minutes more — 4–5 minutes in all. The centre must be fully cooked, with no white, hard core.
Ingredients: 100 g glutinous rice flour (shiratamako or mochiko) · 100 g regular rice flour (joshinko) · 1 tbsp sugar · 170 ml warm water
Two more minutes after they float.Transfer to cold water
Lift the balls with a slotted spoon into a bowl of iced water for 2 minutes, then drain. Chilled balls are springier and stick together less.
Ingredients: 100 g glutinous rice flour (shiratamako or mochiko) · 100 g regular rice flour (joshinko) · 1 tbsp sugar · 170 ml warm water
Cook a glossy glaze
In a small saucepan mix the soy sauce, sugar, mirin, water and starch. Heat, stirring constantly, until the glaze thickens and turns clear and glossy — about 2 minutes after it boils. Stir from the very start, as the starch sinks to the bottom and forms lumps.
Ingredients: 3 tbsp soy sauce · 4 tbsp sugar · 1 tbsp mirin · 120 ml water · 1 tbsp potato starch
Bring to the boil, stirring — the glaze turns clear.Thread onto skewers
Thread 4 balls onto each bamboo skewer. Soak the skewers in water for a few minutes beforehand so they do not burn while charring.
Ingredients: 100 g glutinous rice flour (shiratamako or mochiko) · 100 g regular rice flour (joshinko) · 1 tbsp sugar · 170 ml warm water
Char lightly on both sides
Toast the skewers in a dry non-stick pan or under the oven grill 2–3 minutes a side, until pale brown spots appear. If they do not all fit at once, char them in batches — about 10 minutes in total. Charring adds the faintly smoky flavour of street-stall dango.
Ingredients: 100 g glutinous rice flour (shiratamako or mochiko) · 100 g regular rice flour (joshinko) · 1 tbsp sugar · 170 ml warm water
Glaze and serve at once
Lay the skewers on a plate and pour over plenty of warm glaze. Serve at once, ideally with green tea. Dango are best on the day they are made — they harden in the fridge.
Ingredients: 3 tbsp soy sauce · 4 tbsp sugar · 1 tbsp mirin · 120 ml water · 1 tbsp potato starch
Before you start
Two flours
Glutinous rice flour alone makes very chewy, mochi-like dango that are hard to shape. Regular rice flour alone gives hard, crumbly ones. Half and half gives the classic springy texture. You will find both in Asian shops.
Tofu for part of the water
A popular home trick in Japan is replacing half the water with silken tofu. The dango stay soft longer, even several hours after making.
Other toppings
The same dough also makes dango served with sweet adzuki bean paste (anko) or dusted with roasted soybean flour (kinako), and — tinted in three colours — hanami dango, eaten while viewing cherry blossom.
