Japanese sweets dango recipe. "Dango": recipe and cooking methods

I prepared unusually delicious traditional sweets of Japan for you! Such sweets are called dango. They are rice balls on a stick dipped in a sweet sauce. Such Japanese sweets differ from other sweets both in appearance and in the way they are prepared and in the absence of sweets.

Sweets themselves, as a species, appeared much earlier than the dessert itself. This means that dango balls began to be made a long time ago, but the finished form of the recipe did not appear until 1930. Previously, such rice balls were served with soy sauce, but today they are served with mitarashi sweet sauces and others.

To make 25 dango balls (5 sticks) you will need:

• 300 grams of rice flour (it is good to use rice flour: joushinko or shiratamako )
• 250 ml hot but not boiling water

• Grill or grill pan
• Pot
• A bowl
• 5 bamboo sticks or 5 long toothpicks

Stage one:

Pour the rice flour into a bowl and cover with hot water. Then mix everything thoroughly until a homogeneous mass is obtained. The rice dough should be soft and moist (rice dough is very different from our usual wheat dough).

Stage two:

Now divide the whole mass into 25 balls. This can be done in different ways: either twist a long sausage from the dough and divide it into approximately the same 25 pieces, or simply simply separate the dough from the total mass by eye. And twist (roll) each separated piece into a ball with your palms. It's okay if the balls are not even. Rice dough is not so easy to give the perfect shape.

Stage three:

Pour water into a saucepan and boil it. Then add water a little. Next, place all the dango balls in boiling water and cook for 3-4 minutes. When the balls are cooked, immediately place them in a separate bowl of cold water!

Stage four:

While the rice balls are cooling, prepare 5 sticks. Then put the balls on the sticks, 5 pieces each. This is not difficult to do - according to the principle of barbecue! Just string the ball on the "skewer", making a hole in the middle of the ball.

Stage five:

Now heat the grill pan or the grill itself (depending on what you are using) and place the sticks with balls on it. Toast the dango balls, turning them constantly so that they don't burn but leave toasted "marks".

While you are frying the balls, prepare the mitarashi sweet sauce. This must be done in advance so that the dango balls can be poured with sauce while they are hot. This will help the sauce adhere better to the balls.

Friends, we also want to note that dango balls do not have to be fried. There are recipes where the balls are only boiled, but then longer than 3-4 minutes - about 10 minutes !!! And also some Japanese do not boil balls at all, but steam them! As you can see, the cooking process may be different, but the taste does not change much from this.

Sweet desserts (“motiko”) are very popular among the local population, among which a dish called “Dango” can be distinguished. The recipe for its preparation has dozens of different options. For example, we can consider only some of them.

Classic treat

In any Japanese family, housewives know how to make Dango. The recipe and cooking features of this dish depend on the time of year and the ingredients available. In fact, this is a dessert, which is a small size, neatly placed on a plate and poured with a pre-prepared sauce. They usually take a little over half an hour to prepare. As an example, consider the classic version of Dango, the recipe of which provides for the following main ingredients:

For the test you need: for a glass of rice cereal 110 milliliters of hot water.

For the sauce you need: one and a half tablespoons of potato starch, 200 milliliters of water, ½ cup of brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce.

The whole process consists of several stages:

1. First you need to make balls. To do this, grind the rice into flour, pour it into a deep bowl, and then, gradually adding boiling water, prepare a dough that resembles plasticine in consistency. After that, neat balls must be rolled from the resulting mass and carefully laid on a cutting board. The size of each blank should be slightly smaller than a walnut.
2. Boil water in a saucepan and dip the balls into it. Wait until the semi-finished products float, and then cook them for 3 minutes. Remove finished products with a slotted spoon and put on a dish.
3. Slowly string the balls on wooden skewers, 3 pieces each, and place them on plates.
4. From the products prepared in advance, make an original sauce. To do this, you must first boil water in a saucepan, gradually add all the ingredients to it and cook them until thickened.
5. Pour the cooked syrup over the kebabs.

This dessert should be served with freshly brewed green tea.

A bit of history

The Japanese have been preparing Dango for over five hundred years. The recipe has changed many times during this time. Initially, nuts were raw materials for it. Then, grain, previously ground into flour, began to be used as the main ingredient. They made small dumplings from it, which, in size, should easily fit in the mouth. Later, in the 14-15th century, blanks began to be strung on small sticks. This made it easy to eat dessert. And the dish looked more original. In the 16th century, a rule was introduced according to which exactly 5 balls had to be put on one skewer. Later, this figure changed several times, and now local stores sell packages of 3 or 4 dumplings per serving. Currently, there are a huge number of varieties of "Dango". It mainly depends on the sauce with which this dish is served at the table, or the seasoning used to give it a new taste. Among the most popular options are:

1. "An-dango" are rice balls drizzled with the original red bean paste.
2. "Kuri-dango". The aromatic mixture is prepared from chestnut.
3. "Goma-dango". The blanks are sprinkled with sesame seeds.
4. "Botty-dango". Each "barbecue" consists of three balls of different colors. One of them is dyed with red beans, another with green tea, and the third with egg.
5. "Sasa-dango". This variant can have two varieties: male (Otoko) and female (Onna). At the final stage, the balls are certainly wrapped in bamboo leaves.
6. "Dempun-dango" is made from potato flour. After that, they are baked with boiled sweet beans.
7. "Kibi-dango" is made from wheat flour.
8. "Chiadango" is a variant where green tea is added to the dough itself.

In each locality, the population prefers to cook certain varieties of Dango, paying tribute to centuries-old traditions.

original version

For a long time, the Japanese considered the national dessert a means of cleansing the body and spirit of a person. They perceived it as a kind of offering to the gods. For this, a variety of variants of Dango were used. A recipe with a photo will help you better understand the technique of preparing this dish. One of the methods involves the presence of the following products:

150 grams of rice, 75 milliliters of warm boiled water, a pinch of salt, 30 grams of sugar, ½ teaspoon of sesame seeds, poppy seeds and cinnamon.

Work sequence:

1. First, you need to turn the rice into flour using a coffee grinder. The dough is best prepared from a mixture of ordinary grains and sushi rice.
2. Pour dry ingredients (sugar, flour and salt) into a deep bowl.
3. Gradually adding water, knead the plastic dough and knead it thoroughly.
4. Divide the mass into balls.
5. Place them on the steamer rack and cook for 25 minutes.
6. Put the finished products together and again turn them into a single mass.
7. From the resulting dough, once again make round blanks.
8. Roll them in a mixture of sugar with sesame seeds, cinnamon or poppy seeds.
9. After that, the semi-finished products need to be pricked on skewers one, three or four pieces and pour over with syrup.

Alternatively, the balls can simply be folded into a bowl or carefully distributed on a plate.

Appetizing Daifuku

There is also a recipe for cooking "Dango" with a photo. At home, this dish can be made in your own way, keeping only the main directions of the process technology. For example, the Japanese sometimes make their favorite rice balls by adding different foods inside. It turns out a kind of "mochi" with filling. They are called "daifuku". To prepare such a dessert, you may need: 100 grams of "motiko" (special rice flour), 120 milliliters of cold water and 3 tablespoons of powdered sugar.

Sweet balls are prepared as follows:

1. First, the flour must be mixed with powder, and then, by adding water, prepare the dough.
2. Put it on a plate, cover with cling film and microwave at 200 degrees for 5 minutes.
3. After that, the dough should be put on a cutting board sprinkled with starch, and roll it into a pancake.
4. Using a glass, cut out even circles from a single layer.
5. Put the filling in the middle of each piece. It can even be a piece of chocolate bar or a fresh berry.
6. Pinch the edges, and then roll everything into a neat ball.
7. Finished products, lightly sprinkled with starch, put on a plate.

Now the balls can be eaten, adding any sauce or sweet syrup if desired.

Favorite dessert

There are different situations in life, and not always at hand there are those components that are needed according to the recipe. What to do in this case? How else can you cook Dango? There is also a recipe without rice flour. You just need to grind raw cereals in advance, and then use the resulting product in further work. So, to prepare a classic Japanese recipe, you will need: 300 grams of ground rice and a whole glass of hot water.

For the Mitarashi sauce: 1 teaspoon cornstarch, ½ cup water, 50 grams sugar, half a teaspoon rice vinegar, 25 milliliters soy sauce, and a teaspoon Mirina Japanese wine.

Preparing the dish is very simple:

1. First of all, rice should be gradually mixed with water and a plastic dough should be prepared.
2. Roll it in the form of a sausage, and then divide it with a knife into 25 identical blanks.
3. Form them into even balls.
4. For 3-4 minutes, put them in a pot of boiling water, and then hold them in cold water for a while.
5. String the balls on bamboo sticks and lay the resulting "kebabs" on the corrugated surface of the grill pan. To avoid burning them, it is better to turn them periodically.
6. At this time, you can do the sauce. You just need to combine all the ingredients and heat them until the mixture thickens.
7. Put the finished balls on skewers on a plate and pour over with fragrant sauce.

The Japanese are very fond of this dish and are happy to cook it in case of any celebration.

Mitarashi dango - rice balls with tofu on skewers (with video)

It is a popular Japanese dessert and is also popular in Korea. This dessert is one of the oldest in Japan. It is made from rice flour, often tofu is added to the flour. Dango (団子, rH. Dango) or Odango (お団子, rH. Odango) is a type of mochi. The difference is that mochi are served individually, and dango mochi balls are placed 3-5 pieces on bamboo sticks. In this form, they are served with tea, while pouring a sweet syrup called Mitarashi dango no tare (jap. みたらし団子のタレ, rH. Mitarashi dango no tare). This syrup is made from sugar, sweet mirin rice wine, water and soy sauce, and a little potato starch is added to thicken the syrup. The syrup is sweet with a salty aftertaste. Instead of the traditional Mitarashi dango no tare syrup, you can use your favorite syrup. Balls can be sprinkled with sesame seeds.

The preparation of this dessert should start with syrup. If you already have the syrup, you can skip this process and move on to making the Dango Ball Dough.

For syrup:

• light soy sauce - 2 tablespoons,
• mirin - 2 tablespoons,
• sugar - 3 tablespoons,
• potato starch - 0.5 tbsp,
• water - 5 tbsp. (or more if a thinner syrup is needed).

Place all ingredients in a suitable size saucepan.

Stir the contents until the starch dissolves.

Put the saucepan on the fire and bring the liquid to a boil, stirring constantly.

Once the liquid comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer until the syrup thickens to the desired consistency. If the syrup has become thicker than desired, you can dilute it with hot water and mix the syrup.

As soon as the syrup has thickened to the desired consistency, immediately remove the saucepan from the heat.

Cool at room temperature. The syrup is ready.

For the test (for 24 pieces of 20 g):

• glutinous rice flour - 200 g,
• silk tofu - 100 g,
• warm water - 80-100 ml,
• sugar - 1 tbsp.

Place the tofu in a container of suitable volume and mash it into a puree (with a fork or hands), then add the rice flour and sugar.

Add warm water in parts and mix the contents of the container with the dough until a homogeneous mass is formed. The dough should be elastic and plastic, as the Japanese say "耳たぶ", like an earlobe.

From the dough (preferably dust your hands with flour) form balls, about 3 cm in diameter. This is approximately 20 g of dough.

Boil water in a saucepan or wok, lightly salt and lower the balls one by one into the water. Cook for approximately 10 minutes.

Then remove the balls from boiling water and transfer to a container with very cold water (preferably with ice). Let the balls cool.

Then drain the water and string the balls on wooden skewers. The Japanese plant 3-5 pieces on one skewer.

Heat a frying pan over medium heat, lightly grease with vegetable oil and fry the balls, mounted on skewers, until browned. In Japan, dango can be served boiled, not roasted. But roasting improves the taste of these balls.

Transfer the reddened dangos to a serving plate, drizzle with syrup, or sprinkle with a pinch of toasted white sesame seeds. You can eat.

Best wishes,
Your Korshop.

Mitarashi dango (みたらし団子)

Similar to skewers, balls on a stick are Japanese dangos or sweet mochi on a stick. In Japan, they are served with a special sauce.

One of the most popular desserts that can be found in any Japanese supermarket and at any holiday.

Dango balls on a stick are usually from 3 to 5. There are not only white, but also green and pink. Often all three colors are found on one stick, this is called sanshyoku-dango.

Dango has the oldest history in Japanese culture, with the proverb "hana yori dango" (花より団子) associated with it. loosely translated, it can be described as "eat before admiring the beautiful."

Since, alas, Japanese supermarkets are not available to us, we will make dango ourselves.

The proposed recipe is called mitarashi dango - dango balls will be white, with a special sauce.

Ingredients:

• - rice flour 400 gr.
• (In general, mochi-gome rice flour is needed, but since this is very difficult to find, glutinous rice can be ground in a coffee grinder)
• -100 ml. soy sauce
• - sugar 200-300 gr. (depending on sweet tooth)
• - 4 tbsp. l. starch.
• - 200 ml. water.

1 For the test of our future dangos, let's boil the water first. Then pour the already hot water into a container with rice flour. Do not forget to stir everything with a spoon or whisk. The dough will finally look like soft plasticine and will be very pleasant to the touch.

From a homogeneous mixture we make small balls (the size of a walnut).

Ready-made balls are steamed for 15-20 minutes, but also, if you don’t have a double boiler, you can also cook in boiling water. Although there is always a chance that they will fall apart.

We're preparing the sauce. Mix soy sauce, sugar, starch and a glass of water and put on fire. Cook until thickened, do not boil.

Before serving, the balls are strung on skewers, smeared with sauce.

Bon appetit!

Dango is a Japanese dish. Rice balls strung on bamboo sticks and poured with sauce will pleasantly surprise your guests. This recipe is quite easy to prepare, and most importantly, you can show your imagination in it! Step 1: Making the dough In a cup of flour, mixing thoroughly, add boiled water. Since rice flour is very sticky, so water must be added slowly so that the mass turns out without lumps. Having kneaded closely, look, it should be homogeneous, sticky enough to make balls. Step 2: Making Balls Form the same dense balls the size of a large walnut. And carefully put them on the bamboo sticks. Step 3: Cook Throw dangos into boiling water so the balls don't fall apart. Cook for another 2-3 minutes after they float. Step 4: Prepare the SauceTo prepare the sauce, mix starch with water in a saucepan. Stir and leave the mass for 10-15 minutes. Then add soy sauce, sugar and put on the stove. As a result, the sauce should be quite thick. Mix well with a whisk to avoid lumps. Step 5: ServePut the finished balls on deoy skewers and pour over the sauce. The dish is ready, the dango is ready to be served! Enjoy your meal! - Balls can be made colored by adding various food colors, in addition, the shape of the balls can be given to any due to the plasticine mass. - You can use the steamer to boil the balls, very fast and convenient. - The sauce can be prepared in the microwave, the main thing is not to bring it to a boil, otherwise it may become too thick.