I recreated these cute dango from Cha An Teahouse/BonBon to promote the support of small and Asian businesses 🍡
Hanami dango is usually made and eaten during the upcoming-sakura-viewing season in Japan. Hanami means "flower-viewing" 🌸

I really like Cha An because they want customers to “Enjoy Japan Without Airfare.” They offer food and beverages a bit closer to authentic Japanese cafes than the typical Japanese-French-inspired cafes/bakeries you’ll see in the city. Their shops and food/drink are aesthetically-pleasing as well.
As a small Asian business, these quarantines and shutdowns are really threatening in the long run. I hope we can work together to make sure these businesses survive 💕
I’m hoping at the end of this rain, we can all find a rainbow 🌈
 

Notes: This dango dough recipe is adapted from Just One Cookbook's mitarashi dango recipe, which originally calls for both shiratamako and joshinko. 
Shiratama-ko (shiratama flour) is a type of glutinous/sweet rice flour that results in an especially bouncy and chewy mochi. Joshinko is short-grain rice flour that's not glutinous, and it's chewier and denser in texture compared to shiratamako. I didn’t have Joshinko so I just used all shiratama, and these dango were still so delicious! Apparently you can use mochiko; this will result in an inferior texture and taste, but it’s easier to find in stores

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Ingredients
 

• 200 g shiratama-ko

• 150-160 g warm water

• 40 g sugar, optional (keeps the cooked dango tender for longer
   

Instructions​
 

1. Mix ingredients together in a bowl by hand. Add more water if necessary to reach earlobe-consistency.

2. Divide dough into 10-gram portions and roll into smooth balls. I had to wet my hands occasionally to keep the surface of the dango smooth.
   *(You can freeze them on a sheet tray and condense them in a container if you want to make a big batch and keep them for future use! Boil from frozen.)

3. Bring a pot of water to a boil.

4. Add dango and keep boiling until dango floats to the top, stirring occasionally.

5. Once ALL the dango is floating, turn off heat and strain. Shock dango in cold water to prevent from further cooking.

6. Once cool, strain the dango and let air dry or dry surface with a paper towel. It may stick to the surface, so you can lightly grease a plate and let the dango air dry there.

7. Stick 3-5 dangos on a small skewer (you can cut long ones in half or thirds)

8. Top with tsubu-an (chunky red bean paste), or pipe designs using koshi-an (smooth red bean paste) or shiro-an (white bean paste).

• If you want to make your own red bean paste, here's Namiko's (Just One Cookbook) recipe: https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-make-anko-red-bean-paste/

• Shiro-an is tougher to find in stores, but Namiko has a recipe to make your own as well https://www.justonecookbook.com/white-bean-paste-shiroan/

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Pictured flavor breakdown:
 

LEFT: Kinako dango (recipe below)

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CENTER: Rainbow-an dango

• Red: mix a small amount of strawberry puree into white bean paste. Decorate with dehydrated strawberry pieces

• "Orange": see below for mitarashi sauce recipe. Can make kinako dango as well (recipe below)

• Yellow: add some yuzu extract to some white bean paste. Zest a lemon on top for extra citrus flavor

• Green: knead in some matcha powder into white bean paste

• Black: knead in black sesame powder or paste into smooth red bean paste

• Purple: see note above about making red bean paste

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RIGHT: Hanami dango (to easily recreate: color 1/3 dough with red or pink food color, 1/3 dough with green food color or matcha powder, and 1/3 plain)

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To make mitarashi (grilled + sweet soy glazed) dango:
 

• 5 g potato starch

• 50 g sugar

• 50 g water

• 15 g soy sauce
   

1. Whisk sugar and potato starch together in a small saucepan to break any lumps. Add water and soy sauce and whisk over medium heat until mitarashi sauce has thickened. Boil about another 15 seconds to cook out starch. Let cool.

2. Soak skewer in water before putting dango on. Use a grill or a kitchen torch to char the surface of the rice balls, then glaze with mitarashi sauce.​​​​

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For kinako dango:

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• Kinako powder (roasted soybean powder) for coating dango

• Kuromitsu (“black sugar” syrup)

  • 113 g brown sugar (1/2 cup)

  • 75 g water (5 Tbsp)

  • 7 g mizuame or corn syrup (1 tsp)

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1. For kuromitsu: Bring water and sugar to a boil.

2. Reduce heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes, or until syrup starts to thicken

3. Stir in mizuame. Once dissolved, remove from heat and let cool.

4. Roll cooked and cooled dango in kinako powder. Drizzle with kuromitsu and serve.