Dango

Two rice flours together, boiled then grilled, with a glaze thickened by starch.

Vegan.

Ingredients

the dumplings

• 150 g joshinko
• 100 g shiratamako
• 60 g caster sugar
• 200 ml warm water

the glaze

• 4 tablespoons soy sauce
• 100 g caster sugar
• 150 ml water
• 2 tablespoons potato starch

Method

1. TWO RICE FLOURS, AND NEITHER ALONE WORKS. Joshinko is ordinary short grain rice and gives firmness and bite; shiratamako is glutinous and gives chew and softness. Joshinko alone is hard and crumbly, shiratamako alone is sticky and shapeless.
2. BOILED FIRST, THEN GRILLED. Grilled from raw they are hard in the middle; boiled until they float and then charred briefly gives a soft centre and a blistered skin.
3. Mix both flours and the sugar, then add warm water a little at a time to a dough like a firm earlobe. Judge by feel -- flours vary.
4. Knead 5 minutes until completely smooth, then roll into 2.5 cm balls.
5. Drop into boiling water. THEY ARE DONE TWO MINUTES AFTER THEY FLOAT, not when they rise. Lifted at the moment they surface, the centre is raw flour.
6. Straight into iced water, then drained and dried.
7. Three or four to a skewer, pressed on firmly.
8. GRILL DRY, 2 to 3 minutes, turning, until blistered and brown in patches. No oil and no glaze yet -- the glaze burns.
9. Glaze: soy, sugar and water simmered, then the starch slaked in a little cold water stirred in. Cook 2 minutes until glossy and thick enough to cling.
10. Spoon the glaze over the grilled skewers rather than dipping, and serve at once -- the glaze soaks in and the dumplings harden within an hour.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Japan · All recipes