I am trying not to lick the screen at work! Skewer three pieces into a bamboo skewer. Many people have written in over the years wondering about substitutions for the two rice flours, which are the traditional flours used to make mitarashi dango. Hi Maria! Hope you can find out the answer. Some people who never had eaten this dango in Japan my not notice the subtle difference even you use Thai brand. When I was in school (maybe it was elementary or middle school), we had home & economics and made Shiratama Dango in class. In general, the portion of food is smaller and it’s pretty well-balanced healthy meal at home. So many recipies for me to try and flex my weak cooking skills. When I was cooking mine the other day, my brain must have gone into pasta mode because when I saw bits of the dough disconnecting from the rice balls, when boiling, I thought I had overcooked them. I'm surprised you couldn't find mirin though...it should be stocked by any Japanese grocery store, since it is a very commonly used ingredient. If you don't have a scale like I did try around a cup of the flour with around a cup of the tofu and mix them together. Hope you enjoy homemade dango! へへ Also another idea is tiny bead sized Dango on toothpicks for hour d'oeuvres. i use mochiko and joushinko together with the corn starch, knead the dough a bunch and boil them. Perhaps you’ll also enjoy them this way? in there… Hope I can help you! 🙂. I didn't have one of the flours :S so had to substitute it with normal rice flour. It’s an option to use less flour. for the Joushinko? If you’re familiar with both Japanese rice and Thai rice, they are quite different. Hi Lesley! Hi Bond! I've previously made dango using this recipe without any problems. As i am typing this i am actually making my second try at making dango. We have high sodium issue than diabetes I think. You might be able to find them at a health food store too, since rice flour is more popular nowadays as a gluten-free thickening agent for sauces. I love cooking and eating (especially eating!) Hi YuNing! In Poland we have almost similar dumplings; first boiled, then fried on butter (without skewers). They make a fun, delicious snack to go with a hot cup of green tea. Do you prefer one or the other? Thanks in advance Hi Janelle! You can freeze them right away in an air tight container after step 5. Bye and thanks again???? its quite hard to find rice flour in my country because no use practically uses it , i live in "libya". 😬. Tricky as I hadn't brought notes (impulse purchase) and couldn't remember the name. The higher ones are lighter in color and flavor, and the lower grade ones are stronger in flavor and darker. Japanese soy sauce and Chinese soy sauce taste different. If you want to make dango, you will need both glutinous rice flour AND rice flour, especially for dango, the texture plays a big part in this dish. Hey again Nami. Thai rice is just a variety that has a very particular smell, there is nothing added to it to make it smell like that. I’m not sure if this style is something that’s done in Japan. Hon mirin, shio mirin or shin mirin?? The Mochiko (餅粉) is the fourth type of flour, made of glutinous rice flour similar to Shiratamako, but it’s produced differently. I only have Mochiko flour! 🙂. Hi Liz! Base dango should be all same. In Japan, these dango packages are placed near cashier counters at room temperature because they are sold fast. http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/tamahiyo9/18530595.html Hi Lori! Whoops, there are a ton of comments and they just weren’t showing up. Haha, thanks~, Hey I was wondering whether or not this was a dessert or a snack. Hello, Nami! 1 bag : http://importfood.com/fger1601.html Nice recipe, I finish cooking it about two hours ago. I purchased shiratamko online and made these for my son’s birthday last year. I may like it even more than S’more. On the back it just said 'Rice Flour' ingredients: rice. I heard it’s not the same…. Could anyone tell me what would be a good sub. Also, what are some substistutes for Mirin, im a minor and I dont know if its an alchohal or not, like can I just use regular vinegar or does it HAVE to be rice vinegar? But when I eat mitarashi dango I know its much more chewy and with more substance. I have seen both kinds sold at many Chinese grocery stores, so it should not be that hard to find if you have access to a Chinese or general Asian grocery store. I turned off the comment notify feature by mistake. Hi Rei! thanks Nami, soz about the (<) and can u plzz reply to my question soon cause i really want to make some dangos cause i dont think they sell them her in australia ^-^. Hi Rei! Almost everyone else who's tried it seems to have had success after all! Beware when adding the water to this recipe! Let me know if you try first and see how it comes out. The texture of dango is the best when it’s freshly made! I don’t recommend keeping in the fridge overnight. Or willing to try it and let the rest of us in no cultural diversity land know if it works. Thank you so much for this recipe-- it means so much more to me than you know. If I make dango today and leave it in the fridge, can I eat it tomorrow? The only thing I might do differently next time is add a little vanilla to the dough to add some flavor and maybe a little more sugar. Maybe google about it? Anyone happen to know what I'm talking about are am I just shooting blanks?!? I can't wait to try. I hope this is helpful.🙂, Is it possible to store mitarashi sauce? Get Familiar with Different Rice Flour. Since I didn't have mirin, I found that cooking sherry with a pinch of sugar works as a good substitute. Thanks for taking the time to read this, haha. Hi Jenny! Now, most Japanese dango recipes use either Dangoko (dango flour) or a combination of Shiratamako + Joshinko (ratio varies depending on recipe maker). So i'm in the middle of cooking dango. 🙂, I see, thank you! Buy our best-selling e-cookbook for 33 more easy and simple recipes! Shiratamako and Joshinko: Shiratamako (白玉粉) is from glutinous Japanese short-grain rice (also known as sweet rice) and Joshinko (上新粉) is from regular short-grain Japanese rice. You will need to cook at least 1 minute (just in case – floating means pretty much done). I was very happy they didn’t disintegrate upon boiling and they were very good. Now I will try to amke theses w/ what I ahve left. For the joushinko, substitute regular rice flour - one that's not labeled "sweet" or "glutinous". My girlfriend loved them too. I just bookmarked it too. I like a little charred dango for flavor, so I did include that step. I am planning on making some soon, but am unsure whether it is a dessert or a dinner. Hope you will enjoy! Thank you very much for your recipes! It's just a simple syrup: 1 part water 1 part sugar, plus ground ginger. So.. is it possible to just make this with mochiko? I’m glad you gave this recipe a try and thought it’s easy. I love that story! Divide the dough into 25 pieces (you can do this by forming a long log and cutting it, or just divide it up in the bowl and eyeball it). Hope I answered your questions this time. Gather all the ingredients. Hubby said the idea of sugar and soy sauce sounded grose but after he tried it he said it tasted a bit like regular pancake syrup. I also made the japanese potatoe salad and loved it. Can I just boil them? I know this is a sweet recipe, but savoury recipes have sugar too. If you enjoyed this article, please consider becoming my patron via Patreon. You may have some extra dough, but that’s okay. So i added like the whole small bag of Jyoshinko trying to thicken it up, added some more sugar too. I’ll be sure to make these more often! I was getting ideas just walking through aisles I rarely would otherwise. Cook until the sauce has thickened. Were your dango bigger than mine? Dango needs to be a bit firmer than Shiratama Dango. Thanks so much for your detailed feedback, too. I lived in Japan for a few years, and I love these things. However, it's unclear to me if you mean Joshinko AND Shiratamako, or that you mean Joshinko OR Shiratamako. Basically yes, except that the dango (dumplings) themselves are flavored in the case on ohanami dango. But I have a couple of questions....what is mirin? However, in my opinion, the texture is firmer, which I assume it’s the result of mixing more rice flour than glutinous rice flour. I hope you got the glutinous rice flour too, not just rice flour only (which makes it hard). Nope, not necessary at all. They are very commonly available in Japan, and any well stocked Japanese (as in JAPANESE, not generic Asian/Chinese/Korean) grocery store should carry both - or, at least they should carry the shiratama-ko. Thank you for spending time to research for us! xo. Thanks! 🙂, thank you nami for your reply.when i grilled it, the skin turn whiter, is that what you mean by gets tighter? Hi Rebecca! So that might be your only option for now. Each ball should be 20 grams. There will be a small difference in flavor, but perhaps you wouldn't notice it if you haven't compared them. But add the water little by little and STOP when it reaches the righ consistency anyway - as with any kind of dough, if it's very dry or very humid the amount to be added will change slightly. I got confused on the rice flour I had to use, is it Joshinko AND Shiratamako or just regular rice flour? Maybe you can share some recipes from the show ‘samurai gourmet’ or ‘kantaro the sweet tooth salary man’ from Netflix. Some dango from the supermarket include Mizuame (syrup) to make it sweet and keep it softer. looks delicious! Btw, the sauce.. It's very easy for me to taste the rice flour, so is that normal, or have I erred? You should grill them reasonably soon after they are poached in water. Combine Shiratamako and Joshinko in a bowl (or add just Dangoko in a bowl). You can broil it for a few minutes but baking will take away moisture so I won’t recommend. I got hooked on then when I was living in Tokyo, and have been craving them ever since I came back to Australia - which is years ago now. Hungry for more? As I mentioned before, you can’t use other flour to get “mochi” texture. Regarding the soy sauce base sauce… it’s sweet, but has soy sauce flavor. So even though Thai rice produces both glutinous rice flour and rice flour, the final product won’t be the same. Oops...I forgot to answer this one. If you have a Japanese grocery store nearby, maybe that’s the best option? The sauce was really tasty. I’m also using ur azuki paste ice cream recipe for the event so wish me luck! Though, you should verify the name with either the seller or by looking at the product’s detailed information. Hi John! In the end, I decided to do half and half with a total of two cups of flour (1 cup of non and 1 cup of glutinous). In English it said 'Rice Flour' ingredients: gelatinous rice flour, corn starch. Hope this helps! So the taste and texture won’t be the same. As much as I want to to do it as authentic as it can be, can I substitute the Joshinko with All Purpose Flour and Shiratamako with regular glutinous flour? This is a snack - the concept of dessert didn't exist in traditional Japanese cuisine (though these days some people do enjoy dessert after a meal). Hi, I have a question. “Tighter” as in texture…maybe more firm? I’m the only one who likes chewy mochi stuff and even I can’t eat more than 4 balls/1 stick at a go. I don't even really cook but I gotta try this maybe during the upcoming weekend. ^-^ xD 😛. Please note that using different ingredients will change the flavor and texture of the dango…, I don’t think so. For information about our privacy practices, please visit our website. How long does dango stay good for? Yep that's why I use a mixture of flours in the mitarashi dango recipe. The package says "Rice Flour (Shinko)". I got a few more balls than I really wanted because of this, but I imagine that restricting the amount of water will work just as well. 🙂. It’s widely available in non-Japanese/Asian stores. I don't know yet how it taste with mirin, but I will very soon. I make these all the time with ginger syrup. Use soy sauce and sugar to make the sauce. I’ve made too much and I don’t want it to waste 🤔, Hi Eytelis, Yes. It was so EASY! Thanks. should i smash the dough more? But sometimes, you have to use what you have… if you make only with glutinous rice flour, it’s too soft and lacks the firmness in dango. I always use hon ('real') mirin. Hi Savannah, We are glad you were ok! Hope this helps. I think I must have done something wrong since they were really dense, so I’ll have to try again soon! I tried it out yesterday and it turned out great! I couldn't find the specified rice flour you suggested, so I substituted with glutton and non-glutton kinds respectively. Sorry for the confusion. Hi Lotty! Ohh vanilla vodka! The reason is twofold. I only use good quality matcha for special occasion. However, when I ran out and had to get more, I ordered a different brand. I remember trying once, but it didn’t work out. I tried to knead the two together, but the gooiness of the Jyoshinko overpowered the doughiness of the Shiratamako. When you increase Shitamako too much, the dango gets too soft, and it becomes more like Shiratama Dango texture. Because I cannot get a hold of the Mochiko anywhere. 🙂, I usually buy these at the Japanese grocery store already made. My dango never floated to the top. I used rice flour and the mochiko sweet rice flour for this recipe, would that be the issue? I’ve always wanted to taste dango so I gave this recipe a shot and I was extremely surprised and pleased. But even with just a cup the second time, it was still too much. I have heard that diabetes increased after influenced by western food, but I am not sure how bad it is now. I had gotten these at a stall near a temple when I was visiting Japan. I found an article not too long ago that showed how to make rice cakes with water/flour and then putting them on an iron skillet and toasting them to cook. I love these! I’m glad your experiment worked and happy to hear you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for your kind words and I hope you enjoy this recipe! Can I use Chinese light or dark soy sauce instead? Hopefully it’s good as fresh one, so we don’t have to overeat mochi so much. And I must confess that I am not too fond of a lot of traditional Japanese sweets that are based on sweetened beans. That is exactly my story. In this case it is really a syrup. You can just omit the grilling part. Hi Jun! If the dough is cracking or has some wrinkle, tap your finger in water and apply the small amount of water on the cracked area to smooth out. To keep the Dango tender for a longer time: Adding sugar to the dango will help them stay softer. David, The texture should be like ear lobe, and if it’s too loose/soft, the amount of water is too much. Thank you. It should be 200 g, not 100 g. Hi Nami, I love Japanese sweets and have always wanted to try making them, (I actually just make your red bean ice cream today). Hi Keyleigh! I've always bought mitarashi dango in frozen form (with the sauce) at my little Japanese grocery store and let them thaw out. I'm glad to know I can now make them and see how they taste. You can vary the ratio to taste, or just infuse a piece of ginger then take it out. What I like about Mitarashi Dango are its contrasting textures and flavors. Thank you for trying the recipe! 🙂 I hope they turn out well, however you make them. Whyyy..? I guess I did something wrong in the process…, Thanks for always answering my questions~, Rei, try adding a little more water. Thank you, Kayleigh. I read about tofu dango. 😉. I’ll see what dessert the show covers and add to my recipe list. I’m going to try other shops to find the right flours now that I know I can make them. (Edited to add:) Can you use all mochiko? I will definitely be making these again (perhaps tonight! I made some for my friends and I and they were quite the hit. i forgot to take the picture of it. I defo make this for my friends the next time we have a get together :D! Oh and make sure to cook a little longer once it floats. I love umeboshi it is really good. Thank you very much! Mochi is made from sweet rice (aka glutinous rice) and you can’t use other flour to get that mochi texture. Some people say it’s hard to know if Tofu is included as long as ratio is not overpowering. I was try something out because I have to teach a chef to do dango for a Anime convention.Something easy for them to calculate. I’m not sure if these will dry out in the freezer or remain rock hard if I pop them immediately into water or over heat. I just dumped in a little more rice flour until the dough got to the right consistency (I do this all the time when I'm making bread as well, as humidity varies widely where I live) and the dumplings turned out fine. I keep coming back to this page to make this over and over again. Hi Aura, Thank you for your kind feedback! When you use them, boil the frozen dango without defrosting. Ah, my dangos turned out pretty hard. Thanks so much Nami! I would recommend keeping it chilled until you’re ready to eat either on the day of or next day (but you should consume soon). Eh. Sign up for the free Just One Cookbook newsletter delivered to your inbox! Okay, if the online shop (the Oleander mentioned above) is not the option, and you can’t find the Japanese ingredients in the Asian shop, I guess you just have to make and see how it is. I couldnt find Joshinko so I used a Thai rice flour, and I only had Mochiko so I added a spoonful of cornstarch to it as suggested by another website.