Our mitarashi dango recipes make subtly sweet and soft Japanese rice dumplings with a sweet and savoury sticky sauce.
For our mitarashi dango recipe, we'll show you how to make rice dumplings with tofu for a softer bite and without tofu for more chew. We'll also list substitutes for some of the traditional ingredients used so you can make this Japanese snack wherever you are.
These soft, chewy dumplings make an excellent light snack when you're craving a sweet bite. It is also usually served skewered on a stick, making it convenient to eat when you're out shopping. Japanese street vendors generally serve them hot, but you can also eat them cold.
If you're a fan of Demon Slayer, you might have seen this tasty snack eaten in the anime series.
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Mitarashi dango ingredients
For our easy mitarashi dang recipe, you'll need the following ingredients.
For the dango:
- Mochiko or glutinous rice flour
- Room temperature water or tofu
- Salt
For the mitarashi dango sauce
- Mirin
- light brown sugar and golden syrup
- Soy sauce
- Potato starch
Mochiko
You can use either mochiko, shiratamako or regular glutinous rice flour for our mitarashi dango recipe.
If you use mochiko, you'll get a sticky and tender soft texture. However, if you prefer a soft texture with more chew use, shiratamako. Our recipe will use regular glutinous rice flour as it's easier to find, cheaper, and has a good amount of softness and chewiness.
Tofu (optional)
Tofu is optional for our mitarashi dango recipe. However, we would recommend using silken tofu to blend with the flour. Silken tofu will give a more delicate bite. If you can't find tofu, simply use water instead.
The amount of water you use will depend on the portion size you're making, which we will clarify further in our recipe section.
Mirin
Mirin is a type of sweet Japanese rice wine that you can find in most Asian supermarkets. We recommend looking for rice wine even if you cannot find mirin. The wine adds a dash of bitterness which counters the syrup. You can skip mirin, but the sauce may not taste as good.
For a non-alcoholic alternative to mirin, you can use rice wine vinegar. However, you will need to add sugar to the vinegar in a 1:1 ratio. You do this to counter the natural acidity and sourness of the vinegar.
Mitarashi Dango Recipe (with or without tofu)
Ingredients
- 130 g glutinous rice flour
- 120 ml room temperature water
- ½ teaspoon salt
Mitarashi dango sauce
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 3 tbsps water
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon rice syrup
- 2 teaspoon mirin
- 1 teaspoon potato starch
Cooking Instructions
- Mix the glutinous rice flour and water. Ensure that you add the water gradually and stir to fully combine. Touch your dough. It should feel soft and smooth.
- Divide the dough into small equal balls.
- Boil a pot of water over medium heat to prepare for boiling the dough balls. Drop the dough balls into the pot of boiling water. Once the mitarashi dango starts to float, allow it to simmer for another 5 minutes to ensure the centre of the balls is also cooked. Then, strain and transfer it to a bowl of cold water. Leave it there until you're ready to serve the dumplings.
- Mix the potato starch and water in a bowl. To make the sauce, heat the brown sugar, rice syrup, mirin and soy sauce in a saucepan over medium heat. Then, mix the starch mixture to thicken the sauce. Once the sauce is thick, remove it from the heat and set it aside.
- Use a stick to poke through the dough balls. Dribble the sauce over them. Now, you can enjoy your skewered sweet dumplings.
Recipe Notes
- If you add silken tofu, replace the water portion with 150 grams of tofu for every 130 g (1 cup) of glutinous rice flour. Add it to the flour when you mix the dough.
- If you can't find mirin, you can rice wine instead. Alternatively use rice wine vinegar with sugar to a 1:1 ratio,
- For those who prefer a stronger taste, try the tips in our 'Cooking Tips' section to add flavour to your rice dumplings.
- Note this mitarashi kushi dango recipe does not include skewers in its ingredient list. Japanese skewer sticks, known as kushi, are long brown sticks usually used for finger foods. But you can also serve Japanese dumplings without a skewer if you want.
- Lastly, if you need to store your mochi dessert, you can keep them in the refrigerator for up to three days. Please see 'Cooking tips' for more information.
Nutrition
Calories have been calculated using an online calculator. Nutritional information offered on Honest Food Talks is for general information purposes and is only a rough estimate.
Cooking Tips
If you are ready to learn how to make mitarashi dango, there are a few points that you must consider. Before you start, we hope you can learn from our cooking mistakes.
We've provided cooking tips from our experiments to help you make the perfect Japanese dessert.
Cracks on dango balls
When rolling the dango balls, don't worry about have small cracks on the surface. As you cook them in boiling water, the cracks will slowly fade away.
For large cracks, wet your fingertips with some water and smear the cracks to close the gaps.
Why is my dango dough sticky?
Your dough is probably sticky because you've added too much water. Aim for a firm, soft consistency that's not too thin. One tip is to touch the softest part of your earlobe. Remember that soft and smooth feeling, and test if your dough feels the same.
Another way is to add more flour to the dough so there is less moisture. Sometimes, it could be due to the temperature and humidity of your room. With the addition of more flour, the dough becomes less sticky.
Why does it taste bland?
You might be wondering why your rice dumplings taste so bland. The taste of plain dango is very subtle. It has a hint of sweetness but does not taste overwhelmingly strong.
If you find it too bland, add more sugar or grill the dumplings longer. Adding more sugar will make the dessert slightly sweeter, and lightly grilling it with a blowtorch or a frying pan will give it a toasty taste.
You can also use a frying pan to lightly fry the dessert's surface. We recommend this step if you prefer a more robust flavour for your desserts! Another way is to switch up the toppings. For example, some cooks add some red bean paste to the dumplings.
Why is my mitarashi dango sauce not thick?
If you've not added starch to your list of mitarashi dango ingredients, that's probably why the sauce is not thick. However, if you did, your sauce might not be thick enough for a few reasons:
- The type of starch you used.
- The amount of starch.
- Or you might need to cook it longer to remove more water from the sauce to thicken it.
Ultimately, starch is used to thicken the sauce. Potato starch is best as it forms a nice translucent gel when it cools. On the other hand, If you use cornstarch, your sauce may turn out gummier and thinner. You could also heat the sauce (with starch added) and add more water. The moisture will evaporate, thickening the sauce as it cools.
How do I store the rice dumplings?
If you want to make these Japanese skewered rice dumplings and store them instead of eating them immediately, the tip is to add sugar to the flour before you begin mixing the dough. This step will keep the texture tender and 'mochi' for longer.
The sugar amount should be about 20% of the flour weight. Please note that you should only skip the sugar if you plan to eat the dumplings immediately, or the final product might be too sweet.
If it's the sauce you want to make ahead of time, remember to remove it from the heat once it boils. If not, more moisture will evaporate, and your sauce can become a thick slurry which does not look appetising.
To store leftover mochi dumplings, just keep them in the refrigerator or freeze them. You can keep them relatively fresh for up to three days in the fridge. If you keep it in the freezer, keep it for no more than 5 days. Then, when you feel hungry just reheat it in a microwave. However, we highly recommend that you eat them fresh. This is because the mochi dessert hardens once it cools down - compromising its iconic texture.
How to make Mitarashi dango without tofu
You can also make our mitarashi dango recipe with no tofu. The steps will remain the same. However, you will be replacing tofu with water.
The water should be around 90% of the flour weight. For example, if you use 100g of flour, you need about 90 ml of water.
Add water gradually and watch out for the consistency of the dough. Your final dough should be firm, like how it feels when you touch your ear lobe. Although your skewered sweet dumplings might turn out slightly firmer and less chewy than if you use tofu, they will still taste good.
How to eat them?
This Japanese snack is best described as rice dumplings glazed with sweet soy sauce. There are several ways to cook and eat these sweet rice dumplings.
Some Japanese cooks prefer to boil them, while others like to grill the dessert for an earthy, charred flavour. Whether you eat them in a restaurant or buy them from a street vendor, you will often see that they are skewered on a stick and stacked atop each other. It's a traditional Japanese sweet that is usually served at tea time or after dinner.
The skewered sweet dumplings taste soft and slightly chewy. In addition, the cooks drizzle a light sauce over the dumplings, giving the dessert a salty and savoury taste.
There are also many different ways to serve this exquisite treat. For example, some vendors may sell them cold, and others prefer to serve them hot. Furthermore, some stores also like to add a dollop of filling, such as red bean paste, also known as anko in Japanese. That's because the white-coloured dumplings are fairly mild-tasting when eaten on their own.
This dessert originated from a Kyoto tea house hundreds of years ago. Initially, tea houses made these sweet treats as an offering to the gods at shrines. Over time, street vendors started selling these delicious snacks to the shrine visitors. As a result, this chewy treat became increasingly popular and is now served almost everywhere in Japan.
Mitarashi vs Hanami Dango
Mitarashi dango is different from hanami dango because of when they are eaten, their colours and the way in which they are usually served. While the Japanese usually eat Hanami dango to celebrate the start of spring, its white counterpart is enjoyed throughout the year.
The steps to make both are similar, except you will find that at the end of a hanami dango recipe, the rice dumplings are dyed pastel pink, pale green and white. However, the mitarashi version is white and glazed with a sauce made from rice wine and plant starch. The sauce gives the yummy snack a light brown hue. If you've enjoyed this mitarashi kushi dango recipe, learn how to make mochi next.
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