Mitarashi Dango

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cups Glutinous Rice Flour - see note
• 5 - 6 Bamboo skewers
• 2/3 cup Water
• 4 Tbsp Sugar - non refined preferably
• 2 Tbsp Mirin
• 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
• 2/3 cup Water
• 1 1/2 Tbsn Potato Starch or cornflour

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the dough from either Erawan glutinous rice flour (Thailand) about $1.90 for 500g.

   

   Or Japanese Dango flour which cost about $12 for 250 g at local Asian grocery in Sydney

   

   
   

   Whichever you choose put the 1 + 1/3 cup of rice flour into a large bowl and add about 2/3 of the water while mixing.

   
   

   Add small amounts of the remaining water until clumps start to form and the dough is coming away from the sides of the bowl, you don't want the dough to be too wet.

   
   

   Now use your hands to knead it to form a dough.

   
   

   Continue to knead the dough until it is soft and smooth. For an idea of the correct texture Japanese compare it to squeezing your earlobes.

2. 2

   Prepare

   
   

   Put a medium size pot of water on the stove and bring to a boil.

   
   

   Prepare a large bowl of iced water

3. 3

   Cutting and Rolling

   
   

   Cut the ball of dough in half and repeat this with each piece until you have 16 pieces in total.

   
   

   Roll each piece between your hands to form a round ball.

4. 4

   Cooking

   
   

   Carefully place all of the balls into the pot of boiling water.

   
   

   The balls will sink to the bottom of the pot and you will need to stir occasionally to prevent them sticking to the pot.

   
   

   Once cooked they will float to the top and once they do cook them for a few more minutes before removing them.

   
   

   Put the cooked balls straight into the bowl of iced water.

   
   

   Once the balls have cooled remove them from the iced water and put them on a tray dampened with water so they don't stick to the tray.

5. 5

   Make the sweet glaze

   
   

   Combine the sugar, mirin, soy sauce, water and corn starch in a small pot and mix well to combine.

   
   

   Put pot onto medium heat and either use a whisk or I prefer wooden chopsticks to stir continuously.

   
   

   Continue to stir continuously until it's appearance changes from milky to a dark transparent look and remove from heat before it gets too thick.

   
   

   Immediately pour the glaze out of the hot pot and into a bowl.

6. 6

   Assemble

   
   

   Put three balls onto each bamboo skewer.

   
   

   If you want to enhance the flavour you can lightly toast them with a kitchen torch, grill or in a non stick pan at this stage.

   
   

   Place them on a serving dish.

   
   

   Pour the sweet glaze over the skewers and serve.