Mitarashi Dango Recipe – Japanese Special

Make the sauce: First, let’s start by making the sauce. In a small saucepan combine all of the ingredients except for the potato/corn starch and stir. Put on medium heat until the mixture starts to slowly boil. Reduce the heat to low.

Combine the starch with water: In a small bowl, combine the 1 tbsp potato/corn starch with a little cold water to make a slurry. Add the slurry to the saucepan and stir until it becomes thick, about 1-2 mins. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Make the dango: In a bowl combine the 160g shiratamako rice flour and 60g joshinko rice flour, 170ml-190ml water, and 1-2 tsp sugar to taste. Mix until fully combined and a dough starts to form. Mix and knead by hand until soft and slightly stretchy. The Japanese say to mix it until it feels like an earlobe.

Form the dango: After mixing the dango dough, prepare a saucepan of boiling water. Next form the dough into small bite-sized balls. After forming the balls, place them one by one into the boiling saucepan of water. Be careful not to overcrowd the saucepan, and boil in batches if necessary.

Boil the dango: Boil the balls for 1-2 minutes. Then remove and place in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. Finish boiling if needed, and then drain the dango from the ice water.

Pierce the dango: Next, take the skewers and place 3-5 dango on each skewer, piercing each one through the middle. Using a grill pan or the grill on your oven, grill each skewer until grill marks form and flip onto the other side to finish. When finished, take the mitarashi sauce and either brush or pour over the finished skewers. Enjoy the mitarashi dango while hot.