Dango (continued)

What You Need

Ingredients
1. 1 cup Mochiko (Sweet Rice Flour)
2. Water (the amount can vary)
3. Whatever extras you want!


Equipment
1. Medium-Large mixing bowl
2. Measuring cup
3. Cutting Board
4. Large pot
5. Plastic Plates (paper will work, but plastic is preferable)
6. Strainer-Spatula/Ladel (the key is the strainer part; you can use almost any kind of strainer if you have to, but the long handle is very useful)
7. Bamboo Skewers (not necessarily required, but they’re the traditional serving style)


A Few Questions Before We Begin…

What kind of dango are you making? To answer this question, you can look outward to see what kinds of dango already exist (there are many), or you can look inward to your creativity and come up with your own kind. Whatever you come up with should essentially be a variation of the original recipe by either adding something to or exchanging something in (either in whole or in part) from said original recipe. Even though the recipe is only rice flour and water, there is still plenty of substitution that can be done. Water, both when creating the dough and when cooking, can be replaced (in whole or in part) with other liquids (just beware of burning the sugars in some juices; I recommend doing only a partial replacement if you want to use juice for cooking). If you use a custom liquid during the dough-creation, it will most likely have a stronger impact than if used cooking. Also note that features of a liquid (like viscosity) will have an effect on dango texture. As far as dry ingredients go, you can add different powders or similarly ground-up ingredients (like sugar), but these may effect dango texture and may require additional water to properly mix. You can also coat the finished dango with a powder-esque mixture as well by simply rolling them in it (sugar is once again a possibility if you want sweet dango, but it doesn’t have to be! You could use ground beef jerky if you really wanted to…). You also try skewering different things along with your dango to create a more complex dish. Lastly, you can also consider sauces for putting on top of your dango; nearly any kind can work. Ultimately, it’s all up to you; just use your judgment and avoid bad combos (I can’t even think of one, but it’s probably for the best; I don’t want anyone trying something nasty just to try it). You can also do other interesting things to the dango, like giving it a light grilling once it has been cooked, or just putting it into a soup. One last thing to consider is your ratio between water and mochiko: more mochiko results in chewier, firmer, and dryer dango (yes, they can seem a bit dry believe it or not), while more water naturally results in the opposite.