Easy Hanami Dango

This easy recipe for Hanami Dango features a trio of colored chewy glutinous rice ball dumplings served on a stick and is traditionally enjoyed during cherry blossom viewing season in the Spring time. 

What is dango?

Dango is a round, spherical Japanese treat with a chewy texture, similar to Chinese tang yuan (glutinous rice balls).

Similar to mochi, dango is a dough made from a simple 1:1 mixture of Japanese short grain rice flour or sweet rice flour (also known as mochiko flour) and water.

Dango are typically served with 3-5 rice ball dumplings on a skewer or stick.

There are many types of dango, but generally speaking, they are a sweet confectionary (wagashi), served with green tea. 

However, dango can be served in a savory manner as well.

What does dango taste like?

Dango rice dumplings have a chewy, soft, smooth texture that has a neutral flavor, which makes it suitable for sweet or savory applications.

What is hanami dango?

Hanami dango (also known as sanshoku dango) contains dango in 3 colors (pink, white and green) on a skewer.

3 color representation

Pink represents cherry blossom (sakura) buds, white represents the cherry blossoms in full bloom, and green are the cherry blossom leaves after the flowers have fallen.

Why you'll love this recipe

This recipe for Hanami dango is:

Minimal in ingredients: with only a few ingredients, this hanami dango recipe without tofu is easy to make! There are recipes that call for silken tofu, but this version omits it to keep it simple.

Naturally colored: this recipe uses all-natural colors to color the dango.

Small-batch: great for a little snack, or you can scale it up to make more.

A delicious treat: a perfect Springtime cherry blossom treat, these Japanese sweet dumplings are gluten-free, dairy-free and also vegan.

Special equipment you'll need

• small/medium bamboo skewers: about 5-6" in length

Ingredients you'll need

• mochiko flour: which is a Japanese sweet glutinous rice flour used to make mochi that gives the dango its chewy texture made from short-grain sticky rice; it is slightly different from Thai glutinous rice flour, which is made from long-grain sticky rice. Note: traditionally, dango is made with a combination of shiratamako flour (another type of glutinous rice flour which can be difficult to find) and joshinko (Japanese short-grain rice flour)
• granulated sugar: adds just a touch of sweetness
• water: for mixing with the mochiko flour to form into a dough; you can use half boiling water to par-cook the dough

Coloring:

• green: matcha powder
• pink: dragonfruit/pitaya powder; you can also use red food coloring if you can't find these powders

How to make dango

Make the dough:

In a bowl, combine mochiko flour, sugar and water.

Give everything a mix and form into a dough.

Color the dough:

Divide the dough into 3 equal portions.

To one portion of dough, knead in matcha powder until fully incorporated.

To the second portion of dough, knead in dragonfruit/pitaya powder until fully incorporated.

Leave the last portion of dough plain/white.

Divide each dough into 4 equal pieces and roll in between your palms to form round spheres.

Repeat with the remainder.

Cook the dango:

Bring a pot of water up to a boil.

Add in the glutinous rice balls and cook for about 4 minutes, until they float.

Remove the cooked dango and submerge into a basin filled with ice water to stop the cooking.

Strain the dango.

Assemble:

Thread a green, white, and pink dango onto a bamboo skewer and repeat with the remainder. Serve.

How to serve

It's best to serve the dango freshly made to retain its chewy, soft texture.

There are many ways to serve dango.

Enjoy as is, dust with kinako (toasted soybean flour), cover with red bean paste (anko) or chestnut paste, coat with a thickened sweet-soy mitarashi syrup to make mitarashi dango.

Pair with a green tea such as matcha green tea, hojicha latte, or jasmine tea.

Pack it for a cherry blossom viewing picnic, with other popular hanami food selections such as egg tamago sando,salmon aburi sushi, sakura matcha donuts, or tuna onigiri.

How to store

Store dango in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day.

It's most optimal to enjoy it on the day it is made. 

Substitutions

If you don't have matcha powder or dragon fruit powder, you can color the dough with a little gel food coloring.

Other all-natural alternatives:

For pink: beetroot powder, strawberry powder, a touch of red yeast rice powder

For green: mugwort powder, spinach, spirulina.

Expert tips

The color of the dango will intensify after cooking, so don't be tempted to add too much coloring.

You can adjust the amount of coloring as desired.

Depending on the humidity, if the dough is too sticky, dust with additional mochiko flour. Conversely, if it's too dry add a teaspoon of water to the dough. Ultimately, the dough should resemble playdough -- slightly tacky and not too dry.

Hanami dango has a neutral, somewhat subtle flavor. If you prefer a sweeter rice ball dumpling, you can adjust the amount of sugar to your taste, or serve with a syrup or red bean paste.

Other sakura/cherry blossom desserts you may like