Birthday MITARASHI DANGO Making

 It's fun to make something different for birthday.  I decided to make MITARASHI DANGO for birthday.

 

As before in previous posts for MITARASHI DANGO, I decided to test cooking the MITARE  a bit different.  I heated sugar and soy sauce together.  As the sugar started to melt, I added only 150 ml of water and cook to reduce.  About 8 to 10 minutes into cooking, I mixed the 20 g of potato starch with 30 ml water.   Stir.  The mixture thickens.  This methods seem to have jelled up much faster than the previous few tries. 

Prepare the MITARE syrup.

 MITARE (sweet sauce for the DANGO)
Sugar 100 g
Soy sauce 50 ml
MIRIN   30 ml   (Japanese cooking wine)
Water 180 ml   - separate 150 ml   and 30 ml to mix with potato starch
Potato starch  - KATAKURIKO 20 g    (*or more - test it - DO NOT use CORN starch; arrow root starch is okay.)

 

The syrup should be thick enough to coat the Mochi Dango completely and not slipping off.

The DANGO Ingredients:

250 g DANGO flour/SHIRATAMAKO
250 g GLUTINOUS RICE FLOUR (green bag)
Add 180 ml of warm water, and have another 180 ml of warm water ready.  (You might not need all of second cup of 180 ml warm water.)

Combine with warm water; mix.  Add other 180 ml of warm water 1 Tablespoon at a time.  Mix in until you have a soft supple dough - as soft as earlobe soft but not wet.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.   Put enough water for the dough ball to float during cooking,
Roll into a ball. Divide into quarters.
Roll one into a rope.
Cut into 14 g pieces - weighed on scale or just equally using cookie dough scoop.

 

Get a pot of water boiling to cook DANGO.

 

Hold the dough ball between the palms of your hands.  Press down to squash the dough between the palms at the same time you start rolling the dough in a circular motion until you feel the dough has coagulated smoothly into a ball. 

Place balls into the boiling water.    Cover the rest to keep from drying up.

Notice the water calm down as the water temperature changes after adding DANGO.  Stir once to keep DANGO from sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Get a bowl of cold water ready.    As the water come to boil, notice each DANGO begins to float.  Keep an eye to make sure the water do not boil over.  Cook the floating DANGO for 2 minutes.  Take one tester and cut it open.  Make sure it is translucent - no white dough.  When the steam clears, taste it. 

 

Transfer the cooked DANGO into cold water to cool.

At this time, if the DANGO is a large size one, you could fill it in to make other type of DANGO.

Skewer to strand 3 DANGO to a serving bamboo stick.

Coat with MITARE syrup.  Serve.

 

 

 

Polly's MITARASHI YAKI DANGO #3

6/16/2010 Update - Status of the YAKI DANGO after 24 hours made with "glutinous rice flour" --"Bot Nep."  At 8th hours on 6/15, it still felt soft, but with a sign of rigid center. Tonight, 6/16, it is showing the solid rubber ball firmness all around.  To revive its freshness, reheat the YAKI DANGO in the microwave with loose microwaveable cover for 20 seconds & wait for 5 minutes to cool down.  At this point, you should refrigerate or just enjoy it.    *Never bite into glutinous rice cake or ball when it is steaming or hot to the touch.

So, the MITARASHI YAKI DANGO #2 had a very good result.  Now, it's the question of whether other "glutinous rice flour" could do the same.  Since I've purchase a several different brands and types of rice flour.  I thought I will give it a try.  As it is explained in other food blog websites, how the rice flour is processed and made make the difference.  As I do not have information on how this particular brand's glutinous rice flour is manufactured, the result would be unpredictable.  But, it has a picture of wonderful looking delicious Chinese pastry - "YUAN", equivalent to Japanese DANGO, why not give it a try. 
The same recipe from MITARASHI YAKI DANGO #2 from my food blog is used.
250 g + 60 g = Total 310 g of glutinous rice flour
250 ml of hot water
(Click on each image to view other Notations.)

I can already see the difference of this glutinous rice flour and SHIRATAMAKO.  While DANGO#2 recipe for flour to water ratio formed a firm rice ball, this one is rather soft.  So, I added 20 g more of rice flour at a time.  Total of 60 g more of glutinous rice flour. 
Knead, cut and roll into ropes and cut into 24 g pieces per DANGO ball or any other size that you prefer.  For children, I would cut it into smaller size.  24 g size is really quite large, but very satisfying size.
Because I boil them all at once in the same medium size pot with boiling water -- cook 5 minutes longer after they all float.  Stirring occasionally. (Remember to stir to release them off the bottom of the pot the first time you put them into the pot.)  The DANGO should be about time and half size larger than the original.

I sacrificed one of them and cut it open to make sure that it is cooked all the way through - translucent. 
Transfer them into a large bowl with water.
Stir a few times.  Strain.  Set them aside on a non-sticking baking pan.  Separate each one from each other.  Strand them on skewers.
Heat non-stick frying pan over medium low heat on 'small' burner head.
Place the skewered DANGO on the pan to cause browning.
In the previous blog, I pointed out roasting the DANGO over the open heat or using one of the handy Japanese over the stove BBQ grill like gadget, but non-stick pan would work just as well.  The down side is, you need to be careful not to use high heat with non-stick pan. 

Prepare the MITARE syrup per MITARASHI DANGO #2.  I decided to call it syrup because this is more like snack / pastry category... not like teriyaki sauce for meat group.... anyways.
Use a large spoon and pour, dip, roll the MITARE syrup over the beautifully browned YAKI DANGO.

How's the taste of this glutinous rice flour compared to the Japanese SHIRATAMAKO?  it's bit acidy.  I am not sure what it is, but glutinous rice flour from other brands from different parts of Asia seem to smell and taste acidy to me.  It's not a strong taste, but I know it's there.  Overall, if you cannot get hold of SHIRATAMAKO, I say go for it with this glutinous rice flour.  I ate 3 sticks before writing this blog.  :-)
Total yield:  23 balls - 3 DANGO in each stick; Total 7 MITARE YAKI DANGO; 24 g each DANGO;
2 extras for tester.
Still soft?  Yep!  It's been 3 hours since I made it.  & if it behaves the same as DANGO made with SHIRATAMAKO, it should remain soft even the next day.  Wrap individually in plastic wrap to store.
Visit this blog on YAKI DANGO #2 for the better retention and taste.  http://rockdavinci.blogspot.com/2010/06/pollys-mitarashi-yaki-dango.html

Time for MITRASHI DANGO - MATCHA with Ground Flaxseed Mill

 The ingredients and recipes are no different than all other previous posting of MITARASHI DANGO. 

Did you notice in most of the ingredients in pre-packaged Japanese food contain Corn Syrups, Heavy Sugar Syrups, syrups, syrups... OMG.  I wish someone would tell them to stop it.

Anyways, until that is changed, I have to make my own.

Instead of eating an empty carb, I thought why not mix some ground flaxseed mill and matcha.  So, I did.   The result is Delicious!

To the basics MITARASH DANGO recipes, I added 1 TBsp of Organic MATCHA and 2 TBsp of Ground Flaxseed Mill.  Add enough water and  Knead the dough till earlobe smooth.

Basic ingredients:  https://rockdavinci.blogspot.com/search?q=MITARASHI+DANGO

Use a 1 inch cookie dough scooper to make even numbers of balls, then, roll them into ball between palms of your hand.

Bring a pot of water to a full rolling boil.   Drop rolled DANGO without letting them touch each other. Quickly stir them off the bottom to prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Stir and loosen from the bottom of the pot.

Wait for the water to return to full boil.

Boil 2 minutes to come to rolling boil.   DANGO should float to surface as they are cooked.

Boil 3 to 4 minutes longer depending on the original size of your rolled DANGO.  Take one out and cut, if you are not sure.  If the entire DANGO is translucent, it is ready.  If you see any milky center, the rolled dough is still raw.  Cook longer.   The DANGO should / maybe double in size by now.

Transfer to a strainer.  Separate them and do not let them stick to each other.

Moisten your hand and skewer them onto Japanese Teppo Gushi - bamboo skewers.  It can be found at  Amazon or DAISO.  https://www.amazon.com/JapanBargain-1598x8-J-1598x8-Bamboo-Style-7/dp/B00OJVM54U    Normally three DANGO to a stick.

If you are going to make YAKI MITARE DANGO, be sure to place bamboo skewers in water for 30 minutes before placing skewered DANGO over the grill.  The other way is just place DANGO in a skillet with ceramic surface, for example, and bake one side brown is an idea. 

Roll the skewered DANGO with MITARE (syrup).  Enjoy!

Ready to make the MITARE SYRUP.  At the last minutes, I found out that I ran out of the KATAKURIKO - Potato starch.  So I used corn starch, knowing that the result would be different.  As you can tell from the photo, whether I cook it for 10 minutes or 20 minutes, the corn start MITARE will look muddy, not translucent.

 

MITARE (sweet syrup for the DANGO)   Double the batch if more Dango is made.
Sugar 100 g
Soy sauce 50 ml
MIRIN   30 ml   (Japanese cooking wine)
Water 180 ml   - separate 150 ml   and 30 ml to mix with potato starch
Potato starch  - KATAKURIKO 20 g  to 25 g   (*or more - test it - DO NOT use CORN starch; arrow root starch is okay.)

The syrup should become shiny and translucent, but with corn starch, it is as good as it can get in this case, but the syrup should be thick enough to cover the air dried boiled DANGO.

 

 

Using KATAKURIKO - Potato Starch

The one in the back is Corn Starch MITARE and the ones in the front is KATAKURIKO MITARE

It tasted so good that I ate 10 Dango out of 25!!!