"Dango": recipe and ways to prepare a dish

Japanese cuisine is rich in such dishes, which have virtually no analogues in the world. Traditionally, most of them are prepared from rice flour. Huge popularity among the local population is enjoyed by sweet desserts ("motiko"), among which there is a dish called "Dango". The recipe for its preparation has dozens of different options. For example, we can consider only some of them.

Classical treats

In any Japanese family mistresses are able to do "Dango". The recipe and cooking features of this dish depend on the time of the year and the components available. In fact, this is a dessert, which is a rice balls of small size, neatly laid on a plate and poured in pre-cooked sauce. For their preparation, as a rule, it takes a little more than half an hour. As an example, you can consider the classic version of "Dango", the recipe of which provides for the presence of the following main ingredients:

For the test, you need: on a glass of rice cereal 110 milliliters of hot water.

For the sauce you need: one and a half tablespoons of potato starch, 200 milliliters of water, ½ cup of brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce.

The whole process consists of several stages:

1. First you need to make balls. To do this, you need to grind rice into flour, pour it into a deep bowl, and then, gradually adding boiling water, cook the dough, a consistency resembling plasticine. After that from the received weight it is necessary to roll accurate balls and accurately to put them on a cutting board. The size of each billet should be slightly less than the walnut.
2. In the saucepan boil the water and put the balls in it. Wait until the semi-finished products come up, and cook them after that for 3 minutes. Finished products take out a little noise and put on the dish.
3. Slowly roll balls on wooden skewers for 3 pieces each and put them on plates.
4. From the prepared products in advance make the original sauce. To do this, you must first boil in the saucepan water, gradually add to it all the ingredients and cook them until thick.
5. To pour the prepared syrup "shish kebabs".

To serve such a dessert with a freshly brewed green tea.

A bit of history

The Japanese have been preparing Dango for more than five hundred years. The recipe for the dish has changed many times over this time. Initially, raw materials for it were nuts. Then, as the main ingredient began to use the grain, preliminarily crushed into flour. Small dumplings were made from it, which in size should have been easily placed in the mouth. Later, in the 14th and 15th century, the blanks began to string on small sticks. So it became convenient to eat dessert. And it looked more original dish. In the 16th century, a rule was introduced, according to which it was necessary to put on 5 skates for one skewer. Later, this number changed several times, and now in local stores are sold packages of 3 or 4 dumplings per batch. Currently, there are a huge number of varieties of "Dango". Mostly it depends on the sauce with which this dish is served to the table, or the seasoning used to give it a new taste. Among the most popular options are:

1. "An-dango" are rice balls, sprinkled with the original red bean paste.
2. "Kuri-dango". A fragrant mixture is prepared from chestnut.
3. "Goma-dango." Billets are sprinkled with sesame seeds.
4. "Botty-dango". Each "shish kebab" consists of three balls of different colors. One of them is stained with red beans, the other with green tea, and the third with an egg.
5. "Sasa-dango". This variant can have two versions: male (Otoko) and female (Onna). At the final stage, the balls are surely wrapped in bamboo leaves.
6. "Dampun-dango" is made from potato flour. After that, they bake with boiled sweet beans.
7. "Kibi-dango" is made from wheat flour.
8. "Tyadango" is an option when green tea is added to the dough itself.

In each locality the population prefers to cook certain varieties of "Dango", paying tribute to centuries-old traditions.

Original version

For a long time, the Japanese considered the national dessert a means of purifying the body and spirit of man. They perceived it as a kind of offering to the gods. For this, the most diverse variants of the Dango were used. The recipe with the photo will help to better understand the technique of cooking this dish. One way is to have the following products:

150 grams of rice, 75 milliliters of warm boiled water, a pinch of salt, 30 grams of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of sesame, poppy and cinnamon.

Sequence of work:

1. To begin with, you need to turn the rice into a flour using a coffee grinder. Dough is better to cook from a mixture of common grains and rice for sushi.
2. In a deep bowl, fill dry ingredients (sugar, flour and salt).
3. Gradually adding water, knead the plastic dough and carefully knead it.
4. Divide the mass into balls.
5. Put them on the steamer grill and cook for 25 minutes.
6. Finished products are put together and again turn them into a single mass.
7. From the test, once again make round blanks.
8. Roll them in a mixture of sugar with sesame, cinnamon or poppy seeds.
9. After that, the semi-finished products must be pinched into skewers one, three or four pieces and pour with syrup.

Alternatively, the balls can simply be folded into a bowl or neatly spread over a plate.

Appetizing "Dayfuku"

There is also a "photo" for the preparation of "Dango". At home, this dish can be made in its own way, preserving only the main directions of the process technology. For example, the Japanese sometimes make their favorite rice balls, adding various products inside. It turns out a kind of "moti" with stuffing. They are called "daifuku". To prepare this dessert you may need: 100 grams of "motiko" (special rice flour), 120 milliliters of cold water and 3 tablespoons of sugar powder.

Prepare sweet balls as follows:

1. First flour should be mixed with powder, and then, adding water, prepare the dough.
2. Put it in a plate, cover with a food film and put in a microwave at a temperature of 200 degrees for 5 minutes.
3. After that, the dough should be put on the cutting board, sprinkled with starch, and roll it into a pancake.
4. With the help of a glass cut out from a single layer of smooth circles.
5. In the middle of each billet put the stuffing. It can even be a piece of chocolate bar or fresh berry.
6. Protect the edges, and then roll everything into a neat ball.
7. Finished products, lightly sprinkled with starch, put on a plate.

Now the balls can be eaten, adding, if desired, any sauce or sweet syrup.

Favorite dessert

In life there are different situations, and not always at hand there are those components that are needed by the recipe. What to do in this case? How else can you prepare "Dango"? The recipe without rice flour also exists. You just need to grind raw grain in advance, and then use the resulting product in further work. So, to prepare a classic Japanese recipe you will need: 300 grams of ground rice and a glass of hot water.

For Mitarashi sauce: 1 teaspoon of starch, ½ cup of water, 50 grams of sugar, half a teaspoon of rice vinegar, 25 milliliters of soy sauce and a teaspoon of Japanese wine Mirina.

Preparing the dish is very simple:

1. First of all, rice should be gradually mixed with water and prepare a plastic dough.
2. Roll it in the form of sausages, and then divide the knife into 25 identical blanks.
3. Form out of them even balls.
4. For 3-4 minutes, put them in a saucepan of boiling water, and then hold it in the cold for a while.
5. String the balls on bamboo sticks and lay the resulting "shish kebabs" on the corrugated surface of a frying pan. To avoid burning out, it is best to turn them periodically.
6. At this time, you can make sauce. You just need to combine all the ingredients and heat them until the mixture thickens.
7. Ready balls on skewers put on a plate and pour a fragrant sauce.

The Japanese love this dish very much and cook it with pleasure in case of any celebration.