Hanami Dango are festive, chewy, sweet rice balls on a skewer that are often enjoyed during hanami, or cherry blossom viewing.
Spring is almost here and in Japan, that means it’s time for sakura! Sakura, or cherry blossoms, are a very big deal in Japanese culture. These delicate flowers bloom for only about a week which makes them just as special as they are beautiful. They represent the impermanence in life as well as new beginnings. Many people celebrate the blooms and season by doing hanami, which is cherry blossom viewing. People picnic under the sakura trees with friends, family, or coworkers and enjoy drinking and eating festive foods. One of my favorites being Hanami Dango.
Also called Sanshoku Dango (three-colored dango), Hanami Dango are easy to eat since they’re on a stick. They also showcase traditional Spring colors: pink, white, and green. They are lightly sweet and showcase the flavor of mild rice while having a fun, chewy texture.
What is dango?
While I like to lightly say that dango are mochi, they are originally different dishes. Mochi is made by pounded rice while dango is made by using rice flour. However, it is now more common to make “easy” mochi by using rice flour, so the lines are becoming a little more blurred when it comes to distinguishing the differences.
Some recipe notes
This recipe is actually quite simple and easy, but one note I want to make is on the water amount and the texture of the dango.
The amount of water you will need when making the “dough” can vary on your location (some places that have more humidity will need less water, while if you’re in a dry space, it’ll need more water). Add as much water as you need to be able to combine the dango into a smooth texture, but not wet. It should be the consistency of your earlobe.
If you don’t want to use food coloring for the pink dango, you can use powdered freeze-dried strawberry.
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Hanami Dango / 花見団子
Ingredients
- 1 cup joshinko rice flour
- 1 cup shiratamako sweet glutinous rice lour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 cup hot water amount can vary slightly
- 1 drop pink food coloring
- 1 tsp matcha
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine joshinko, shiratamako, and sugar.
- Add the hot water into the bowl little by little, mixing well in-between. Keep adding water and mixing until the "dough" smooths out and the texture is about the same texture as your ear lobe. You can knead with your hands as the dough comes together.
- Divide the dough into 3 equal parts.
- In a small bowl, put in one part of the dough and 1 drop of food coloring. Knead until the color is distributed evenly throughout.
- In a small bowl, put in one part of the dough and the matcha. Knead until the color is distributed evenly throughout. Feel free to use a couple of drops of hot water to help the matcha disintegrate evenly if the dough becomes a little dry.
- Separate each colored dough into 8 even pieces and roll into small balls (so there will be 8 white balls, 8 pink balls, 8 green balls).
- In a pot on the stove, boil water. Drop in the white balls to cook first. Stir carefully occasionally to make sure they do not stick to the bottom. Boil until the balls float to the top (approximately 8 minutes) and boil for one more minute. Then remove the balls from the boiling water and shock in an ice bath.
- Repeat the cooking and ice bath process for the pink balls, and then the green balls. Make sure to cook them in that order (lightest to dark) in case there is any color leakage.
- Remove the balls from the ice bath and lightly dry.
- Skewer the mochi onto bamboo skewers. Usually it's green on the bottom, then white, then pink.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Shop this post:
Petals Plate
Bamboo Basket
Food Coloring
Joshinko (non-glutinous rice flour) / 上新粉
Bamboo Skewers
Matcha / 抹茶 (Matcha Bloom)
Shiratamako / 白玉粉
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