Hishimoch-style Dango
Sweet rice flour dumplings with strawberry and matcha flavored sweet bean paste
Servings: 2
Equipment
- 4 Small bowl
- 1 Small pot (sauce-making size)
- Strainer
- 1 Fine mesh strainer
- 1 Piping bag and piping tip piping tips 852 is the one I use but please see note for alternate.
- Measuring spoons Table spoon and tea spoon
- Plate For decoration
Ingredients
Ingredients for Dango(Rice Dumplings)
- 60 g of glutinous rice flour Japanese name is "Mochiko"
- 4 tablespoons of water
- 2 tablespoons of sugar adjust to taste
- Ice water
Ingredients for Strawberry and Matcha Filling
- 1 can of white beans
- 1-2 teaspoons of strawberry powder if unavailable, you can crush freeze-dried strawberries or use beets for coloring. See the description for details.
- 1-2 teaspoons of matcha powder
- 4 tablespoons of sugar adjust to your preferred sweetness
Instructions
How to Make Dango
- Fill a small pot with water and bring it to a boil.
- In a bowl, mix the mochiko, water, and sugar. Knead well with your hands until the dough reaches the consistency of an earlobe.
- Divide the dough into two parts, roll each into a log, and cut each log into 8 pieces, making a total of 16 dango balls.
- Once the water in the pot is boiling, add the dango balls one by one and boil for about 5 minutes. They are done when they float to the surface.
- Prepare a bowl of ice water and transfer the cooked dango into it to cool.
- Remove the dango from the ice water and set them aside on a tray or strainer.
How to Make Matcha and Strawberry Filling
- Open the can of beans and drain the water. Place a strainer over a bowl and mash the beans with a spoon or fork to strain them.
- Stop straining when you have an equal amount of smooth bean paste and unstrained beans.
- Mix the smooth bean paste with strawberry powder until it turns a nice pink color.
- Transfer the unstrained beans to another bowl and mix with matcha powder until it turns a light green color.
- Add 2 tablespoons of sugar to each bowl (or adjust to your preferred sweetness) and mix well.
How to Shape into Hishimochi and Flower Shapes
- Place the green matcha filling in the center of a large plate and shape it into a diamond with a spoon.
- Place the dango balls on top of the matcha filling.
- Fill a piping bag with the strawberry filling and use a piping tip to pipe it into flower shapes on top of the dango.
- Finally, sprinkle strawberry powder on top to finish.
Notes
*If you can’t find strawberry powder, you can use freeze-dried strawberries by blending them into a fine powder. Alternatively, you can use 1 tablespoon of finely chopped beets and 1 tablespoon of water, microwave them to extract the color, and mix it into the bean paste to achieve a pink color. When mixing into the bean paste, add the color gradually to adjust the shade. If the paste becomes too soft, heat it in the microwave to evaporate excess moisture.
*I’m using piping tip 852, but if you don’t have it, you can use other piping tips or cut the piping bag with a zigzag pattern as a substitute.