Hanami dango is a traditional Japanese dessert that is eaten in the spring time, especially during cherry blossom viewing. Dango is a type of sweet that is essentially like balls of rice on a skewer, very similar to mochi. Hanami dango is also gluten free and vegan! Edit: Recipe updated in 2024 for options making dango with and without tofu. *This post contains affiliate links*
What is Hanami Dango?
You know how in America there are certain foods that are eaten for specific holidays? I’m thinking of turkey at Thanksgiving or gingerbread cookies at Christmas. If you’ve been following my instagram for a while you may have noticed that I always make ozoni (Japanese soup with mochi) for New Years. Well, hanami dango is that kind of food. It is a traditional sweet that is associated with springtime, specifically cherry blossom season. Hanami means “flower viewing” in Japanese. It’s also popular as a snack on the holiday Hinamatsuri, called Girls’ Day in English, which falls on March 3 every year. I’ve heard that the green, white, and pink colors on hanami dango represent the stages of a cherry blossom tree: first the pink buds, which turn to white blossoms, and then fall away to reveal green leaves.
Dango vs. Mochi
Hanami dango is only one type of dango, but there are many others. You can have mitarashi dango, which is covered in a sweet soy glaze. There’s also dango that get covered in anko, or red bean paste.
A dango in general is a chewy rice dumpling shaped into a ball. If you are familiar with Chinese cuisine, it is similar to a tang yuan. Similar to mochi, dango can be made from glutinous rice flour. These days, it is common to find dango made with a mix of glutinous rice flour (a specific type called shiratamako) and short-grain rice flour (called joshinko in Japanese). In contrast, mochi is made from a glutinous rice called mochigome, and mochi desserts are made only with flour such as mochiko or shiratamako that come from mochigome. Confused? You can check out my Ultimate Guide to Mochiko and Ultimate Guide Mochi for more information.
Can I Make Dango with Mochiko?
When I first developed this recipe, I wasn’t able to easily get shiratamako or joshinko. Instead, I substituted mochiko. It worked to get the right shape and taste, but it wasn’t quite the right texture. So if you CAN get shiratamako, joshinko, or a premade mix of both called dangoko, I recommend using that first. But if you don’t have access to those, you can substitute mochiko instead. Just know that it’s not going to be exactly like dango in Japan. I’ve included links to where you can buy these flours on Amazon, but they are CRAZY EXPENSIVE there, so I recommend shopping in person if you can.
So why am I recommending all these rice flours? Shiratamako results in a very tender and soft dough, while joshinko has more structure. So if you like your dango more soft, you can do more shiratamako. Some people use all shiratamako for their dango, but I find that this results in a very very soft texture. Because I want to make sure my dango stays in a ball shape and because I happen to like a firmer bite, I personally don’t like using all shiratamako. But you totally can if you like!
Making Dango With Tofu and Without Tofu
My original recipe called for making dango with an equal ratio of your dango rice flour to water. This is the most easy way to make dango dough.
However, these days I am always looking to add more protein and fiber to my kids’ diet. And they LOVE dango. They will happily go to town on 4 skewers each. So I started substituting silken tofu for the water in my dango, which is very common among Japanese home cooks.
To add silken tofu to your dango, it’s very easy. You can substitute one for the other in a one-to-one ratio. I like to whisk the silken tofu until it looks somewhat liquidy before mixing with my flour, just to make mixing easier.
An important thing to note: different flours absorb liquid differently. So depending on what ratio of flours you use, you may need to add different amounts of water or tofu. A general rule of thumb is to plan for an equal ratio of water or tofu to flour. However, I recommend adding the liquid in a little at a time, in case you don’t need the whole amount. Or you may need to add more. As you mix, you should be looking for your ball of dough to have the soft, pliable texture similar to Play Dough.
How to Color Your Dango
The easiest way to dye your dango dough is to use food coloring. A drop of green food coloring and pink food coloring is perfect. I always use Americolor gel food coloring to avoid adding too much liquid to my dough.
If you’d like to naturally dye your dough, you have some options. For green, it’s common to use mugwort powder. I can find mugwort powder at the Japanese market, but to be honest, I don’t make a lot of things that require that ingredient. I do, however, make a lot of matcha! So I opted to use matcha powder instead. Mugwort would be the more traditional choice, however.
For pink dango, I used ground freeze dried strawberries. I find that I actually like doing strawberries plus a drop of food coloring for an extra bright color. It also adds a nice flavor!
Making Dango
After you’ve dyed your dough, all you have to do is roll into small balls. Then you boil them and stick them on skewers. That’s it! It’s so easy, even my five year old helped me do it. This is a great recipe to make with kids.
More Dango Recipes
Looking for more dango? Check these out!
- Tsukimi Dango
- Chi Chi Dango (Hawaiian Mochi)
- Character Dango (Coming soon! See my Instagram for a sneak peek!)
Hanami Dango
Ingredients
- 60 g shiratamako
- 60 g joshinko
- 60 g sugar (about 1/4 cup)
- 120 g silken tofu
- drop pink and green food dye
- 1 tsp matcha (optional)
- 1 tsp freeze dried strawberry powder (optional)
Instructions
- Mix shiratamako, joshinko, and sugar. Set aside.
- Whisk silken tofu until all large clumps have broken apart and the mixture looks more like liquid. Add tofu to your dry ingredients in small increments until your dough comes together in a ball and is about the texture of play dough. It should be squishy but not stick to your hand. If it's too dry, add more tofu. If it's too wet, add more of the rice flours.
- Split dough into three equal sections.
- Add a drop of green food coloring to one section and a drop of red food coloring to another section. Knead to disperse the color. If using matcha and freeze dried strawberry powder instead, simply add each to your section of dough and knead until the color is all worked through.
- Split each of three sections of dough into eight balls, rolling them in your hand. They should be about a teaspoon each or roughly 15g.
- Bring a large pot of water to boil and gently place all the dango in the pot. When the balls start to float in the boiling water, they are almost done. Let them cook for another minute before fishing them out. Note: Some other recipes advise cooking the dango in stages according to color to avoid the dyed dango bleeding onto the white ones, but I've never had an issue.
- Let the dango cool until you can handle them with your hands. Stick them onto skewers with green first, then white, then pink.
- Dango are best enjoyed fresh but can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge. If eating leftovers, I like to microwave my dango for a few seconds to soften them back up. Enjoy!
Notes
- 60g joshinko and 60g shiratamako makes about a cup of rice flour in total. Feel free to substitute with dangoko or mix the ratio up according to your preference.
- Water can be substituted for tofu; please read blog post above about ratio of liquid to flour.