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Hanami Dango | 花見団子

August 14, 2019 By Lisa Kitahara 34 Comments

This Hanami Dango recipe is amazingly chewy and tender with the perfect amount of sweetness. Easy to make & requires just 3-ingredients to make this popular Japanese dessert!

Dango is one of those desserts that bring me right back to my childhood in grandmas small apartment. I was fortunate enough to travel to Japan every summer to visit my grandparents and eat so much good food. Every night, we would end the day with something sweet. My choice of dessert was always homemade dango and mochi over ice cream and cake. Something about chewy, tender, sticky morsels of subtly sweet rice cakes was so satisfying to eat. There are many different varieties of dango, but I wanted to first share a recipe for Hanami Dango because it’s beautiful and the most simplest to make.

What is Hanami Dango?

Hanami Dango, also called Sanshoku Dango (3 coloured dango) is another variant of the dango family. It is the iconic pink, white and green dango on a stick, there is even an emoji for it on iPhones! This special tri-coloured dango is sold year around, but is especially popular during the spring during the cherry blossom viewing. This is where the name Hanami Dango stems from where Hanami literally translates to “flower looking”.

What Does Hanami Dango Taste like?

Plain dango balls tastes like sweet rice. It sounds boring, but what makes this Japanese dessert so special is the texture. Chewy, tender, soft but still firm and toothsome. Some dangos comes with a topping such as sweetened black sesame paste, sweet soy sauce or anko (sweet red bean paste). However, Hanami Dango is served as is. The green dango typically is slightly earth because it is subtly flavoured with mugfort (yomogi), but matcha can also be used. The pink dango is also sometimes flavoured with sakura or strawberry powder but usually tastes the same as the white dango.

Dango Ingredients

Dango traditionally is made with only rice or rice flour. However, my grandma always incorporated tofu to achieve a more tender, soft and chewy texture. I’ve always made it with the addition of the tofu but was curious how it would turn out if I only used Japanese rice flour. I attempted to make dango with just rice flour and found it to be much more tough and not as springy in texture.

So to achieve soft and chewy dango with the right amount of firmness, these are the 3 main ingredients needed:

  • glutinous rice flour or mochiko
  • fresh silken tofu
  • white sugar

To make green dango, I used matcha powder and for the pink dango, I used strawberry powder. The colouring really is for presentation purposes only, so you can still enjoy dango without the powders.

How to Make Hanami Dango Step by Step

3 colours of dango dough prep

Step 1: The first step is to make the dough by combining the tofu, flour and sugar in a large bowl. Use your hands to squeeze the mixture together, almost in a kneading motion until everything is well incorporated. Then divide the dough into 3 equal portions.

Step 2: Add the matcha powder into one portion of dough and mix until the colour is uniform. Add the strawberry powder or pink food colouring into another portion of dough and mix until the colour is uniform.

Step 3: Divide the dough into 5-6 equal sized pieces. For 5 pieces, each piece should weigh 14-15 grams. If 6 pieces, 11-12 grams each.

rolling out dango dough
dango dough balls

Step 4: Roll each piece into a ball using your palms.

TIP: To achieve perfect round balls, dust your hands with a little bit of rice flour so the don’t stick to your hands.

boiling dango balls

Step 5: Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the dango balls in. Let them cook until they start floating to the top. Then use a strainer ladle to scoop them out.

dango balls in cold water & dango balls on a bamboo stick

Step 6: Place the dango into a bowl of ice water to stop them from cooking. Step 7: Once cooled, place the dango balls in a bamboo skewer in this order: green, white pink. Repeat for the remaining balls.

And… thats it! Easy right? I hope this recipe leaves you inspired to make Hanami Dango right in your own kitchen! Stay tuned for more dango recipes coming in the near future!

If you recreate this Hanami Dango recipe let me know how you liked it by leaving a comment and rating below or by tagging me on Instagram @Okonomikitchen, I love seeing all of your tasty recreations!

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Print

Hanami Dango


★★★★★

5 from 5 reviews

  • Author: Lisa Kitahara
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10 minutes
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 5 skewers 1x
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Description

This Hanami Dango recipe is amazingly chewy and tender with the perfect amount of sweetness. Easy to make & requires just 3-ingredients to make this popular Japanese dessert!


Scale

Ingredients

  • 1/2 block of silken soft tofu (100g)
  • 3/4 cup glutinous rice flour (90g)
  • 1/4 cup white sugar (50g)
  • 1/4 tsp strawberry powder*, optional
  • 1/4 tsp matcha powder*, optional
  • 5–6 bamboo skewer sticks

Instructions

  1. Weigh the rice flour, silken tofu and sugar and then add Into a large bowl. Mix well using your hands. Using a kneading motion until a dough forms. 
  2. Divide the dough into three equal parts. 
  3. Sift in the strawberry powder into one portion of the dough and knead until it forms a uniform pink colour.
  4. Sift in the matcha powder into another portion of the dough and knead well until it turns green.
  5. Divide each ball of dough into 5-6 balls. I weigh each ball to be around 14-15 grams each, this yields 5 skewers. For smaller balls, make them into 10-12 grams each. 
  6. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add in the dango balls. Leave the dango balls to cook. Remove the dango balls when they rise to the top of the water. Scoop them out using a strainer ladle and place into a bowl of ice cold water to stop them from cooking further. 
  7. Add one green dango ball onto a skewer. Follow with one white and one pink dango ball. Repeat for all 5-6 skewers then enjoy!

Notes

  • Strawberry powder and matcha is added just for natural colour and a tiny bit of flavour, however is not essential or traditional. You can either leave out the colour entirely or food colour can be used instead.
  • Nutritional Information Disclaimer: Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated on an online tool (Cronometer) for 1 out of 5 skewers.
  • Category: Desserts
  • Method: Stove top
  • Cuisine: Japanese

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 skewer
  • Calories: 108
  • Sugar: 8.2g
  • Sodium: 4.8mg
  • Fat: 0.6g
  • Saturated Fat: 0
  • Unsaturated Fat: 0
  • Trans Fat: 0
  • Carbohydrates: 22.7g
  • Fiber: 0
  • Protein: 2.2g
  • Cholesterol: 0

Keywords: hanami dango, sanshoku dango

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Filed Under: All recipes, Gluten-free, Snacks, Sweets Tagged With: gluten free

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Marla

    August 15, 2019 at 9:25 am

    Hi
    Can I use sticky rice flour for this recipe?
    I have bought 10 kg by excidend. Ups

    Reply
    • Lisa Kitahara

      August 15, 2019 at 2:40 pm

      Hi Marla!
      Could you provide the brand name for me?

      Lisa

      Reply
  2. Udi

    August 16, 2019 at 1:52 pm

    Hi Lisa, really enjoyed watching your videos.
    Thanks !!!

    Reply
    • Lisa Kitahara

      August 17, 2019 at 2:33 am

      Hi Udi,
      Thank you so much!

      Reply
  3. Emily

    August 16, 2019 at 5:11 pm

    Hi, can you use other types of sugar?
    Oh and by the way, I love your blog and I love that you also share japanese recipes and is even talking a bit about them them and such. Japan has such a fascinating food history and I love that there is meaning in every dish.

    Reply
    • Lisa Kitahara

      August 17, 2019 at 2:35 am

      Hi Emily!

      I would use white sugar if you want them to look nice. However, I’m sure you can use another dry sugar (not artificial sweeteners though). & thank you so much! I really appreciate it 🙂

      Reply
  4. Joanna

    August 17, 2019 at 11:38 am

    Hey! Do you know how long you can keep these in fridge?

    Reply
    • Lisa Kitahara

      August 18, 2019 at 2:18 pm

      Hi Joanna!

      They actually tend to get a little hard if placed in the fridge- it’s probably best to eat them fresh. BUT they will be okay for at least a day if you wrap it and place it in a container at room temp 🙂

      Reply
  5. Rajat

    September 20, 2019 at 10:08 pm

    Hey
    Can i make and keep the dough in advance
    And then boil it
    How long will that stay…?

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Lisa Kitahara

      September 21, 2019 at 11:58 am

      Hi Rajat!

      I actually haven’t tried that! I’m thinking the dough might get a little dry, but you could try wrapping it securely to retain moisture. If you do try it out, let me know how it goes!

      Reply
  6. Kayla

    March 8, 2020 at 2:35 am

    Can I make this ahead of time and possibly put in the refrigerator.

    Reply
    • Lisa Kitahara

      March 8, 2020 at 11:31 pm

      Hi Kayla!

      They do tend to get a bit hard when places in the refrigerator. I recommend storing them at room temp in a cool-ish place 🙂

      Reply
  7. Kabe

    March 25, 2020 at 7:57 pm

    Delicious and well-written instructions. i followed everything except replaced sugar with monk fruit sugar. also love that your website doesn’t freeze up my browser with ads. Thank you for everything!

    Reply
    • Lisa Kitahara

      March 30, 2020 at 4:13 am

      Thank you, happy to hear it was helpful 🙂

      Reply
  8. Stephanie T

    April 16, 2020 at 9:40 pm

    Hello, my rice flour actually says gluten free! Is there a way around this?

    Reply
    • Lisa Kitahara

      April 24, 2020 at 2:29 pm

      Way around what?

      Reply
    • Travis

      June 8, 2020 at 10:11 pm

      All rice is gluten-free; “glutenous” rice flour just means flour made from sticky (short-grain) rice. “Sweet” rice also means sticky. Don’t ask me why.

      Reply
  9. Emma

    April 28, 2020 at 9:17 pm

    Do I have to use silken tofu? Or can i use normal tofu?

    Reply
    • Lisa Kitahara

      April 29, 2020 at 12:37 pm

      Hi Emma! To achieve the really soft texture you have to use silken tofu! If you can’t, you can also try fresh SOFT tofu nothing firmer than that. Goodluck!

      Reply
  10. Trina Ngu

    May 12, 2020 at 3:10 am

    This recipe is so easy and fun to make! Amazing that it has tofu 🤗 it came out perfectly chewy and colourful.
    Thank you for the recipe !!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  11. Mitch

    June 26, 2020 at 8:24 pm

    Hi there. I have made these a few times and I’m having trouble shaping the dough. It doesn’t seem to matter how much flour I have on my hands the dough is still super sticky. I love the results though.

    Reply
    • Lisa Kitahara

      September 7, 2020 at 10:13 pm

      Hi Mitch! Try wetting your hands, it should help!

      Reply
  12. Danielle Thomas

    July 4, 2020 at 3:52 pm

    I used a slightly different recipe that only used glutinous and regular rice four. When I boiled it the dango balls just turned to goo. Did I get the wrong kind of rice flour?

    Reply
    • Lisa Kitahara

      July 5, 2020 at 12:25 pm

      Did you follow this recipe? There is no regular rice flour listed– I don’t recommend rice flour because that is not meant to make dango/mochi!

      Reply
  13. Cyndy

    July 9, 2020 at 8:59 pm

    Um, I followed the directions, but I had to use ALot of strawberry powder… Also, they were hard to get cleanly on the skewer and the colors didn’t look anything like the pictures. Very disappointed

    Reply
    • Lisa Kitahara

      July 9, 2020 at 11:59 pm

      The strawberry powder is for colour, not flavour! The matcha you used might have been old which results in a darker green. Were the dangos fully cooked? What was the texture like before boiling?

      Reply
  14. siewseem

    November 9, 2020 at 12:22 pm

    Hi Lisa! Would like to ask is there gonna be any different in texture when using glutinous rice flour and mochiko? Cause it’s hard to get mochiko in my country, Malaysia. :/

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Lisa Kitahara

      November 9, 2020 at 12:37 pm

      Glutinous rice flour I find is just a little more dense but it will work!

      Reply
  15. Queen Olanrewaju

    December 3, 2020 at 2:47 pm

    This recipe was so useful and easy to follow! I used it for an insta post on our Instagram @the.hangrygals was fun!! Would definitely come back and check out some other recipes.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Lisa Kitahara

      December 5, 2020 at 11:10 am

      So happy to hear, thanks for the feedback! I hope you enjoy the other recipes 🙂

      Reply
  16. Emily

    December 10, 2020 at 12:09 am

    The best dango recipe I have ever used! I’ve made this about 6 times since I discovered your website in the summer. I combine these dango with the mitarashi sauce from Just One Cookbook’s website – DELICIOUS !

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  17. Steph

    December 31, 2020 at 4:59 am

    Hi there, I’ve tried making these a few times and I feel like in the end my dango have a bit of a grainy texture. What am I doing wrong? I’ve kneaded the heck out of them each time and blended everything really well.

    Reply
    • Lisa Kitahara

      December 31, 2020 at 12:04 pm

      Hi Steph! What kind of tofu are you using? It might be the tofu, some tofu is a bit more grainy

      Reply
      • Steph

        January 10, 2021 at 11:14 pm

        Ooooh that makes sense. I couldn’t find silken tofu so I used soft. I’ll try a different one next time! Thank you!

        Reply

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