Mochi & Dango
Originally published Hanami With Me by Madi Yeh
Hanami（花見/はなみ）directly translates to mean “flower viewing” in English, and is an annual tradition of picnicking in the warm, lush Japanese springtime. Early April marks the beginning of hanami season in Japan. Denoted by the blooming of beautiful, pink cherry blossoms (桜/さくら) throughout both urban and rural regions in Japan, it is tradition for families, couples, friends, and individuals to gather under the blossoms to picnic and appreciate nature’s beauty.
At its core, hanami is a celebration of new life and beginnings. Even without the beautiful scenery of cherry blossoms, you can still celebrate hanami by appreciating the natural beauty of your own surroundings, and participating in a hanami picnic of your own.
Here is a breakdown of the most essential traditional hanami foods that you’ll need in your hanami picnic basket: sakura mochi and hanami dango.
Photo by Anabel Maldonado
1. Sakura Mochi (桜餅/さくらもち）
Sakura mochi combines the sweet taste of red bean paste with the chewy texture of mochi. Decorated to look similar to a cherry blossom bud, sakura mochi is a type of traditional Japanese confectionery that is a must-have during hanami season.
Ingredients
¾ cups sweet glutinous rice (もち米/もちごめ）
¾ cups water
Red food coloring
1 tbsp. sugar
5 tbsp. red bean paste (あんこ）
Pickled sakura leaves (optional)
Directions
Rinse the sweet rice and soak it for at least 1 hour to overnight.
(Optional) Soak the sakura leaves in water for 15 minutes to remove salt. Then dry the leaves with a paper towel.
In the meantime, with wet hands, roll the red bean paste into 6 small balls.
Drain rice well and place in a large bowl. Add water and red food coloring to the rice, and mix until combined.
Cover with plastic wrap and microwave twice in 3 minute increments. Mix well between increments.Uncover the plastic wrap and mix. Then cover with a kitchen or paper towel for 5 minutes.
Add sugar to the slightly cooled sweet rice and mix it all together.
Pound the sweet rice with a pestle until sweet rice is very sticky, but still maintains some rice grain shape. Divide the mixture into six portions.
On the prep surface, place a sheet of plastic wrap and spray a bit of water to ensure that the sticky rice does not stick to your surface. Place one portion of sweet rice and spread it into a rectangular shape (approximately 2x3 inches).
Place one red bean paste ball into the center of your rice, and use the plastic wrap to help roll the rice over the bean paste, creating an ellipse shaped rice ball.
Finally, if choosing to use sakura leaves, place the leaf over the mochi ball, stem side down. Serve at room temperature.
Note: Mochi cannot be refrigerated, and is best enjoyed on the same day.
2. Hanami Dango (花見団子/はなみだんご)
Representative of the arrival of spring, hanami dango is a colorful, chewy, and sweet treat that is most associated with hanami season. While there are many explanations for hanami dango’s pink, white, and green color, one of the most common beliefs is that it represents the life cycle of cherry blossoms—pink buds, white flowers, and then green leaves.
Directions
Combine mugwort powder and 2 tbsp. hot water in a small bowl and mix until combined. After 5 minutes, strain the mixture, discard the strained liquid, and set aside the mugwort paste.
In a large bowl, combine the Japanese rice flour, glutinous rice flour, and sugar. Mix until combined.
In small increments, begin adding the ¾ cups hot water to the dry ingredients, mixing after each addition.
Note: Do not pour all of the hot water at once
Once the mixture reaches a thick, sticky consistency, stop adding water, and separate the dough into thirds. Mix one with red food coloring for a pink color, mugwort paste for green, and leaving one white. .
Begin sectioning the dough into 8 even sized balls of each color, and roll into spheres.
*Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the white dango in boiling water until they start floating, about 8 minutes. Stir in the beginning so the dango won't stick at the bottom. Once floating, cook for another 1 minute. Remove dango from the water and immediately cool in iced water for 1 minute. Then transfer to a plate.
Repeat to cook the pink and green dango.
Once all the dango are cooked, put one of each color dango onto a skewer, in the order of green, white, and pink. Serve at room temperature. Mochi cannot be refrigerated and is best enjoyed on the same day!
Ingredients
1 cups Japanese rice flour (上新粉/じょうしんこ）
1 cups glutinous rice flour (白玉粉/しらたまこ)
½ cups sugar
¾ cup and 2 tbsp. hot water
1 tbsp. mugwort powder（蓬/よもぎ)
Red food coloring
Note
Cooking the dango in the order white, pink, and green can help to avoid color contamination
Ingredients can be found at most Asian supermarkets, or Japanese grocery websites