Sweet, soft, and chewy this local-Japanese treat with colors that range from pink, white, and green.
Chi Chi Dango v. Mochi
Growing up here in Hawaiʻi, where both dango and mochi are readily available many of us may have never questioned as to what the difference is.
While they they are both soft, chewy, delicious and fairly tasteless at their core mochi is traditionally made from ground, steamed and pounded glutinous rice. Meanwhile, Dango uses mochiko flour and here on the islands also contains coconut milk.
Chi Chi Dango Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Cup mochiko flour
- 1/3 Cup coconut milk (90 ml / 3 oz)
- 1 Bowl of ice water
- 1 Cup potato starch
- 1 Cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp Guava juice (optional)
- 1 tsp Matcha powder (optional)
- 1 tsp water (optional)
- Skewers (optional)
Instructions
Bring a pan or pot of water to a boil and begin soaking your skewers in a seperate bowl of warm water
While the water is coming to a boil, combine 1 Cup mochiko flour and 1/3 Cup coconut milk into a medium mixing bowl and mix until combined. Ensure the coconut milk is smooth and clump free so the mixing goes well.
A dough should start to form and will be sticky at first. Keep mixing and kneading with your hands until the texture resembles soft playdough or an earlobe.If you are coloring and flavoring your chi chi dango, split this dough into three parts.
If you are sticking to a natural colored and flavorless dango split this dough into bite sized balls.For coloring and flavoring
Add 1 tsp of matcha and to one of the three parts of dough. Then add 1 tsp of guava juice to another part of the dough.
this will color your dango pink and green and also give them a sweet and refreshing taste.Gently drop the spheres into the boiling water and cook until they start to float (3-5 minutes)
When the spheres are done cooking remove them and add them into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process.
Remove from the ice water and place on a plate or towl to dry.
The spheres should be slightly tacky but not stickyOptionally, you can take this opportunity to roll your spheres in a mixture of the potato starch and powdered sugar
Take your spheres and begin skewering them