Mitarashi Dango (みたらし団子)
Japan
Traditional Japanese rice balls, fried to a golden crust and coated with a sweet-salty soy sauce. Served on bamboo skewers – an ideal tea snack.
Ingredients
- 200 g rice
- 1 tbsp flour
- to taste salt
- 120 ml water
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp potato starch
Steps
-
Place the hot rice in a mortar, add flour, lightly salt, and in a separate bowl prepare lightly salted water. Dampen the pestle in it, then mash the rice into a sticky paste.
-
Divide the resulting mass into 16 equal portions, wet your hands in the salty water, and shape balls about 2 cm in diameter.
-
Thread four balls onto each of four bamboo skewers. Heat a pan without oil, place the balls, reduce the heat and fry for 5–6 minutes until golden-brown, turning occasionally.
-
While the balls fry, prepare the sauce: in a saucepan combine sugar, soy sauce, water and potato starch (in the given order). Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and cook 20–30 seconds until thickened and translucent.
-
Place the cooked balls on a dish and generously drizzle with the sauce.