Mitarashi Dango

Ingredients

• 100g joshinko rice flour
• 100g shiratamako glutinous rice flour
• 30g caster sugar
• 160ml hot water, plus extra as needed
• 100ml water, for the glaze
• 60g caster sugar, for the glaze
• 2 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
• 1 tbsp mirin
• 1.5 tbsp potato starch or cornflour
• 2 tbsp cold water

Before you cook

• Soak twelve bamboo skewers in water for ten minutes.
• Whisk the joshinko, shiratamako and 30g of sugar together in a bowl.
• Stir the potato starch into the two tablespoons of cold water until smooth and set it beside the stove.

Steps

1. Pour the hot water into the flour mixture a little at a time, stirring with chopsticks until it comes together.
2. Knead the dough in the bowl for three minutes, adding water a teaspoon at a time, until it feels like a soft earlobe.
3. Divide the dough into thirty-six equal pieces and roll each into a smooth ball about 2.5cm across.
4. Bring a large pan of water to the boil and set a bowl of iced water beside it.
5. Drop the balls into the boiling water in two batches and cook them until they float, then give them a further three minutes.
6. Scoop the dumplings into the iced water and leave them for one minute to firm up.
7. Drain the dumplings well and thread three or four onto each soaked skewer.
8. Put the 100ml of water, the 60g of sugar, the soy sauce and the mirin in a small pan and bring it to a simmer.
9. Stir the starch slurry once more and pour it into the simmering liquid while whisking.
10. Cook the glaze for one minute, until it thickens to a clear, syrupy gloss, then take it off the heat.
11. Heat a dry frying pan or griddle over a medium-high heat.
12. Lay the skewers in the pan and toast them for about ninety seconds a side, until blistered and lightly charred in patches.
13. Arrange the skewers on a plate and spoon the warm glaze generously over the dumplings.
14. Serve them straight away, while the outsides are still warm and the glaze is running.