Grilled Dango (Mochi Balls)

Grilling the dango on a frying pan
Lightly oil a non-stick pan and place it on medium heat. Once the pan is hot, place the mochi on skewers and fry for 90 seconds on each side, or until golden brown. 
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Grilling the dango in the oven.
Place the dango in a hot oven until golden brown on both sides. (about 5 minutes). 
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Grilling the dango under direct flame
Place the dango under direct flame and grill for 7 minutes or until browned. Turn over half-way if the flame is on one side.
Dango Recipe (with no sugar)

Ingredients (for 6 skewers)
  • 1./2 cup (120ml) Glutinous Rice Flour
  • 1/2 cup (120ml) Non-Glutinous Rice Flour
  • 1/2 cup (120ml) Water
Directions
  1. Boil a pot of water. Soak the bamboo in water.
  2. Mix the two flours in a bowl and add the  gradually add water (Do not add all at once). to make a "ear-lobe" softness. If you don't have non-glutinous flour, you can substitute it with glutinous rice flour.
  3. Divide the dough in two. Roll each dough to 24 cm rope. divide in 12 with a dinner knife or scraper. Do the same for the other  dough. you should have 24 mochi balls in total.
  4. Boil the mochi balls on medium heat. Stir once to prevent them from sticking on the bottom of the pot. Once they float to the top (about 2 min.), wait 1 minute, and take them out and put into a bowl of ice water. (Do not boil too long or the mochi will become sticky).
  5. Drain on a strainer and cool (about 3 min.)
  6. Dip the skewer in water and pierce 4 mochi balls into one skewer. 
Mitarashi Dango (Mochi Balls with Sweet Soy Sauce Glaze)
  • 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
  • 3.5 Tbsp Sugar
  • 5 Tbsp Water
  • 2 tsp. Mirin(Sweet Rice Wine) - Optional
  • 2 tsp. Potato Starch or Corn Starch
  1. Put all the ingredients in a pot and whisk until smooth.
  2. Place it on medium heat and mix with a spatula until it start to bubble
  3. Continue mixing for 2 minutes. Take off heat and let it cool
  4. Pour it over the grilled dango.
Isobe Dango (Mochi Balls with Soy Sauce and Nori Seaweed)
  • ​2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
  • 1 tsp. Sugar (optional)
  1. Grill the dango. Once they are done, baste it with soy sauce (add sugar to soy sauce if you like)
  2. Cut the nori seaweed in 4 pieces and wrap the dango.

Popular Dango Toppings
Black Sesame Glaze
  • 1 Tbsp.      Black Sesame Paste
  • 1 Tbsp.       Sugar
  • 1/2 Tbsp.   Water 
  • 1/4 tsp      Soy sauce
Mix all the ingredients together and cover the dango with the sauce.

Black Sesame Sprinkle
  • 1 Tbsp. Grounded Black Sesame
  • 1 Tbsp. Sugar
Mix all the ingredients together and cover the dango with the mixture

Kinako Sprinkle
  • 1 Tbsp. Kinako (Roasted Soy Bean Powder)
  • 1 Tbsp.. Sugar
Mix all the ingredients together and cover the dango with the mixture. Kinako can be substituted with peanut powder.