Hanami Dango is enjoyed during cherry blossom viewing in Japan. These three-color rice balls (Sanshoku Dango) is a popular treat in spring!
As spring approaches, Japan turns into a shade of pink. Cherry blossom viewing (or Hanami in Japanese) has been a Japan’s tradition as early as the 8th century.
During Hanami viewing, the Japanese enjoy different types of wagashi (Japanese traditional confectionery) including Hanami Dango (花見団子).
What’s Hanami Dango?
Hanami (花見) means flower viewing (of cherry blossom), and during this season, many people go out for strolls through the magnificent columns of the flowering trees.
The Japanese have long been celebrated and admired the beauty of cherry blossom by enjoying picnics beneath the blooms. At the picnics, the Japanese enjoy some spring themed foods including Hanami Dango (花見団子) or sweet dumplings made with rice flour and skewered on a stick.
Hanami Dango is a stick with 3 dumplings in pink, white, and green (top to bottom in that order). The pink and white sweet dumplings consist of sweetened rice flour, and the green one tastes a bit more earthy because sweetened rice flour is mixed with yomogi (mugwort) grass.
You can purchase this sweet treat at the pop-up food stalls during cherry blossom season, or you can make them at home and bring to a picnic to enjoy them under the blooms.
Key Ingredients for Hanami Dango
1. Joshinko (Rice Flour) and Shiratamako (Glutinous Rice Flour/Sweet Rice Flour)
Dango is traditionally made with 100% (regular) rice (Uruchimai うるち米) or rice flour called Joshinko (上新粉). This is why dango is different from mochi, which is made with 100% glutinous rice/sweet rice (Mochigome もち米) or glutinous rice/sweet rice flour.
When I make dango at home, I find dango made with 100% Joshinko a bit too chewy and tough. This is why I always make my dango with half Joshinko and half glutinous rice flour/sweet rice flour called Shiratamako (白玉粉).
It’s very important to understand that both rice flour and glutinous rice flour are made from Japanese short grain rice. I had never used other Asian variety of rice flour or glutinous rice flour (not made from Japanese short grain). Therefore, to be honest, I am not sure how they would turn out to taste like authentic Japanese dango if you end up using non-Japanese type. As you know, Japanese short grain rice is very different from other types of rice in terms of flavors and textures.
I understand how difficult it is to find Joshinko and Shiratamako when you don’t have a well-stock Japanese grocery store in your area. The best substitute would be Mochiko (glutinous rice flour/sweet rice flour), which is widely available here in the U.S. (You can buy on Amazon).
Although shiratamako and mochiko are both glutinous rice flours, mochi made with these two flours is slightly different, especially in texture and flavor.
Mochi made with shiratamako has very smooth, more refined, and elastic bouncy texture while mochi made with mochiko is less elastic and more doughy. My personal preference is shiratamako because it’s much easier to make delicious mochi, with a much better texture and flavor.
2. Red Food Coloring or Substitute
In recent years, red food coloring is commonly used for the pink dango, but traditionally it was colored pink with purple shiso (we say red shiso 赤しそ in Japanese), salted pickled cherry blossoms, or fruit of cape jasmine (kuchinashi クチナシ).
These natural options are harder to get when you live outside of Japan. If you want natural food coloring instead of food coloring, I recommend using beet juice or crushed freeze dried strawberry/raspberry to make pink color.
3. Yomogi (Mugwort) or Substitute
Traditionally yomogi (mugwort) grass is used for green color mochi. However, it’s probably hard to get yomogi if you live outside of Japan. My local grocery store sells one brand (left product in above picture), but I used the right one that my friend sent me from Japan since it has a nice dark green color. You can substitute yomogi with matcha green tea powder instead.
Why Pink, White, and Green Dango in that Order?
The three colors of dango always consist of pink, white, and green from the top. There are many theories why Hanami Dango lines up in this order and why they have these three colors. Here are the main two theories.
Theory 1: cherry blossom’s life cycle – Pink buds, white flowers, and then green leaves.
Theory 2: scenery of the spring arrival – red sun or pink cherry blossoms, leftover snow, and yomogi (mugwort) grass or green sprouts beneath the snow.
Which theory do you think is correct? Both theories sound good to me as Hanami Dango brings the happiness of the spring season.
Hanami Dango & Hana yori Dango 花より団子
If you’re familiar with Japanese language, you might have heard of a saying, “Hana yori dango” (花より団子), which literally translates to “dango (dumplings) rather than flowers”.
It means to prefer substance over form, as in to prefer to be given functional, useful items (such as dango) instead of merely decorative items (such as flowers).
How about you? I’d be definitely looking forward to eating foods as much as admiring beautiful sakura!
If you enjoy dango, try this popular Mitarashi Dango with sweet soy sauce glaze over mochi!
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- 120 g Joshinko (Japanese rice flour) (120 g = scant 1 cup)
- 120 g Shiratamako (glutinous rice flour/sweet rice flour) (120 g = scant 1 cup)
- 120 g sugar (120 g = 1/2 cup plus scant 2 Tbsp)
- 175 ml hot water (175 ml = ¾ cup)
- 5 g Yomogi (mugwort) (5 g = 1 Tbsp) (See Notes
- 2 Tbsp hot water
- Red food coloring (See Notes)
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Put Yomogi in a bowl and add hot water. Use a fork to combine yomogi and water well.
- Set aside for 5 minutes. Then strain the yomogi using a fine mesh strainer. Discard the liquid.
- Combine joshinko, shiratamako, and sugar in a large bowl and mix all together.
Add hot water in small increment to combine (NEVER pour water at once) and mix well before you add more water. When the texture of the dough is similar to an earlobe texture, it’s good to go. It’s a funny comparison but that’s the traditional way to check on consistency. If you put too much water and your dough is too soft, add more joshinko.
- Divide the dough into thirds. Add the red food coloring to one third, the yomogi to another third, and keep the last one as it is.
- Knead each dough until the color is even and well combined.
- Roll the dough into 8 even sized balls for each color. I used a #60 cookie scooper that holds 2 tsp. I have to say it’s a bit bigger than actual dango, so you can probably use 1 to 1.5 tsp. would be the ideal size. You might be able to get 12 dango total.
Bring a large pot of water to boil. Cook the white dango in boiling water until they start floating, about 8 minutes. Stir in the beginning so dango won't stick at the bottom. Once floating, cook for another 1 minute.
- Remove the white dango from the water and immediately let them cool in iced water for 1 minute. Then transfer to a plate.
- Next work on pink dango, and repeat the same process. Then finish with green dango. As you see, the boiling water change color, so I recommend starting from light color to dark color so white dango doesn’t get stain.
Put one of each color dango onto a skewer, in order of green, white, and pink. Serve at room temperature. Put dango in an airtight container and keep at room temperature up to 2 days. If you live in hot place, find a cool place to store, but not in the refrigerator as dango will become too tough. Enjoy in 2 days.
Yomogi: If you can’t find this ingredient in a Japanese grocery store, substitute with 1 to 1.5 tsp Matcha green tea powder.
Red food color: If you prefer to use natural ingredient, other options to make dango pink is to use crushed freeze dry strawberries/raspberries. Add a little bit at a time to check on the color.
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
I have had mochi before and I’ll have to check to see if my local Asian market has dango as well. I enjoyed the explanations behind the colours.
Thank you for replying my mail about the wafu pasta n also for your latest recipe of Hanami Dango.
So sweet of u to share your recipes with us.
Tina
Hi Tina! Thank you for reading my blog, Tina! Feel free to email me anytime. 🙂 xo
There’s this little traditional sweet shop in Japantown in San Francisco on the below ground floor,, next to a stationary shop I believe. They make amazing mitarashi dango and sakura mochi. Their hanami dango on the other hand was disappointing. Typical mochi (with the appropriate colors) with an anko filling. Any suggestions of other Japanese sweet shops to visit in the area?
Hi Nem! I think you’ve been to Kissako Tea?
https://www.yelp.com/biz/kissako-tea-san-francisco-2?osq=wagashi
I’ve been to Benkyodo in SF Japan town.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/benkyodo-co-san-francisco?osq=wagashi
And Kitchoan?
http://www.kitchoan.com/locations/#lct-sf
I heard great things about Shouei Do, too:
https://www.yelp.com/biz/shuei-do-manju-shop-san-jose?osq=wagashi
I live in near houston, and we have a local Asian town area on Bellaire. I’ve been 3 or 4 times but I’ve never seen a Japanese sweet shop, however it’s pretty large so I haven’t seen everything yet.
I was wondering if anybody has heard of a place that sells Japanese sweets on Bellaire?
Kisako Tea! Yup, that’s the place! 🙂
Thanks for the other suggestions
It looks so cute. I love the pictures with blossoming trees, so beautiful.
Dumplings? Say no more. I’m in! 🙂
Wow! That looks good. Hey, could I use crushed cherries in the pink. My dad’s from Michigan so we keep frozen tart cherries ( a popular local produce, according to my dad) stocked for holiday cherry pies.
Hi Erin! Yes, you can use it (but don’t put too much). 🙂 Cherry pies… I’m so jealous!
I always wondered how dango was eaten, warm or cold or room temp. Thank you.
Hi Kayla! I’ll add that information to my recipe. You eat it at room temperature (or can be cool if you purchase from a grocery store where sometimes they keep dango in refrigerated section).
Nami-san,
In Matsuyama-shi,these dumplings are called “Botchan Dango”. Thank you for the recipe. Now I can make them myself.
I enjoy your blog and have made many of your recipes. They are authentic and tasty.
Hi Dave! Really!!!! It’s so interesting, even in Japan, it’s called differently in different regions! Thank you for your sweet words. I’m so happy you enjoy my recipes. 🙂
Thank you for the recipe! Fun and delicious. I have a problem with my dango when boiling them – they tend to stick to the bottom because they sink right away, then they come out all flattened afterwards! Any suggestions?
Hi Anna! Thank you for trying this recipe! I think it’ll help if you use chopsticks or ladle to circulate the dango/water so dango won’t drop to the bottom and stick?
I did try that, and it made a big difference! Thank you!
Hi Anna! Thank you so much for your feedback. I’m glad to hear that. 🙂
Thank you for this wonderful recipe! I tried it and they tasted great (so much more different than mochiko!) but they were too sticky to do almost anything with after I finished cooking them (I couldn’t even form them into balls. They just stayed little squares from when I cut them with a knife) Is there any way to make them less sticky? Also, I tried steaming them 20mins instead of boiling since it comes out more even. Thanks!
Hi Sonia! ONLY way is to dust the surface of mochi with potato starch (corn starch). It is sticky and that’s the nature of mochi. So make sure your hands and everywhere mochi touches are covered with potato starch.
Steaming or boiling doesn’t matter and it works either way, so I’m glad steaming works for you!
Hi, and thank you for taking the time to respond! Before I try again (and make another mess in the kitchen xD) I was wondering if when you said “mochi”, does that mean dango? I just wanted to make sure, since it was your Hanami Dango recipe I attempted and failed at xD.
Besides the dango turning out sticky after I cooked it in the steamer, it was also difficult to form into any other shape than the mass it was already in, and when I tore the cooked dough apart, it was hard to combine back together again without some pounding from a wooden handle. So I was also wondering, how do I get the cooked dango dough to go into the shapes I want it to so I can skewer them without them falling limp on the skewer? Again, thank you!
Hi Sonia! I apologize, I wasn’t careful when I responded above comment, thinking that you left comment on my Daifuku post. You might have thought my response doesn’t make sense (potato starch???).
After I read your comment again, I think your problem might be that your dough has more moisture than mine. The texture of dough should be ear lobe texture – it’s hard to know exactly, but we use this expression a lot when we make mochi so we kind of know how hard / tender it has to be… it’s not too soft… but it’s not too dry… I think your dough already has moisture so putting into the hot water makes the dough very watery/too soft. When I cook the dango, it remains the shape and never get droopy. Hope this helps!
Oh yes! I was a bit confused xD Thank you for the response. Disregard my response other response… I had typed it up yesterday and forgot to send it so I sent it now, but I didn’t refresh the page so I hadn’t noticed you had sent a response… xD
Thank you for the advice! I will try adding less water to my dough as I mix it and see how that comes out now! Does that mean I shouldn’t steam it, or if I do, I need to add even less water to the main dough? Thanks again so much for responding!
Hi Sonia! Yes less water, but it is enough to hold up the dough. 🙂 We usually boil it not steam it. Hope it’ll work out next time!
Thanks Nami for this great recipe! I found that beet juice is a great sub for red food coloring as well! Do you think we could freeze these cooked mochi and re-boil or microwave them?
Jack
Hi Jack! Glad to hear you like the beet juice option. Yes, you can freeze and reboil them. I prefer reboiling over microwaving as microwaving tends to make mochi hard sooner. Hope that helps! 🙂
Hi Nami, if I am able to get some salt pickled cherry blossom from Japan, how do I use it to color the dango pink?
Hi Belle! I’d chop up or puree and include that into the dough. However, if it’s not enough, you might need to add other coloring option… I highly recommend to save some flowers and decorate on the dango too! 🙂
For sakura flavor, I used sakura sugar powder to make my pink dango this year and it turned out great. The color is just as significantly pink as using food coloring, but there is a subtle cherry blossom flavor. As for advice on how to incorporate it exactly, I don’t have it down to a science yet. I just worked this powder into one-third of the dough and added a little water as needed. Add as much as you need to get the color you want. Hope this helps!
Here is the product I’m talking about: https://anything-from-japan.com/sweet-sakura-sugar-powder-30g . Don’t be deceived by the description, it isn’t very sweet, so it won’t make your dango overly sweet. It’s mostly ground up sakura petals.
Hi Nami, I need some help! I love your blog and your recipes are always amazing!
However right now I’m trying to make hanami dangos but mine do not float and also end up becoming very dense and hard. Do you know what am I doing wrong?
I’ve been using japanese jyoshinko and shiratamko too.
Also I’ve managed to get some salted sakura, but don’t know how to use it for the pink dango, do you have any suggestions? Thank you very much!
Hi Zhi! Hmm, I’m not sure, but when I looked up in Japanese, there are some people who have same issues that their dango don’t float. This person reached to conclusion that the water temperature that added to the flour may be the reason. Maybe you can change to warm temperature? I didn’t have any issue with my water temperature though. Maybe knead too long? I am not too sure… If I find out more I’ll write about it. 🙂 For salted sakura, you can chop into fine pieces (or use puree mode in blender) and mix with the dough. 🙂
Hi Nami! Ah alright, I will re-try it with warm water and try not to knead it for too long this time! Thank you again for your help! ^.^
Good luck, and keep me posted. 🙂
I’m so happy to be living in a place with many cherry blossom trees. I’m looking forward to celebrate hanami in the US. Thanks for the recipe, Nami!
Hi Rachel! I am jealous! My sakura is all gone already… 🙁 Enjoy this recipe!
Hi!! So my dango is the perfect texture and density & soooo delicious… BUT UGLY. It’s flat, has a “mushroom cap” kind of look, or is all around not a circle. What could be wrong?
Hi Rona! Hmm.. which step did you learned yours is not a ball shape? It sounds like the water content was higher and it seems softer…
I had the same trouble with mine, Nami, two years in a row. Many of my dango came out in a “mushroom cap” shape with a dimple on one side instead of staying as balls.
This year my white ones stayed balls but the green and pink turned into that “mushroom” shape. I have no idea what caused it. I rolled them into balls, lowered them in carefully into the water, and stirred for the first few minutes, but as they cook in the water they magically turn into that shape. Maybe too hard of a boil can ruin them? I had mine boiling pretty strong.
Hmm! As you see in my pictures for Step 12, my dango is not all perfectly round. Even though I “try” my best to roll the dough into perfectly round balls. Do you consider mine look “mushroom cap” shape like you had? Or yours is truly one side flat and dome shape on top? It’s interesting. I tried to search this issue on the internet (in Japanese) but I couldn’t find it. Everyone’s dango is not perfectly round, but round enough. Do you re-roll dango right before adding in? I usually reshape to make sure it’s the best looking before as you keep the dango on the cutting board or plate, one side gets flat. I doubt this could be causing the same issue though.
I don’t think it’s the boiling. Your dango didn’t sit on the bottom of the pot too right? I’m sorry I wish I know why it happens.
It is truly strange. It is like a flat dome, but on the bottom side there is even a dimple where you could sit it on top of your finger like a mushroom cap. It becomes concave. I have no idea how it happens. I will send you a picture so you can see. My white ones were round spheres and my pink and green turned to domes. I re-rolled them right before putting them in too. And stir a bit for the first couple minutes so they don’t stick or sit in place in the pot.
Hi Lion! It’s really strange. I’ll remember and see if there is any reason except for air in the dough created this concave shape… It’s strange white ones weren’t affected.
It is definitely strange that it didn’t affect the white ones. Though I will say, last year I made these and all three colors got the dimples (though a few did not), so something I’m doing is not consistent.
Hi Lion! That made me thinking. Maybe when you are portioning each ball, did you add more dough and during that time, the air got trapped combining two pieces of dough? If you make next time, remember this and try to knead a bit after combining and then roll into a ball shape? It’s all guessting though. 🙂
Which flavour should I add to the dango?
Hi Til! Traditionally, Hanami Dango is served like this, but what kind of flavors you are thinking?
I don’t know, therefore I asked you. 😉
We made these for my daughters birthday and definitely need more practice! Our dough was a little too soft and the balls didn’t keep their shape very well – they’re a bit flattened. The taste is good. What should the texture be like? They are sticky but not really chewy. The surface is sticky. Will they become less sticky after a couple hours?
Hi Lisa! Thank you so much for trying this recipe! Did you use Joshinko and Shiratamako? Maybe the amount of water was more than needed, which resulted in too soft. Should be sticky, and chewy, but because of Joshinko, it’s not as chewy as 100% Shiratamako. Joshinko make it firmer. So if you want super chewy, then you can make dango with 100% shiratamako too. Hope that helps!
I had the same issue. I used a different recipe which said just mochiko (which I think is glutinous rice flour?) . But to get the dough to a play dough texture as the recipe said, I had to use twice the amount of water as the recipe said, and the end result was very very sticky. めっちゃ失敗しました！They were like giant glue dots. One literally got stuck to the oven door and I had to prise it off. Even skewering them was a disaster as bits of each dango clung to the skewer as I slid them on.
If I tried it again with half mochiko, half plain rice flour, do you think I might get a better result? The kids refused to eat them because of how sticky they were.
Hi Clarissa! So what you made is more like mochi (you know those sticky elastic mochi), not dango. Joshinko gives firmer texture and you can’t make it with just mochiko. Even 100% shiratamako gives better texture IF you can’t find joshinko. But you can’t make this recipe with just 100% mochiko… What you made is basically this mochi (See step 2 of this post https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-make-mochi-with-a-stand-mixer/). I’m not sure if non-Japanese rice flour works as I never tried it. I read from articles that non-Japanese rice flour or glutinous rice flour are long grain rice and they are different just like how the steamed long grain rice is different from Japanese rice…
These were the ingredients and the recipe is for hanami dango:
120 g mochiko
60 g sugar
90 mL hot water
1 drop red and green food coloring
So I’m confused by that! So if I do 60g mochiko and if I can get 60g of Japanese plain rice flour, I will get a better dango texture?
I’m not sure if I’m allowed to link to the recipe but if you don’t mind, I’ll give you the link and maybe you can tell me if I missed something in the recipe? I now have the rest of the bag of mochiko and nothing to do with it! The rest of the recipe looks the same as yours, so I’m really confused how she got the dango texture with just mochi flour! 😦😦
I am not sure too…. maybe contact her directly? It’s always best to ask the person who created the recipe. Maybe she knows the trick? FYI, a lot of people steal an image and attach a different recipe (For example, my images are always getting stolen and have been used for completely different recipes)… so make sure your source is the legitimate one too before wasting your time. 🙂
説明してくれてありがとうございます！
Hi Nami! I can’t wait to try this dango recipe, thank you! One question- if I substitute matcha instead of yomogi, does it still need to be strained or do I mix it right in to the dough?
Hi Danielle! Yes you can mix it right into the dough. Enjoy!
If you buy the dango from the store in the refrigerated section, are you supposed to boil before eating or do you eat them as they are? They certainly don’t look like all the pictures I see online as they look now.
Hi Venus! Before I answer, I need to look at the type of dango you’re talking about. Have they skewered already? Do they have some sauce or toppings on top? In my local Japanese grocery store, they sell at room temperature area (as mochi or dango gets tough when refrigerated) or completely frozen (you have to defrost and enjoy). 🙂
It has been my experience that although purple shiso is nearly impossible to find in most places in the U.S., it’s actually quite easy to grow. In fact, it propagates itself and soon you find it all over the garden! Thank you for the wonderful recipe! I hope to try it next spring.
Thank you for your input, RJ! That’s what I heard too! One day I have to raise my own… 🙂