If you enjoy wagashi (Japanese confectionery) and wish to make them at home, this post shows you how to make Shiratama Dango that are found in many Japanese sweets. Chewy & gooey in texture, this type of mochi uses glutinous rice flour made from shiratamako or mochiko.
Shiratama Dango (白玉団子) or Japanese mochi balls is a type of mochi and we use glutinous rice flour to make it. This glutinous rice flour is made from mochigome (もち米/糯米) and it’s different from other types of glutinous rice flour because mochigome is Japanese short-grain rice (other kinds may use long grain rice, etc).
There are two types of glutinous rice flour you can use: shiratamako (白玉粉) or mochiko (餅粉) (or combine both). I recommend using shiratamako because mochi made with shiratamako has a very smooth, more refined, and elastic bouncy texture. And it also tastes better in my opinion. Also, shiratamako is much easier to use compared to mochiko. You can read a little bit more details on these glutinous rice flour on shiratamako page.
How To Use Shiratama Dango
Shiratama Dango is often served in a bowl or included in other Japanese desserts called wagashi (和菓子, Japanese confectionery) such as Anmitsu or Zenzai (Oshiruko).
Here’s how to make Shiratama Dango. A lot of readers told me it’s much easier to find mochiko in grocery stores, so I’m using mochiko in this video. However, the recipe below includes measurements for both mochiko and shiratamako and the methods are the same.
Recipes with Shiratama Dango
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Shiratama Dango
Ingredients
- 7 oz shiratamako (glutinous rice flour/sweet rice flour) (one 200-g bag; roughly 1⅓–1⅔ cups; you can buy on Amazon; you can substitute with mochiko)
- ¾ cup water (if you use mochiko, use less water)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Add 7 oz shiratamako (glutinous rice flour/sweet rice flour) to a large bowl. Gradually add ¾ cup water and mix with chopsticks or a silicone spatula until well combined. You may not need to use all the water. If you have accidentally added all the water at once, quickly place a paper towel over it and absorb excess water before mixing. If you already mixed it in, you'll have to add more shiratamako.
- Use the dough to pick up crumbs in the bowl. Knead the dough until the texture of the dough is like an “earlobe.”
- Then, roll it into a nice smooth ball and cut it into quarters. Roll out each piece into a log.
- Cut the log into small pieces.
- Roll each one into a ¾-inch (2-cm) ball. You should be able to make about 30 balls.
- Use your index finger to make an indentation in the center, about a scant ½ inch (1.3 cm) thick. This will help cook faster and less doughy in texture after cooking.
- Add the Shiratama Dango to boiling water.
- Once they float to the surface, cook for 1 minute.
- Remove from the water and soak in ice water to let them cool. Once cool, transfer to a plate or tray. Now shiratama dango are ready to use.
To Serve
- Serve the Shiratama Dango in your dessert.
To Store
- Shiratama Dango are soft and chewy within 30 minutes after they are made. If you are not using them right away, keep them in water and store in the refrigerator. Shiratama Dango will become hard, so you need to reheat them in boiling water to soften them before serving.
If I put little balls of Shiratama dango on bottom of shaved ice along with ice cream and Azuki, will the balls get too hard?
Hi Alice, Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
The Shiratama Dango will not be soft as is and have a more mochi-like texture but would work well with shaved ice.
We hope this helps!
I made this for the first time recently to pair with Matcha Jelly and it was so good! Such a perfect recipe.
Hi Tara! Shiratama Dango and Matcha jelly! It sounds very good.😋
Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and sharing your cooking experience with us!
is this like tangyuan?
Hi Emma! Yes. It’s similar to tangyuan. We hope you will give it a try!
Hi Nami! Im wondering why is it that the dango made from shiratamako will harden when put into the fridge but yet when we make mochi skin with shiratamako and chill it, it still stays soft and chewy? Is it due to the amt of water used? Thanks!
Hi Cheryl! Yeah, amount of sugar and water in the mochi dough. Plus the thickness. In general, anything made of rice gets hard when it’s chilled – steamed rice, sushi rolls, dango, daifuku mochi… it’s just the way it is. The store-bought mochi desserts have more sugar (and mizuame – type of syrup) in it that stays soft even longer. 🙂
Hello! Do you have an Instagram? I love your recipes!! Thank you!
Hi Taylor! Yes I do, @justonecookbook. I’m glad you enjoy my recipes! 🙂
The Mochi balls didn’t come out well. I used Mochiko rice flour and followed instructions but it was difficult to bind the flour together and added quite a bit of water. It turned out a bit hard even after boiling the balls. What did I do wrong?
Hi Sophie! Thank you for trying this recipe! Do you think it’s possible that you think you need more water but it’s actually not needed? Compared to shiratamako, you actually need less water. Were you able to have the texture of earlobe when you combine together? It’s like clay or playdough texture. I typically use shiratamako for shiratama dango because of superior texture shiratamako has, but I’ve made one with mochiko for this recipe and you can get pretty close… it should not be hard. Maybe yours were not flat enough to cook through? Maybe it was still not cooked through so it was hard/chewy? Let me know what you think. 🙂
[…] Shiratama Dango (白玉団子) is made of Shiratamako and often served with Zenzai (Oshiruko), Anmitsu, and Mitsumame. Make them at home following my recipe. […]
[…] to 60%. When you increase Shitamako too much, the dango gets too soft, and it becomes more like Shiratama Dango texture. Dango needs to be a bit firmer than Shiratama […]
[…] And here’s the recipe for Shiratama Dango. […]
[…] After doing some research, I noticed that the dough was effectively the same as what was described at: https://www.justonecookbook.com/shiratama-dango/ […]
Hi Namiko,
Thanks for the recipe. Can I steam the dango instead of boiling it?
Hi Bamboo! Sure you can do that. 🙂 I think it takes a bit more time, but I’ve seen it before.
Thank you so much for your Shiratama dango recipe, it’s helpful
Hi Nga! So glad to hear that! 🙂
Hello,
I am trying to figure out why you use only shiratamako flour for this recipe but both the flours (sweet and regular) for the mitarashi recipe?
Thank you for your time!
Hi Jess! In English language, all kinds of mochi-like texture is MOCHI. There is no other names for it. But in Japanese, or Japanese cuisine, all these mochi-like dishes have individual names. So this specific type you’re looking at is called Shiratama Dango. We don’t call it mochi or Mitarashi dango (mitarashi is the sauce). As you may or may not know “mochi” has SO MANY variations. Each type uses glutinous rice flour and rice flower differently. We even have dango flour and other types of flour to make different types of “mochi”.
So… Shiratama Dango is usually made with 100% shiratamako.
But dango (small round balls) is usually made with combination of flour and often uses rice flour because it’s much firmer than shiratama dango texture.
Hope that answers to your question. 🙂
Can I keep these in water for a day to serve as needed? Or maybe in syrup?
Hi T! Yeah one day should be okay but don’t keep it for a long time as dango will start to get dissolved. 🙂
hi, do you know if this will work with the glutinous rice flour at asian grocery stores? I have tried the japanese 101 recipe and it came out lumpy. thanks,
Hi Lily! Glutinous rice flour sold in Asian stores use long grain rice while Shiratamako is made of Japanese short grain rice. As you know, the texture of short and long grain rice are different, so it won’t be exactly the same. Maybe the amount of water was too much?