Hanami dango are the perfect little treat to capture the essence of spring and celebrate the season’s arrival! These tri-colored rice dumplings are deliciously sweet with a chewy texture just like mochi. Hanami dango are often eaten during the tradition of cherry blossom viewing in Japan but are a popular snack all year round. Prepare this cute and iconic Japanese dessert easily at home with this recipe!
Table of contents
What is Hanami Dango?
Hanami dango, also known as sanshoku (three colour) dango, is a traditional Japanese sweet typically made to celebrate the arrival of spring in Japan. It’s made from three different coloured rice dumplings (dango) skewered on a bamboo stick. The dango are coloured in pink, white, and green to representing the changing seasons through the flowers which bloom in spring (pink), the pure colour of snow (white), and the beauty of new growth (green). The dango are called ‘hanami’ because they are often eaten during ‘hanami’ which is the practice of viewing the bloom of the sakura flowers during the cherry blossom season festival.
The dango are made rice flour, either shiratamako, joshinko or mochiko, and sugar and water. They have a bouncy chewy texture similar to mochi and a sweet taste. The white dango is just made from sweet rice flour. The soft pink dango is made by adding red food colouring and can be flavoured with sakura (cherry blossom) powder. The green dango can be made with matcha green tea powder or yomogi (mugwort). Although the dango are made for the hanami season, they’re a popular snack to eat any time of year.
Ingredients Required to Make Hanami Dango
Joshinko (rice flour)
Joshinko is a key ingredient in making hanami dango. It’s a type of non-glutinous rice flour that’s finely milled from short-grain Japanese rice. Joshinko provides a smooth, less sticky texture to the dango compared to glutinous rice flour (mochiko or shiratamako). This helps create the perfect balance of chewiness and softness in the dumplings.
Shiratamako (glutinous rice flour)
Shiratamako is a type of glutinous rice flour, also known as sweet rice flour or mochiko. It’s made from mochigome, a short-grain japonica glutinous rice. Shiratamako is responsible for the signature chewy, sticky texture that’s characteristic of hanami dango. It gives the dumplings their soft and bouncy consistency. f you can not get shiratamako, this ingredient can be substituted with Mochiko.
Sugar
sugar adds sweetness to the dango because hanami dango are meant to be sweet.
Water
Water is essential for hydrating the rice flours (joshinko and shiratamako) to create a dough that can be shaped into round dumplings. The right amount of water helps achieve the proper consistency of the dango dough. Too little water results in a dry, crumbly dough, while too much can make it sticky and difficult to handle.
Flavoring and coloring
To create the traditional tri-color appearance.
– For pink: You can use food coloring or natural alternatives like sakura powder.
– For green: Matcha powder or yomogi is commonly used.
Ingredients Substitutions and Variations
Rice Flour Substitutions
Due to the nature of each flour, if you replace it completely, you won’t get the same texture. If don’t mind the difference in texture, you can try making dango with Mochiko only if joshinko or shiratamako are not accessible in your country.
Sugar Alternatives
Replace white sugar with coconut sugar or brown sugar for a deeper flavor.
For a lower-calorie option, try using stevia or monk fruit sweetener.
Water
What I often like to do is to use tofu instead of water because I think tofu adds a bouncy texture to the dango and I prefer that “mochi mochi” texture. It also adds extra protein and nutrition. Silken tofu is typically used for this substitution because it has a smooth and creamy texture and high water content.
Colouring
For the green dango, yomogi powder is typically used but this can be difficult to get outside of Japan so instead you can use matcha powder or green food colouring. For the pink dango colour, sakura powder might also be difficult to access so it can be substituted with strawberry powder, beetroot juice, or food colouring.
How to Make Hanami Dango Step by Step
1. Prepare the Dough:
- In a large bowl, mix joshinko, shiratamako, and sugar.
- Gradually add warm water, stirring until it comes together to form a dough.
2. Divide and Color the Dough:
- Divide the dough into three equal portions.
- Leave one portion white.
- Add sakura powder and/or red food colouring to one portion and knead until it turns and evenly colored light pink.
- Add matcha powder or yomogi powder or green food colouring to the last portion and knead until green.
3. Shape the Dango:
- Divide each colored dough into 5-6 small pieces.
- Roll each ball of dough (green, pink, and white) into 6 uniform-sized balls.
4. Cook the Dango:
- Bring a large pot of water to boil.
- Gently drop the dango balls into the boiling water.
- Once the dango floats to the surface of the water, leave them cooking for a few minutes more.
- Remove with a slotted spoon and place in cold water to stop the cooking process.
5. Assemble the Hanami Dango:
- Thread three dango balls (one of each color) onto a skewer.
- Traditionally, the order is pink, white, then green from top to bottom. Repeat until all the dango are skewered.
6. Serve:
Enjoy your hanami dango!
Shiho’s Kitchen Tips to make hanami dango
- Adjust water as needed to achieve the right dough consistency.
- If the dango are too soft after boiling, you can grill them lightly for a firmer texture.
- If you are using red food coloring for pink dango, it requires only a couple of small drops to make the subtle pink colour like the colour of cherry blossom flowers. When the dough is cooked, the colour will intensify a bit. Matcha will add dull green hue, whereas yomogi powder adds a sharp dark green hue.
- Soak the skewers in water before place dango on them. Soaking makes it easier to skew the dango.
Serving Suggestions
Traditional Hanami Style:
Serve the colorful dango on a plate alongside a cup of green tea for the traditional way to serve the dango. This classic pairing is perfect for enjoying under cherry blossoms during hanami season.
Dessert Platter:
Arrange the dango skewers on a large platter with other Japanese sweets like mochi, dorayaki, daifuku and other wagashi. Add some fresh fruit slices for a beautiful and varied dessert spread.
Tea Time Treat:
Eat the dango with Japanese teas like sencha, hojicha, matcha, or mugicha. The sweetness of the dango complements the slight bitterness of the tea wonderfully.
Ice Cream Pairing:
Serve slightly chilled dango alongside a scoop of matcha or vanilla ice cream. The contrast in temperatures and textures creates an interesting dessert.
Japanese-style Dessert Bowl:
Create a dessert bowl by serving the dango skewers with sweet red bean paste (anko) on the top or on the side.
How to Store
You can store any leftover cooked dumplings in the freezer. Dango will keep for a few months in the freezer. Scatter the balls onto a flat container or plate lined with plastic wrap. Make sure that each dango ball doesn’t touch each other to avoid them sticking. Cover with another sheet of plastic wrap and leave it in the freezer. When the balls are frozen, put them in a ziplock bag and return them to the freezer.
Hanami Dango 花見団子
Ingredients
- 100 g Glutinous rice flour Shiratamako
- 50 g Joshinko
- 150 g Water *1 or Silken tofu read above post
- 4 tbs white sugar
- 1/4 tsp Matcha powder for green colour *2
- 1 tsp Sakura powder and a drop of Pink colouring for pink colour *2
Instructions
- Place the shiratamako, joshinko, and sugar in a large bowl.
- Gradually add silken tofu (or water), stirring with a wooden spatula until it all comes together to form a dough.
- Divide the dough into three equal portions.
- Add the matcha powder (or alternative coloring) into one of the dough portions and knead until the dough turns green.
- Add 1/2 tps of sakura cherry blossom powder (or alternative coloring) into one of the other dough portions and knead into the dough until it turns light pink.
- Roll each ball of dough (green, pink, and white) into 6 uniform-sized balls.
- Boil a pot of water and add the dango balls.
- Once the dango floats to the surface of the water leave them cooking for a few minutes more, then scoop them out and put them into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process.
- Place one green dango, one white dango, and one pink dango onto a skewer and repeat until all the dango are skewered then serve!
Notes
- Substitutions: If you don’t have tofu, you can replace it with water. The texture will be slightly different. Flour and water ratio is 1:1
- When the dough is cooked, the colour of the dango will be intensified. However, sakura powder does not add much pink colour, so I dropped one drop of red food colouring.
I would like to attempt to make this, but I’m having difficulty finding the rice flour, and when I looked up substitutes, it said to use tapioca starch/tapioca flour. Would there be any modification that I would need to make if I use this substitution? And how much strawberry abstract do you think I should add to the pink dough if I were to add it?
Hi Akira, where do you live? I am not sure as I have not used Tapioca flour to make dango.
I get nothing it stays as a liquid, when I mix the glutinous rice, flour sugar and water. Please help!
Hi Kim, may be you adding too much water and also all at once?
My dough comes out sticky and the balls doesn’t stay balls so idk what i did wrong but certainly won’t try it again any time soon
Hi, the dango I make keeps getting really sticky, is there something i’m doing wrong?
Hi Eric, are you using right flour?
Hello! I have red many ways to color the pink dango. Berry powder, berry juice, beets, red shiso. But I was wondering if you could use smooth anko paste? And if so how much? Guess it would be like your Halloween dango or some kind of botchan dango! (Which I can also not find a recipe for) Thank you! <3
Hi Christa, I don’t think smooth anko paste will make pink coloured dango, but it will be more like dull purple?
Hi there
Would I be able to put Anko paste in the middle of these??
Just thought that could be super cool!!!
Kate
Hi Kate, I have not tried it myself but yes you can 😀
Hello! The recipe calls for equal parts Shiratamako flour and silken tofu. When I mixed this together, it was so liquid-y and not at all the texture to eventually form dough. It was just too gooey. I used 90 grams of the Shiratamako and 90 grams of tofu. What did I do wrong? Thank you!
Hi Claudia, may be the tofu you used contains more water. If that is the case, you need to adjust the tofu amount. Don’t add them all in once, add gradually and see the texture become like your ear tubs, then stop adding tofu.
Looks good I miss dango! What kind of silken tofu should I use soft, firm, or extra firm? Thank you!
Hi Jordyn, I just got back from Japan and miss Sanshoku dango already 😀 Silken tofu is soft and smooth one. You can use any but soft silken tofu is the best to use for smooth mochi like texture.
Was craving these after my trip to tokyo – so glad i found your recipe – its spot on ! They are so good !! thanks so much 🙂
You are welcome littleb 😀 I am in Tokyo now enjoying all delicious food to recharge myself to share more delicious Japanese recipes when I get back to Australia 😀
wow love it simple and easy!
yes! Thank you 😀
Would it mess up anything is I added a couple drops of flavoring? I have some glutinous rice flour and I would love to try making this.
Hi Becky, I don’t think it will mess up anything if it is only a couple drops of flavouring 😀
Is shiratamako and joshinko rice flour the same thing?
I want to make Hanami Dango but I’m stuck with the rice flour? Do I have to use both? Or one?
Hi Marinette, they are different. If you have rice flour, you can use that. You don’t need to use both if you can’t get either flour 😀
Hi, is there way to make your own shiratamako. I can’t find any.
I want to make japaanese sweets but everything requires mochiko flour or shiratamako.
Hi Joanna where do you live? I don’t know how to make shiratamako. Japanese people buy them from shops. If you live in Australia, you can buy glutinous rice flour from supermarkets 😀 If you would like to know what it looks like have a look at my shop page.
Hi! Is the glutinous rice flour the same as shiratamako? Or is it different? Like joshinko?
HI Aileen, yes it is same 😀
Hi!
I can’t find silken tofu, so I’m gonna use water… how much should I use
Thanks!
Hi Marti, I would use 80% of the dry ingredients. So try to use 120ml water which is 1/2 cup of water. Add water gradually to see the mixture consistency because you don’t want a too runny mixture. When the mixture become like your ear tub softness, stop adding water 😀
Got it! thank you so much!
Hi! What brand of rice flour did you use?
Hi Miggy. The flour I use is in the shop. Thank you 😀
Hi 🙂
I’d love to make these, but just to check, by “3 tbs of white sugar” do you mean 3 tablespoons or teaspoons? I’ve never made my own dango before, so I wouldn’t know! xD
Thank you!!!
ps Thanks for publishing this recipe! <3
Hi Rosie, yes 3 tablespoons 😀 Enjoy making it. It is fun!
can you make them ahead of time? and if so do they need to be refrigerated?
Hi Susan, sorry no you can’t. This Dango is best served fresh. If you make them ahead, the dango become a little harder and dry especially when they are stored in fridge.
Hi i was just wondering how long should they take to cook, and how big should they be in grams?
Hi Christine, it takes about 2-3 minutes the dango start to flat up to the surface. I never weighed, but make something like cherry tomato size.
Also, I love dango!
Thank you An, me too 😀
About how much do the ingredients cost? Also, I am going into a tasting contest where I have to cook. Is the Dango a good contestant? And what is used to give them eyes like in the Anime clanned?
Hi Aaliyah, the cost of the ingredients are depends on where you live. In Australia it will cost like A$5 and you will have left over like food colourings as only 1-2 drops will be used. I am not sure about Anime clanned eyes and also the contents of my blog is copyrighted.
Hello! May i ask how the tofu affects the flavor of the dango? I’ve noticed two of your dango recipes called for silken tofu and I would like to know what flavor they add(as oppose to just water) 🙂
Hi An, Tofu does not affect the flavour of the dango at all as tofu does not taste anything( well At least Japanese tofu doesn’t and I use Japanese tofu)
I love sanshoku dango! I used to go to the wagashiyasan in my neighborhood as a child to get all kinds of wagashi, sanshoku dango being one of them 🙂 I thought about making sakura mochi for Hinamatsuri but chickened out and made matcha cupcakes instead haha.
Hi Ai, Matcha Cupcakes is delicious too:D and me too, thought about Sakura mochi but can’t get ingredients here in Australia so we made Sanshoku dango which is my daughter’s favourite.