Sunday, February 10, 2013

Ikinari Dango (aka Imokoi)

Ikinari Dango also known as Imokoi
We got snowed in on Friday, school was off my husband took a day off work as well. I had extra helping hands for the kids so I made "Ikinari Dango".

"Ikinari Dango" roughly translates to "Dango (cake made with rice flour) out of the blue". It's a very interesting naming, don't you think? I read that because they can be made quickly even when a visitor come to your house out of the blue.

It still took me almost an hour or more to prepare them but I guess during the old days without a microwave oven or convenience stores 1 hour was considered quick...good old days.

And in Kyushu where some nice sweet potatoes are in abundance you can find all these ingredients without going out to a store or wherever they went in those days.

This is also known as "Imokoi" in around Kawagoe, Saitama. Imo means potatoes and Koi means love...it's pretty much self-explanatory!

In Canada, this type of sweet potato that I used to make the sweets used to be really difficult to find. But thanks to the cultural diversity in this nation now I can get this purple goodness without any hustle, in any supermarkets nearby.

You can also find the recipe of this sweets at cooksnaps.com .

This is not really something you have to be absolutely precise with measurements or on each steps, it's peasant food after all. So do experiment to suit your own liking!

Yields to 12 - 15 dango. (depending on the size of the potato)
Ingredients
  • All purpose flour 150g
  • Glutenous rice flour (Mochiko) 80g
  • Rice flour (Komeko or Joshinko) 20g
  • Salt 1/2 tsp
  • Hot water 150cc
  • Purple sweet potato 1 medium (about 200 - 250g)
  • Tsubu-an (red bean paste, not strained) 200 - 250g
Directions
  1. Measure all the ingredients.
  2. Wash sweet potato well and slice it into about 1cm (1/2 inch) thickness immediately soaking them in salted water). You may peel the skin if you like, or you can even cut the potato thicker. 
    Soak the sweet potato in salted water
    to prevent from tuning brown.
  3. In a large bowl, mix together all the flour and salt with a fork. Slowly add hot water. (Please be careful) and mix thoroughly. The mixture looks crumbly and that's OK at this point.
  4. With your hands now knead the dough until smooth and elastic. (again be careful the dough is hot!) It should be about the softness of your earlobe. If it's too hard add more hot water, little bit at a time.Wrap or cover the dough and let it rest for 15 to 20 mins.
    Scoop anko onto a slice of sweet potato
  5. Take out the only slice of potato you are about to wrap, wash it under running water and pat dry. Scoop anko on the potato as seen above.
  6. Take out some dough, about the size a little bit bigger than a golf ball and spread it to about 3mm thickness using palms of your hands and fingers. You can use a rolling pin also.
    Wrap the dough gently working with your hands
  7. Place sweet potato in the center of the dough, anko side down.Wrap the dough around the sweet potatoes using both of your palms.
  8. Close the edges of the dough at the bottom with the tips of your fingers.
  9. Place dangos in a hot steamer. Give plenty of space in between as they puff up and stick together. Also it's a good idea to put a cotton cloth or waxpaper down at the bottom of the steamer to prevent the dango from sticking.
  10. Steam in high heat for 30 mins or until a toothpick goes through the whole dango easily.
  11. Serve them hot and fresh just out of the steamer otherwise after they are cooled down enough to be handled (should be still warm.) wrap them with a plastic wrap individually to prevent hardening.They are nice too at the room temperature!
  12. When you need to reheat, heat them in a hot steamer or microwave it for 30 seconds.



1 comment:

  1. Fascinating to read. I am visiting Kyushu in October, for the first time (second trip to Japan) and can't wait to try some of the local specialities. I am hoping the purple potatoes will also be in season!

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