is a Japanese

dumpling Dumplings are a broad class of dishes that consist of pieces of cooked dough (made from a variety of starchy sources), often wrapped around a filling. The dough can be based on bread, wheat or other flours, or potatoes, and it may be filled wi ...

made with regular

rice flour Rice flour (also rice powder) is a form of flour made from finely milled rice. It is distinct from rice starch, which is usually produced by steeping rice in lye. Rice flour is a common substitute for wheat flour. It is also used as a thickening ...

and

glutinous rice Domestication syndrome refers to two sets of phenotypic traits that are common to either domesticated plants or domesticated animals. Domesticated animals tend to be smaller and less aggressive than their wild counterparts; they may also hav ...

flour. They are usually made in round shapes, and three to five pieces are served on a

skewer A skewer is a thin metal or wood stick used to hold pieces of food together. The word may sometimes be used as a metonym, to refer to the entire food item served on a skewer, as in "chicken skewers". Skewers are used while grilling or roasting ...

, which is called . The pieces are eaten with sugar, syrup, red bean paste, and other sweeteners. Generally, ''dango'' falls under the category of ''

wagashi is traditional Japanese confectionery, typically made using plant-based ingredients and with an emphasis on seasonality. ''Wagashi'' generally makes use of cooking methods that pre-date Western influence in Japan. It is often served with green ...

'' (Japanese confectionery), and is often served with

green tea Green tea is a type of tea made from the leaves and buds of the '' Camellia sinensis'' that have not undergone the withering and oxidation process that creates oolong teas and black teas. Green tea originated in China in the late 1st millenn ...

. It is eaten year-round, but the different varieties are traditionally eaten in given seasons. ''Dango'' is sometimes compared with

mochi A mochi ( ; Japanese ) is a Japanese rice cake made of , a short-grain Japonica rice, japonica glutinous rice, and sometimes other ingredients such as water, sugar, and cornstarch. The steamed rice is pounded into paste and molded into the ...

, but is different in that mochi is generally made only with glutinous rice. A popular type of ''dango'', the ''hanami dango'', has been made into a

Unicode Unicode or ''The Unicode Standard'' or TUS is a character encoding standard maintained by the Unicode Consortium designed to support the use of text in all of the world's writing systems that can be digitized. Version 16.0 defines 154,998 Char ...

emoji An emoji ( ; plural emoji or emojis; , ) is a pictogram, logogram, ideogram, or smiley embedded in text and used in electronic messages and web pages. The primary function of modern emoji is to fill in emotional cues otherwise missing from type ...

(🍡).

Types

The many different varieties of ''dango'' are usually named after the various seasonings served on or with it.

Popular dango

* is commonly covered with sweetened red bean paste; ingredients other than '' azuki'' are used on rare occasions. Other toppings for anko include made from

edamame is an East Asian dish prepared with immature soybeans in their pods, which are boiled or steamed, and may be served with salt or other condiments. The dish has become popular across the world because it is rich in vitamins, dietary fiber, and i ...

paste and kurumi (

walnut A walnut is the edible seed of any tree of the genus '' Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. They are accessory fruit because the outer covering of the fruit is technically an i ...

) paste. * is

(matcha) flavored ''dango''. * is a kind of baked dango () and is seasoned with

soy sauce Soy sauce (sometimes called soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of China, Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermentation (food), fermented paste of soybeans, roasted cereal, grain, brine, and ''Aspergillus oryzae'' or ''A ...

. Furthermore, the one wrapped with nori is called . * also known as is eaten during hanami. It has three colors (pink, white and green), and is traditionally made during '' sakura''-viewing season, hence the name (''hanami'' means "flower viewing"; ''hana'' meaning "flower", and ''mi'' meaning "to see"). The order of the three colored dumplings is said to represent the order in which cherry blossoms bloom. Pink represents cherry buds, white represents cherry blossoms in full bloom, and green represents leafy cherry blossoms after they have fallen. This one was chosen for the Dango Unicode emoji, 🍡 * is made with

millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most millets belong to the tribe Paniceae. Millets are important crops in the Semi-arid climate, ...

flour. This variety is prominently featured in the tale of

Momotarō is a Folk hero, popular hero of Japanese folklore. His name is often translated as ''Peach Boy'', but is directly translated as ''Peach + Tarō (given name), Tarō'', a common Japanese given name. ''Momotarō'' is also the title of various books, ...

, a folkloric Japanese hero, who offers the rounded ball (not skewered) to three talking animals in exchange for their aid in fighting demons. * is made with toasted soy flour. * is mixed leaves of yomogi, like kusa mochi. It is often covered with '' anko''. * is covered with a syrup made from '' shouyu'' (soy sauce),

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

, and

starch Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diet ...

. * is produced and eaten primarily in

Niigata Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture in the Chūbu region of Honshu of Japan. Niigata Prefecture has a population of 2,131,009 (1 July 2023) and is the List of Japanese prefectures by area, fifth-largest prefecture of Japan by geographic area ...

. ''Sasa dango'' has two varieties: ''onna dango'' and ''otoko dango''. ''Onna dango'' (literally "female dango") is filled with anko, while the ''otoko dango'' (literally "male dango") is filled with '' kinpira''. The ''dango'' is wrapped in leaves of sasa for the purpose of preservation. * is eaten in anmitsu or mitsumame. * is a white dango eaten during Tsukimi, related to the Mid-Autumn festival.

Various other dango

* has three colors. One is colored by red beans, the second by eggs, and the third by green tea. ''Botchan dango'' is a product name of Ehime’s miyagegashi, which was named after Natsume Sōseki’s novel '' Botchan''. * is a slightly sweet, light treat usually eaten as a dessert. * from

Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...

is made from potato flour and baked with sweet boiled beans. * is coated in chestnut paste. * is a type of Japanese meatball. Chicken ''niku dango'' is called '' tsukune'', served on a

. File:Hanami_Dango.jpg, '' Hanami dango'' File:Dango on plate with stick.jpg, '' Kusa dango'' File:Bean-jam-dumpling,dango,katori-city,japan.JPG, '' Anko dango'' File:Goma dango 001.jpg, ''

Goma Goma is a city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the North Kivu, North Kivu Province; it is located on the northern shore of Lake Kivu and shares borders with the Bukumu Chiefdo ...

dango'' File:Chi chi dango.jpg, '' Chichi dango'' File:Tsukimi dango.jpg, '' Tsukimi dango'' File:Kinako dango in Isezakicho.jpg, '' Kinako dango'' File:だんご3と魚 (34657200343).jpg, Roasted with fish

Derived terms

A common Japanese proverb refers to a preference for practical things rather than aesthetics. A hairstyle consisting of ''dango''-like buns on either side of the head is sometimes known as ''odango''. '' Dorodango'' is a Japanese art form in which earth and water are molded to create a delicate, shiny sphere, resembling a billiard ball.

In Vietnam

Bánh hòn is a specialty dessert of Phan Thiet. The cake is made from tapioca flour, coconut, roasted peanuts, salt and sugar. When finished, it is rolled over shredded coconut and skewered like Japanese dango.

Unicode character

The Unicode

character 🍡 is used to resemble hanami dango. The character was introduced in October 2010.

References

{{Dumplings Japanese dumplings Japanese rice dishes Skewered foods Wagashi Glutinous rice dishes Rice flour dishes