Hanami Dango

Step 1

In a large bowl, whisk together flours and sugar. Slowly and in small increments, add the hot water while stirring with a spoon or rubber spatula. Mix until it is evenly combined. Divide the dough evenly into three smaller bowls.

Step 2

In a small bowl or cup, whisk together cherry blossom powder with approximately half a tablespoon of hot water until it has fully dissolved. In another bowl, do the same with the matcha powder.

Step 3

Add the cherry blossom liquid to one of the reserved portions of dough. Add the matcha liquid to another. Mix well with a spoon until there are no more streaks of the cherry blossom and matcha.

Step 4

Wet your hands with a little bit of water (to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands) and roll out little dumplings. You want to get about 8 - 10 dumplings per colour. Place rolled dumplings on a plate.

Step 5

In a medium-sized pot, bring water to a boil. Once the water is boiling, turn down the heat to medium and drop in the white dumplings. Stirring occasionally, cook until the dumplings float to the top of the water, about 10 minutes. It is important that you keep stirring right when you add the dumplings or else they will stick to the bottom of the pot.

Step 6

While the dumplings are cooking, fill a large bowl with cold water. Once the dumplings are floating and fully cooked, remove the dumplings from the water and immediately let them cool in iced water for a minute. After a minute, transfer the dumplings onto a plate.

Step 7

Next, repeat the same steps for the pink dumplings and then the green dumplings. Do not be tempted to cook all the coloured dumplings at once because the colours may transfer to the white dumplings.

Step 8

Once the dumplings have cooled, put one dumpling of each colour onto a skewer, in the order of green, white, and pink.  Serve the day they are made and at room temperature.

Step 9

Dust half of kinako over a small baking sheet. Set aside.

Step 10

In a medium-sized pot, combine warabi mochiko, sugar, and water.

Step 11

Heat the mixture over medium heat until the mixture begins to boil. Using a wooden spoon or a rubber spatula, stir the mixture vigorously for 10 minutes. The mixture will start off opaque but will slowly become translucent. The mixture should be very thick at this point.

Step 12

Transfer the mixture onto the kinako-dusted baking sheet and try to spread it out as evenly as possible. The slab of mochi should be roughly 1-inch thick.

Step 13

Dust the remaining half of kinako on top of the mochi slab.

Step 14

Transfer the mochi to the fridge and let it cool for 30 - 45 minutes, until the mochi is lightly chilled. The mochi will be much easier to cut when it has cooled.

Step 15

Once cooled, cut the mochi into 1-inch cubes. Serve immediately.