Easy Tofu Mitarashi Dango (Japanese Rice Dumplings with Sweet Soy Glaze)

Place the bamboo skewers in a glass of cold water to soak and start boiling a pot of water.

Pour 100 g glutinous rice flour into a large mixing bowl and whisk to aerate, then crumble 125 g silken tofu into the bowl and mix with a spatula or wooden spoon until the texture resembles scrambled eggs.

Press the mixture together with your hands to form a dough. Knead until it's smooth and has the texture of an earlobe.

Divide the dough into 15g (½ oz) pieces, there should be 3 for each skewer. Roll into balls and place on a plate. Tip: Space them apart in a single layer so that they don't stick together. Line your plate with baking parchment or a thin sprinkling of starch for easy removal.

When the pot of water is at a rolling boil, gently drop the dango into the water and nudge with chopsticks or a spoon to make sure they don't stick to the bottom of the pot.

Once they're all floating (about 5-7 minutes) set a timer for 2 minutes. Prepare a bowl of ice water and set it by the stove.

After 2 minutes are up, use a mesh spoon to scoop them out of the pot and straight into the bowl of ice water. Leave to cool for a few minutes.

Once they're cool enough to touch, push three dango onto each soaked bamboo skewer.

Char the dango using your preferred method.Gas stove/kitchen torch: hold the dango over the flame until lightly charred.Frying pan method: Heat up a pan on medium. Add the dango to the dry pan, brown on each side, turning occasionally.

Add 2 tbsp light brown sugar, 2 tbsp mirin, and 2 tsp Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi shoyu) to a cold pan. In a small glass bowl, mix 1 tbsp cold water and ¼ tsp cornstarch to make a slurry.

Heat the pan on low or medium low, and mix continuously until the sugar has dissolved.

Let the sauce bubble for about 1 minute, then mix the slurry and pour it into the pan. Mix thoroughly.

Continue to stir over the heat until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Drizzle the sauce over the dango and enjoy!