I wonder if you have seen such a color as soft and chewy as Mitarashi amber. The golden glaze is made of soy sauce and sugar, and it covers the pearl-like sticky rice cake as known as “dango”, in Japanese. This is Mitarashi Dango, and all Japanese grew up with Mitarashi Dango, especially around 3 peckish o’clock in the afternoon. I remember I was always fascinated by its color; I used to raise it up before even thinking about eating, and gazed at it for the longest moment. Perhaps it was the reflection from the afternoon sun; because in my eyes the dango seemed have been dipped into some sort of sugary iridescence, and it changed the colors depending on how I looked at it.

You see, I was in the midst of an ugly breakup when I made this recipe. It was so ugly that I had to lock myself in a room for months and didn’t see anybody. I didn’t feel like doing anything for a very long time, but this particular day I miraculously did, and I remember I just wanted to create something beautiful. If you ask me why I did it, then I would have answered, -why would a caged bird still sing in the dark? -why would Monet still paint when he became blind?

Mitarashi Dango is a very common Japanese snack, but it’s originally known to be a sacred Shinto food that would purify the evil to protect us from the misfortune. I didn’t know about this until recently, but maybe my instinct did; because when I was making this food, I was just watching my hands do their job; -I never made Mitarashi Dango before, I never made bear-shaped rice cakes before, but when I was at my kitchen making my Rilakkuma Mitarashi Dango, it looked like I knew what I was doing.

I thought I was just lucky, but maybe, just a wishful maybe, it had nothing to do with my luck; because now when I look at my Rilakkuma’s soft gracious smile in these photos I took, it takes my imagination to somewhere so warm. It may have been my Shinto spirits, purifying the evil to protect me from the misfortune.

Perhaps it’s a Japanese thing; -we are good at crafting and creating! I usually don’t believe in generalization, but this particular day when I made my Rilakkuma Mitarashi Dango, I did feel my ancestors were living in my blood.
I made my dango look like Rilakkuma, because he has the exact same color as the Mitarashi sauce. I also grew up with a life-sized Rilakkuma; you have no idea how many times I cried in his stomach when life felt like a devoid all else. He’s not just a stuffed bear to me. He is a good friend.

Here are what my “friend” is made of:

• Ears: Eggs
• Eyes, nose and month: Nori (dried seaweed)
• White mouth part: Cheese

Rilakkuma Mitarashi Dango

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

40 mins

 

Serves: 2

Ingredients

For the Dango:

• ・50g Joshinko flour (Rice flour)
• ・50g Shiratamako flour (Glutinous Rice flour)
• ・75g Water
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For the Mitarashi sauce:

• ・2 tbsp Soy sauce
• ・5 tbsp Mirin
• ・4 tbsp Brown sugar
• ・4 tbsp Water
• ・1 tbsp Potato starch (with 1 tbsp water later)
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For the Rilakkuma's face

• ・1 piece Nori (dried seaweed)
• ・1 egg
• ・2 thinly sliced cheese (I picked gouda cheese)

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1: Prepare the Mitarashi Sauce.
Put all the Mitarashi ingredients in a saucepan except for the potato starch.2: Boil.
Set the heat to medium-high and bring it to a boil. This will help get rid of all the alcohol from the mirin
3: Make potato starch mixture and add it to the pan
Potato starch is the magic ingredient to make your sauce thick and shiny. But don’t kill the magic by adding it directly. Mix potato starch with 1 tbsp water first and make a milk-like mixture, and add that mixture in the main pan. 4: Keep mixing.
Keep stirring the sauce until it’s all combined. After the sauce has thickened, you should be able to draw a line in the pan like in the picture. Then turn off the heat and let it rest until the dango is ready.
5: Making Dango; mix all the ingredients.
Mix the dango ingredients and knead with your hand until the dough becomes smooth. If the mixture is too dry, add a little water till the dough is just right.

A little advice: the dough should be as soft as your own earlobes. 6: Make Rilakkuma shaped dango.
When attaching ears to the face, make sure the dough is sticky enough to stick together, otherwise they might fall apart when boiling. No one likes earless Rilakkuma. 7: Boil them all.
Place the dangos carefully in water, boiling at a low temperature, and let them cook until they float to the surface. Be extra gentle when you pick up the dangos. I often did it incorrectly and dismember them in the end It was really sad.  It should be around 10 minutes when dangos start to float, and when it happens, they are ready to be picked up.8: Stick the dangos into skewers.
I always have a moment of doubt right before I skewer the bear head. What about you? 9: Make the facial parts.
For the ears, make a thin omelet and cut some small semicircles to fit into Rilakkuma’s ears.For Rilakkuma’s mouth, cut some thin slices of your favorite cheese. I picked gouda cheese. For Rilakkuma’s lips, it’s better to use cut nori (dried seaweed). If you don’t have the cut one, you can simply use your scissors!10: Pour the first Mitarashi sauce.
I pour the sauce with a spoon, but I recommend using a brush if you have it. This is what your Rilakkuma Dango looks like with the single-layered Mitarashi sauce. If you like this color, you can finish here. 11: Pour the second Mitarashi sauce, and add the faces.
Leave the dango for 10 min after the first layer, then pour the second layer of Mitarashi sauce on top and place the facial parts next. This is the much browner dango, then your Rilakkuma Dango is finally ready.12: Done
You might think it’s the Rilakkuma that makes this food, but it’s not the only thing; -because no matter how cute the food is, you will never taste the history behind when you take a bite on my Rilakkuma Mitarashi Dango.

This is just a reminder; -that Rilakkuma is modernity, and Mitarashi Dango is tradition. And I’m just trying to find a healthy balance, hoping to get the best in both worlds.

I was going to write only happy things about this recipe, to match its happy concept. But it made me feel shallow, confused, and even worse; fake. I still don’t know about what was the right thing to do, but I’d rather be real and depressing than being fake. And I think that is what “art” is all about. I don’t ever call myself an artist, but I want to be a person who makes good stuff.

Thank you so much for reading, as this was such a personal recipe to share. I hope you like it.
-Yuki