Yesterday the Austin Japanese Culture and Language Meetup Group held a potluck lunch and Japanese dessert-making workshop. It was a hot Texas afternoon (101°F), made hotter by the fact that the air-conditioning was broken at the club house we were in. But if you’re going to be sweaty and miserable, it’s better to be around people you like, learning about a culture you love.
Eri, the group leader, taught everyone how to make daifuku (both anko-filled and strawberry-filled, called ichigo daifuku) and mitarashi dango, which are small rice cakes with salty-sweet sauce.
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I managed to make an ichigo daifuku, and just like my previous attempted at a California roll at the sushi workshop, it was not pretty. But it was oishii (delicious).
The mitarashi dango had a very interesting flavor, both salty and sweet (with a little sour). … And in honor of my first dango experience, I thought I’d post this ending theme from the anime “Clannad.”
If you want the recipe for either the daifuku or the mitarashi dango, just send a request via the Contact Us form on this site. Otherwise, feel free to attend the next workshop.