dango 101
Shengjiang was always quite crafty with his hands. It allowed him to make the pottery he loves so much; he was skilled with throwing the clay, sculpting it, and painting it. Surely he could get the hang of something like cooking and making delicious dango fairly quickly!
He didn’t have much experience with cheffery of any kind, often opting to whip up things that were quick and easy to eat so he could get back to his work as soon as possible. That changed somewhat when he met Take-hime, and he found himself attempting to make dainty, cute desserts for her with only partial success most times. At least if he learned how to make dango, he could hopefully apply that skill to something else that she might enjoy!
Shengjiang showed up to Dan’s dango workshop, along with several other buns. Dan was already standing in his uniform and apron at the front of the studio, letting the other buns filter in and find spots at the large tables. Each spot had the necessary equipment already set up- bowls, a scale, mixing utensils, rice flour, water, flavoring… Shengjiang was already a fish out of water with that sort of thing.
When the final few buns took their places, Dan stood up straight and cleared his throat.
“Good morning class,” His hands rested on his own table at the front of the room, “Today, as you know, we’re going to be making dango. This will just be the simplest recipe, and you will have the freedom to add any flavoring that you want.”
The buns around Shengjiang were all chomping at the bit to get started. Shengjiang, on the other hand, was looking at his set up with trepidation. He really hoped he wouldn’t make a fool of himself in front of everyone, his pride couldn’t take that!
“All the ingredients have been measured out for you ahead of time.” Dan adjusted his apron and stepped closer to his table, picking up a small, pink bowl filled with what looked like some kind of flour. “This is dangoko, a special rice flour for dango. Add this to your large mixing bowl.”
On cue, all the students poured their dangoko in. Shengjiang did as well, pleased that he did not fail in such a simple task.
"Now add the water and mix it together. This should give you a workable dough." Dan added the water, as did the rest of the class. Shengjiang mixed his dough until it was the same smooth consistency of everyone else's.
“Next you’re going to knead your dough to form a ball. Take it out of the bowl, dust the table, and work it using the heel of your palm.” Dan demonstrated, and everyone followed suit. This was the first place that Shengjiang found himself struggling. He would either not press enough, or use too much pressure and tear the dough. Even as he was looking around at the other students to follow their example, his dough was still ripping apart. He eventually just settled for balling it up with his hands.
“Add whatever flavor you want.”
Shengjiang browsed the flavors that were set out for the class and eventually picked a sweet strawberry one. He mixed a few drops of the flavoring into his dough.
Dan reached beneath his table and pulled out a dough scraper, similar to the ones set out for the class.
"Divide your dough into nine pieces." Dan's instructions were simple, and if not for his gentle tone, some may describe them as curt. Yet he was effectively teaching everybody in the class- even Shengjiang, who was a hopeless chef.
“Now roll them into balls and skewer them with the bamboo skewers at your station. You can place them into the flat container that each of you has.”
Everyone did exactly as they were told. Shengjiang’s were a little bit lumpy, as he was used to working with a firm clay rather than a soft, sticky dough. Yet they still managed to look delicious.
Shengjiang felt a sense of pride in him when he left the class with the rest of the buns who had attended. His dango was packaged nicely in a little container with a red ribbon tied around it. He didn’t want to give this one to Take-hime, though. He wanted to practice cooking until he could craft an elaborate, romantic dinner. The very thought of it had him blushing just a bit.
