Tiny Does Dango!

Tiny peeked into the shop. Nothing much was going on inside – Dan didn’t so much as spare her a glance from where he was diligently working, nor did Shibani from hiss sleepy pile of pillows in the back. It was late in the day, so most buns had already bought whatever stock was available and cleared out for the evening, which was all well and fine by her. She headed in and went over to the counter where Dan worked.

He glanced up at her as she politely interrupted him. “Ah- excuse me. I saw the invitation for dango making lessons. Is…may I join? Tonight?”

Dan watched her for a moment, expression unreadable, before giving a quick nod. “It will begin in 10 minutes. Let me finish cleaning up here.” She easily agreed, taking a seat out of the way to allow him to wrap up operations. Her mind drifted as she observed the shop. Meticulously clean tables, unobtrusive but nice decorations, a sleeping Shibani perched atop pillows…he always kept a nice shop.

It wasn’t long before he beckoned her back over, and when she arrived at the counters she could see that he’d arranged ingredients already.  He wasted no time launching into explanation, and she paid close attention as he detailed the different types of rice flour between them and what the purpose of each was – mostly textural, she learned.

She may have been startled when he put her on the spot to question if she’d actually listened, however managed to stammer out most of the correct answers – joushinko to make it chewier, shiratamako for softness, mochiko is too soft for dango. He didn’t quiz her on the production methods of the various flours, thankfully, though he did advise her to keep instructions around if she finds herself getting them confused.

His approving nod at her answers excited her and made her even more determined. She’d make good dango! And this one wouldn’t be able to knock her over!

They used the premade flours – for purposes of lesson time limitations, he’d mutter, clearly preferring fresher items – carefully mixing and dampening them just enough. “Not too soft. Not too hard. Not too wet.” She did her best to follow his instructions, whining a little when her freshly rolled balls started to lose their shape a little after being placed down, but he reassured her that they weren’t bad for a first try. “You will improve with practice.”

While the balls were boiling, they went over different flavor options. The dango themselves were plain; a finely textured canvas for the sauce, he mentioned. Thus, the sauces were of equal importance and could not just be foregone or thrown together without consideration for how it might adhere to the dango. Tiny asked to learn how to make mitarashi sauce for hers – they are, after all, the ubiquitous dango – and Dan agreed that it was not a bad starting place.

The sauce came together more easily than she expected, just a handful of ingredients whisked together to a silky smooth sauce. It tasted absolutely wonderful, still.

After that, the duo made quick work of skewering the warm dango (“Don’t burn yourself.”) and drizzled them with a lovely squiggle of sauce before enjoying a taste. While Tiny enjoyed her treat – her first dango! It was edible! – Dan explained a few extra things about homemade dango which she might find useful. Freezing guidelines for the flours and the made dango, how to extend the pliability window with sugar…she’d do her best to remember these.

When she insisted on staying behind to help clean, Dan didn’t stop her. He gave her a long, slightly odd look, though, as she joined him in cleanup. “As a little thank you for staying late,” she’d tell him with her earnest smile. Between the two of them, they made quick work getting the area back to baseline state, and she went along her merry way with the rest of her homemade dango.

It wasn’t long before a sleepy voice piped up from the pillow pile. “So, do you think she’d make a good apprentice~?” Shibani opened one eye just enough to watch Dan’s response. All Dan did was narrow his eyes slightly, with a quiet hum. “Hmmm….it’s ok~ You’ll find one…” His sentence was punctuated with a yawn.
“…eventually~”

“…Yeah.”