Dango Making

The knot is pulled taunt, securing the frilly white apron to Normal's hips.

He stands with Dan, a selection of various materials laid out on the counter. Normal's kitchen was pristine- mostly because he never used it. This was going to be arduous for the both of them. His cooking skills were terrible.

"Thanks, again, for teaching me the basics."

Much like when Hops had come over to help his catch up on bartending tricks, Normal had asked Dan into his home for some lessons. The other hadn't been as amendable as Hops had been, Dan liked to overwork himself too much, but the promise of some extra cash greasing the palm had been enough to win him over.

Shibani was actually here, too, having tagged along. But the lazy succubun was in the living on the couch taking a nap, Freckle the Remil curled up on top of him.

Normal poked at a bowl where some water was inside with the wooden skewers they would be using.

Dan shrugged in reply to the earlier statement as he pulled out a paper. Written words on it, which Normal could squint and see seemed to be a recipe. Had Dan taken the time to write all this out himself? Cute.

"We're making Matarashi Dango. We have to make the dango and the sauce." Dan started to speak, placing the paper down on the counter and moving to go through Normal's cabinets. The man frowned when he mostly just saw instant meals and junk food- but he did eventually find what he was looking for.

A quick wash to get the dust off and Dan was placing a pot of water over the stove.

"Start boiling the water and soaking the bamboo skewers before you start making the dango. It'll make it easier."

"Why are we soaking the skewers?"

"Keeps them from catching fire when we cook the dango. Also makes the dango easier to skewer."

Normal hummed at the reply. He had picked up the paper and started to skim the recipe. While he wasn't a good cook he knew how to read. Pulling his scale over, he stared at the ingredients Dan had brought and began to portion out the shiratamako and salt. A trip to the sink got him water.

Dan hummed in appreciation when he came back to the counter, double checking the measurements were correct.

"Put the rice flour and the salt in the big bowl here. Use these chopsticks to mix it together." Normal did as he was told, then took the chopsticks and used them to stir the mixture. "Water next. Stir it till it's all mixed." Nodding, Normal did that as well.

It was harder to mix the water in. But, eventually, these little clumps of flour had started to form. Normal felt like he was doing something wrong, it didn't look smooth at all, so he paused and glanced at the other.

"Is this right?"

Dan nodded.

"You've mixed all you can with the chopsticks. Use your hands to make one ball of dough."

Normal wrinkled his nose, he hated the texture of things like this under his nails, but still dove in. It took a lot of kneading but eventually it was one smooth lump of white at the bottom of the bowl.

"Like this?"

"Yes. Now, we shape it into dango. We want about 9 grams for each one." Dan was already turning the scale back on and taking some of the dango to measure. "Then we roll it into a ball."

Dan gave a demonstration. Normal was much, much slower; it took him longer to get the right amount and then to form it into a ball in his palms. This was a small batch, at least. In the time it took Normal to make about five misshapen lumps, Dan had finished off the rest of the balls in perfect little spheres.

They were moved to the boiling pot of water to set up and cook. Dan overlooked them, which gave Normal the time to measure out the next set of ingredients for the sauce.

Soon enough, room temperature dango were brought back to the counter.

"Now we skewer them."

Normal could at least do this part easy enough. He didn't even need any help! Soon, five dango skewers were made with four of the fluffy white dango on each one. While Normal worked on that, Dan had retrieved a large pan and started to heat it on the stove.

"Now we're going to cook the dango and make the sauce. I do this over a grill in my shop, but you can use a pan. Just make sure it's blazing hot before you start cooking. You also want to use something they won't stick to."

Normal nodded and watched as the skewers were placed in a neat line. There was a sizzle followed by a soft nutty smell filling the kitchen.

Another pan was placed on the burner beside by Dan.

"This is easy to burn if you're not paying attention. I'll take care of the dango, you take care of the sauce. When this starts cooking, you stir constantly. If you don't, it'll boil over or scorch."

Nodding, Normal placed all the sauce ingredients in the pan and mixed them together. Only after they were nice and mixed did he turn the heat on- and keep on stirring.

Soon enough, the sauce turned thick and luscious. About the time Dan gave his approval, the Dango were done.

Dan plated them up and allowed Normal to spoon the brown sauce over the dango. Pleased with himself, Normal grabbed one to 'toast' with Dan before digging in.

Nice and nutty! Savory but also kind of sweet.

Dan chewed thoughtfully, not showing it Normal did a good or bad job with his expression alone.

But that was okay. Normal was just proud of himself for not burning down his house!

Except, a week later when he tried to make these for himself, he forgot to soak the skewers and made his fire alarm go off.