Sunday, October 31, 2010

Our Dango Daikazoku Adventure

A couple weeks ago I went to Phoenix to visit my brother Mike, his wife Erin and their cute little Myka. While we were there, Erin took us to an Asian Supermarket called Lee Lee's. I wished Shaylie had been there with me because they had some amazing things. My mom wanted to buy her some Dangos since she's been completely gaga over them for months now. We didn't exactly know what Dangos are but we knew from the Internet that they are Japanese dumplings made out of rice flour that are either boiled or fried with many different kinds of sauces or fillings. We explained the best we could to the clerk and he directed us a couple different kinds. Shaylie was so excited when I came home with some Dangos to try. 

The first attempt were frozen premade Sesame Dumplings which were meant to be boiled for 5-6 minutes. They turned out rather disgusting looking but the sauce inside tasted kind of sweet and peanutty. Shaylie was the only one brave enough to actually put one in her mouth. 
 First, she put maple syrup on it and took a small bite.
 She was not very impressed. It tasted gooey and slimey.
 Then it got stuck in her expander and she gagged in sink. 
   Needless to say, the entire plate of those ended up in the trash. Definitely not the right Dangos. 
 The next morning I promised to make the fried kind before school because she did not want to go to school hating her beloved dangos. So I got up extra early and tried to decipher the lovely packaging. I think the direction were written in Korean, but at least there were pictures.
I mixed up the dough and fried them up. These were looking much more appetizing.
 After dunking them in sugar and putting them on the skewers, they looked just like the Dangos of Shaylie's dreams. 
 I woke her up about 6:00 am to try the final product. 
 Sleepy but happy with the yumminess. 
I'm glad we finally figured it out. She got to go to school and tell all her friends about the Dango adventure we had. Luckily for me, I won't be able to get to the Asian supermarket everyday so these will just be a special treat.