Hi, I’m Francis,
the host of this show "Cooking with Dog."
First, let’s make the dango.
Add a pinch of salt to the all purpose flour
and mix it with chopsticks.
Add the water a little at a time and mix in the four.
If you’re out of all purpose flour,
you can combine cake flour with an equal amount of
bread flour in this recipe.
When the flour is moistened,
press it with your hand to combine.
Knead the dough for about 5 minutes
until the surface has a glossy texture.
In Japan, the ideal softness is often
described as ‘like your earlobe.’
Sounds weird, huh?
Roll the dough into a cylindrical shape.
And cut it into 8 equal pieces.
Then, shape each piece into an oval.
To keep it from drying out,
cover the dough with a dampened towel
and let it sit for about 30 minutes at room temperature.
Next, let’s cut the vegetables.
Make numerous shallow cuts
around the burdock root lengthwise.
Then, shave the root with a knife
while gradually rotating it.
This cutting method, known as Sasagaki
will help to make the firm root easier to eat.
Next, trim off the root end and the stem end of the taro.
Peel the skin lengthwise.
Then, slice it into 7mm (0.3") slices.
Likewise, slice the daikon radish and carrot into 7mm slices.
Now, let’s parboil the ingredients.
Add the burdock root, taro, daikon and carrot
to a large pot of boiling water.
Allow it to boil and cook for about 1 minute.
Then, remove the vegetables with a mesh strainer.
Oops!
Turn off the burner and place the skinless chicken thigh
into the same pot of hot water.
The meat should be cut into bite-size pieces beforehand.
When it turns kind of white, quickly remove the chicken.
The parboiling will remove any unwanted flavor
from the vegetables and the meat
and help them to absorb the broth later,
making the dish absolutely delicious.
Pour the water into a pot
along with the niboshi, dried baby sardines.
And turn on the burner.
Bring it to a boil and carefully remove the foam.
Then, reduce the heat to low
and simmer the dashi stock for a total of 8~10 minutes.
Leave the lid slightly open
to prevent the stock from having a fishy odor.
Now, turn off the burner.
Remove the niboshi with a mesh strainer
and the dashi stock is ready.
And now, let’s make the dango-jiru.
Heat the niboshi dashi stock in a pot.
And add the parboiled root vegetables.
Now, shape each dango into a noodle-like strip.
Gradually pull the edge to stretch the dango.
Dango usually have a round shape
but this type of dango has a flat udon noodle-like shape.
Hold each end and gently shake it to help stretch the dango.
Stretching dango takes time
so start shaping them before the stock begins to boil.
Then, add half of the miso to the broth.
Dissolve the miso in a small mesh strainer
to help remove any lumps.
Cover and cook for about 5 minutes
until the vegetables and the dango soften.
Now, add the chicken,
aburaage, thin deep-fried tofu, shimeji mushrooms
and the napa cabbage.
Cover again
and cook the cabbage and mushrooms for 2 to 3 minutes.
Then, dissolve the rest of the miso.
Finally, add the chopped long green onion.
Lightly cook the onion and the dango-jiru is ready.
You can add yuzukosho, yuzu citrus chili paste
or shichimi, mixed chili powder to taste.
Alternatively, sliced pork is used instead of chicken
or the broth is seasoned with soy sauce instead of miso.
Konnyaku or konjac is also a popular ingredient in this recipe.
You can mix the used baby sardines
with shredded carrot, burdock root and sliced onion
and make delicious kakiage, mixed vegetable tempura.
Good luck in the kitchen!