Sanshoku Dango 三色団子 which translates literally as three colour dango are a popular treat around hanami time with the distinctive pink white and green colours. I decided it would be fun to make a three colour dango for Halloween using kabocha pumpkin, purple potato and black sesame. The perfect treat to celebrate the spooky season.

ingredients:

x1 purple sweet potato

x1 1/2 of a small kabocha or 1/4 large

shiratamako (dango rice flour)

black sesame paste or black sesame  tahini

small cup of water

You will also need:

x3 small bowls

bamboo dango skewers

a bowl of iced water

a pan of boiling water.

Method:

Wash your purple sweet potato and pat dry, prick with a fork and wrap in foil. Bake in the oven until done, cut in half and leave to cool.

Remove any seeds from the pumpkin and steam over boiling water until soft, then leave to cool.

To your three bowls add a heaped tablespoon of kabocha to one bowl a heaped tablespoon of purple sweet potato to another and a heaped teaspoon of black sesame paste to the final bowl.

Grind the shiratamako into a powder as it comes more in bigger chunks. This will make it easier to blend.

Take the first bowl with kabocha and add shiratamako a tablespoon at a time adding a teaspoon of water to get it started. Blend the kabocha and shiratamako with a spoon adding more shiratamako until you get a dough consistency. People say that the dough should feel like an earlobe.

Do the same with the purple sweet potato. For the black sesame you will need to add more shiratamako and water to get the correct dough consistency just keep adding a little at a time.

When the dough is ready roll each into a ball then into a log shape  cut equal amounts and roll each piece into a small ball.

Boil a large pan of water and drop the balls into the water. When they rise to the top give them a few more minutes to cook and them drop them into ice water.

Lay the balls out on a plate with a cloth. Take the black sesame balls and roll these in ground black sesame.

Slide the black sesame balls on to the dango skewers then slide on a kabocha then a purple potato ball.

Have a Spooktacular Halloween 🎃