Japanese sweet confection known as chi chi dango is a soft, chewy delight that tastes a lot like mochi. It is typically served during events honoring Boy’s or Girl’s Days. It’s a fantastic party or picnic snack. Although it is simple to prepare, don’t double the instructions; instead, follow them exactly as they are stated.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr |
| Additional Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 45 mins |
| Servings: | 36 |
| Yield: | 36 squares |
Ingredients
- cooking spray
- 1 pound mochiko (glutinous rice flour)
- 2 ½ cups white sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 cups water
- 1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon red food color
- ¼ cup potato starch, or as needed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9×13-inch pan with cooking spray.
- Whisk mochiko, sugar, and baking powder together in a bowl.
- Combine water, coconut milk, vanilla, and food coloring in a medium bowl. Blend in dry ingredients, then pour into the prepared pan. Cover with foil.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let cool completely, 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- Dust a work surface with potato starch. Invert the pan onto the work surface. Use a plastic knife to cut into 36 squares.
- The dango mochiko can be sticky to cut. They won’t stick as much if you use a plastic knife.
Reviews
Mochi was delicious! Pro tip I found from another website: cut once completely cool with a pizza cutter! So much faster than a plastic knife. Thanks for the recipe.
Very good! Shared this recipe with my friends, they are excited to try it, too. Mahalo!
After baking it for 1 hour it looked a little over cooked. The top looked bubbly and not smooth. I reduced the sugar to 2 cups and it was still sweet. Overall it was pretty good but wished it was a bit more chewy.
I had to make some changes to get it right the second time I made it. I turned the temperature of the oven down to 300 degrees and placed a baking sheet under the pan before placing it in the oven to prevent to bottom from getting overcooked. After it cooked, I took off the foil and let it cool on a rack for an hour then cooled it in my refrigerator for several hours until it was totally cooled down. Then I used a pizza cutter to cut off the hard edges and also to slice the chi chi mochi into bite sizes. It was very simple and took very little effort. Just make sure you sprinkle enough of the potato starch to prevent sticking. I got a lot of compliments. Thank you for this recipe. I will be making it a lot more often now that I have perfected it.
One tip to avoid firmer edges is to use a water bath. I’ve done that with a large roasting pan and use Pyrex for the chi chi dango. Much softer edges.
I’ve made this a few times when we’ve had guests over. It’s easy and always turns out. I’ll make it again. We have a little laugh because my daughter’s nick-name is also Chi Chi. The strange thing is that my husband is from Japan, but neither his family, nor any of our Japanese guests have never heard of this dish. I wonder if it’s a local specialty.
My child who has dairy sensitivities loves it! I tried adding flavor and color by pulverizing freeze dry peaches into the recipe and it worked wonderfully! I left out the food coloring.
Made it in a water bath and it turned out perfectly. Will try with different flavours next.
Very tasty! Important to note to not refrigerate any leftovers, or the texture will be off. We added some banana flavor.
Iv been making mochi since I was a little girl i love it so much so happy I could find a recipe I lost my cook book
This recipe went very well! I added a pinch of salt, though. It was very sweet and it had a beautiful color! I used six drops of blue food coloring instead of red, actually. Looks really pretty and tastes delicious! I can’t wait to see what my friends think!
Awesome!
Super easy. Recipe was perfect. This is a party favorite ever time!
BEST CHI CHI DANGO MOCHI RECIPE EVER!!!! I made it and this will be my go to forever!! It taste just like the mochi chichi dango you get from KTA, Foodland, etc. in Hawaii
Wow! Super easy. Super tasty. My son is allergic to red food dye so I didn’t use any food coloring which shouldn’t have made any difference as far as taste, anyway. In the future I think I’ll use 2 cups of sugar instead of 2-1/2 and maybe a bit more coconut milk. I used a serrated plastic cake cutter because I didn’t have any plastic knives on hand. It worked very well but expect to have to get the hang of cutting and handling because they are sticky! It tasted as good as the ones I buy! And I’m also from Hawaii-LA-San Diego where you get the best mochi!
This recipe is wonderful!! I followed it exactly and it turned out great!! My friends all say it’s better then what you can buy! Be sure to let it cool all the way before you cut it ( also don’t try to rush it and put in the fridge- this seemed to make it come out softer)
I’m so please the recipe is here. For me it turned out too soft and too sweet, but so smooth. {:-) (I was used to the nonsweet mochi surrounding store-bought mochi ice cream.) Tip: Cut it with _scissors_ in strips, pick up the strip and dab the sticky cut sides on [cornstarch] in a 9″x13″, cut into squares, toss into a small bowl of cornstarch, then a wire strainer/sieve to shake off the excess. Solution for “too soft”: dehydrator?–I’m checking that now. Perfect solution for “too sweet”: dark chocolate balsamic vinegar (Baton Rouge’s redstickspice online). Oooh, a neat new little treat creation. Next I’m going to try a homemade gelatin with mochi in it. PS. Added a tad more cornstarch and stored it successfully (no sticking) for a few days so far in a brown bag in a plastic bag (both) in the fridgie.
The bottom and edges of mine come out like a thick plastic. Any suggestions or tips?
I made this hoping to mimick the mochi at Menchies. I wanted it to have a slight strawberry taste so I used 2 cups sugar and 4 tsp of strawberry jello for the flavor. I prepped and baked it for 1 hour, turned the oven off and let it sit for 15 additional minutes based on the prior reviews. I sat it on the counter loosely covered overnight and the consistency was perfect. It is quite a mess to cut it up. I dusted with the potato starch and used a kitchen aid pizza cutter to make strips, then used a kitchen shear to cut cubes from the strips. I let the cubes drop into a pyrex dish with potato starch in it then gently rolled them and put them to the side before moving on to the next strip. This recipe makes an enormous amount (one full gallon ziploc bag from just this one 9X13 tray. I will give more feedback about how long it lasts in the refridgerator. The consistency was really great, very soft. As a side note, it did not have a coconut flavor to it which I was afraid of for obvious reasons. Maybe the strawberry jello flavor masked it. It did not taste very sweet and I don’t think it would be bad with the additional 1/2 cup sugar. I used the jello for flavor but it is not very strong. I wish I had local access to a strawberry extract to try with it instead. Would love to hear if anyone has made the strawberry flavored and how they went about it.
Perfect amount of sweetness. The tip about cutting with a plastic knife was spot on! I used the non-stick foil on the market to avoid using oil and ease of mochi removal. Thank you for this recipe. Chichi dango is quite pricey at the supermarket, much cheaper to make your own.
This was my first time making Chi Chi Dango and it was super easy! Very simple to make. Coming from a Filipino family I had majority of the ingredient at home and the ones I didn’t we’re easy to find. I’m hoping to play around with different colors and flavors next time I make this. Follow it to the “T” and it’ll come out perfect!