Sweets
Futatabi Dango
Futatabi dango — mugwort dumplings kneaded twice for an extra-soft, fluffy texture
Dumpling flour is kneaded, steamed with freshly picked mugwort folded in, then pounded a second time — a Nobeoka treat named for that unusual second working of the dough, wrapped around sweet bean paste and dusted with soybean flour into a soft, pale-green dumpling.
- Origin: Miyazaki Nobeoka
- About 820 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
Futatabi-dango, from Nobeoka, is a dumpling made from a dough of glutinous and wheat flour kneaded with mugwort, wrapped around a lightly sweetened bean paste, and dusted with kinako soybean flour. It's said to take its name from being kneaded, steamed, and then pounded a second time. The vivid green of the mugwort is striking to look at, and its softness, with a light, springy chew, is the dumpling's signature trait.
How it's made
Glutinous rice flour and wheat flour are combined at roughly a six-to-four ratio, mixed with water, and kneaded until soft as an earlobe. Young mugwort shoots picked along the riverbank are worked in, and the dough is steamed and then pounded a second time, the step that gives this dumpling its name. The boiled mugwort is pounded in a mortar with a little salt until its color spreads evenly through the dough, which is then wrapped around bean paste, rolled into balls, and dusted with kinako.
Why it took this shape
A typical dumpling dough is kneaded only once, but this one is kneaded, steamed together with mugwort, and then pounded a second time, which is said to be the origin of its name, meaning "dumpling done twice." That extra round of work is said to give the dough its notably soft, springy texture. Mugwort has long been used as an herbal remedy, and this dumpling is said to have become a seasonal treat made when tender new mugwort leaves appear in early spring.
Before you go
- How to use a convenience storeA quick guide to choosing rice balls and hot snacks, buying coffee, paying by cash, IC card, or tap payment, using the eat-in corner, and sorting your trash — the basics for a first visit.
- How to shop in a depachika (department store food hall)A guide to browsing prepared foods and bento, choosing wagashi as a gift with a good shelf life, sampling etiquette, end-of-day discounts, asking for cold packs and wrapping, and finding your way around a depachika floor.
- Takeout and convenience store customsHow to answer "Shall I warm it up?", choosing chopsticks and a paid plastic bag, saying whether you'll eat in or take out, handling trash and eating while walking, and the different tax rate for takeout versus eating in.
Dishes in the same style
- Abekawa MochiFresh-pounded rice cake is dusted in soybean flour mixed with sugar. Named for the Abe River, it's said to have been famous among Tokaido travelers as a teahouse specialty and to appear in the travel novel Tokaidochu Hizakurige.
- Iga ManjuSweet bean paste is wrapped in rice flour dough, then coated with dyed sticky rice grains. One account ties the name to the grains' resemblance to a chestnut's spiny husk, and in the western Mikawa region it's said to be offered to Hina dolls at the Doll Festival.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Miyazaki
- Chikin NanbanFried chicken dipped in sweet vinegar and topped with tartar sauce, said to have originated in Nobeoka, Miyazaki. It's said to trace to a sweet-vinegar fried chicken devised as staff food at a Western-food restaurant in the 1950s.
- Hie-zushiWild boar bones are simmered into a broth, then rice, millet, and vegetables are added and cooked down into a porridge — a Shiiba village dish built on millet, a grain said to have been eaten in Japan since before rice farming; whenever a boar was dressed, the porridge it made was shared around the whole village to see out the long winter.
- Hyuga Kurokawa Kabocha no NimonoHyuga kurokawa kabocha, a black-skinned heirloom pumpkin first grown in Miyazaki City, is cut into large chunks and simmered slowly in sugar and light soy sauce — lighter and less sweet than a Western pumpkin, but it holds its shape well and its skin is good to eat too.
- Jidori no Miso KorobakashiJidori chicken is rolled around a dry pan with no added water, coaxed with a miso glaze without letting it catch — a home-cooked dish from around Kobayashi City, its name a western-Miyazaki dialect word for tumbling food in a pot as it cooks, the mix of vegetables and seasoning varying from house to house.
- Kanimaki-jiruA live yamataro crab — a mitten crab known locally by this name — is ground shell and all, mixed with water and miso, strained, then simmered gently — an autumn soup from the Kitago area of Nichinan City, the protein setting into soft curds like silken tofu as it heats, capturing every bit of the crab's flavor.