Dango
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Template:Nihongo is a Japanese dumpling made from mochiko (rice flour), related to mochi. It is sticky and filling. It is often served with green tea.
Dango are eaten year-round, but the different varieties are traditionally eaten in given seasons. Three to four dango are often served on a skewer. One variety of dango from Hokkaido is made from potato flour and baked with shoyu (soy sauce).
In 1998, dango experienced a surge of popularity in Japan: a song entitled "Dango-san-kyōdai" (three dango brothers) was released and a craze for eating dango developed. In a play on words, the song is a tango.
Dango is used internationally amongst go players as a deprecatory term for an inefficient, dumpling-like cluster of stones in a go game. It is also the name of a go variant invented in 1991.
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Different Types
There are many different varieties of dango which are usually named after the various seasonings served on or with it.
- An: Very sweet bean paste. An-Dango is the most popular flavor in Japan.
- Mitarashi: A syrup made from shoyu (soy sauce) and sugar. Popular with children.
- Kinako: A toasted soy flour. Recently kinako has been identified as a healthy food.
- Goma: sesame seeds. Also considered to be a "healthy" food. It is both sweet and salty.
- Chichi-Dango
- Nori: dried and seasoned seaweed
Disambiguation
Template:Nihongo[[1]] is also another a word with a similar sounding but entirely different Chinese character and concept, denoting 'bid rigging' [[2]] and 'price fixing' cartel-type activity in the Japanese construction industry. There have been many 'dango' scandals in Japan in recent years, although the illegal and secretive business practice is far from being stamped out, despite foreign pressure on the Japanese.