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Traditionally made around early May. See Tango no Sekku for more details.
Recipe
2025-05-24
The Ichou recipe says to do 2/3 of the main recipe, which yields about 140g total. This is correct, but it ends up too thin. I disagree with what I wrote then. I don’t know how big it should be (full? 4/5?), but it should be more than 2/3.
Also, listen to yourself below when you say to do hot dogs in thirds. When you trim the edges, what you necessarily end up trimming is the outside, which is the white. If you start with the white equal in proportion to the purple, the purple will dominate after trimming. Just do 1/3 purple, leaving white in the majority. Then, when you cut, it will end up even.
Following the same recipe as for Ichou, with the following differences:
- Hot dogs should be white → purple → white. Instead of splitting half-half, split in thirds.
- After rolling out a rectangle, trim the edges to have a clean line. Then, cut down the middle length-wise to produce two long, 8cm wide sheets with purple on the edge.
- Cut into 8cm equal squares.
- Orient the square on a diagonal such that the purple is on the upper-right side (appears on top right when viewing). Fold over the naka-an.
- Make the butt with hera.
Use a sharp knife!
When cutting into squares, be sure to use a real knife, not a bench scraper etc. Otherwise, using a dull object to cut will leave a lacy look the edges where it smashed the mochi, rather than cut the mochi.
Blurring the hot dogs
This is taken after laying the hot dogs out, flattening somewhat, then flipping it over. It looks very uniform, but this is NOT good. We should have blurred the lines significantly more. Leaving like this caused it both to have a hard line, and to detach slightly when rolling out.
Better to really blur the lines, even if it doesn’t look good when in hot dog form. It will look good when you roll it out.
Rolling out the sheet
Roll into a 24cm x 16cm sheet, then cut lengthwise along the purple. Cutting into squares, you should yield six 8cm squares.
How to form
Reference from Wagashi Issho
Trick from Miyazaki-sensei: Before rolling into hot dogs, fold into itself ie mochi to make the surface smooth.
Full reference from Miyazaki-sensei: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CRhqS7b-80xOqfiez7KFm9967fsAscn9
How to eat
normal