Hyōrōgan (Provision Balls)
On-the-go snacks for shinobi made with sugar, cinnamon, and ginseng
City/Region: Japan
Time Period: 16th Century
Ninja, or shinobi, had many kinds of survival foods for their long and dangerous missions. There were pills and balls for quenching thirst and easing hunger, a kind of ninja hardtack (clack clack), and a pre-cooked rice that just needed to be mixed with water.
This recipe is for provision balls, and boy will they give you some energy. A large portion of the recipe is sugar, and they are VERY sweet. The other ingredients, like lotus seeds, ginseng, and a lot of cinnamon, are all included for their medicinal purposes. For being made of medicinal ingredients, they actually taste pretty good if you can handle the sweetness. They kind of remind me of extra cinnamony Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
“Glutinous Rice - 5 bu
Nonglutinous Rice - 5 bu
Renniku (Lotus seeds) - 1 ryō
Keishin (Cinnamon) - 1 ryō
Yokuinin (Coix seeds) - 1 ryō
Ginseng - 5 bu
Crystallized sugar - 1.5 kin
Gather these ingredients in water and mix them well, then steam them in a bamboo steamer. Make balls this size. Use five to seven balls a day. It can also give horses energy. Crush one and put it in the horse’s mouth with a bit of water. ”
Ingredients:
- 2 1/3 cups (450 g) raw sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon (1 g) glutinous rice flour*
- 1/4 teaspoon (1 g) non-glutinous rice flour
- 3 tablespoons (19 g) cinnamon
- 2 slices (19 g) yam, Japanese yam if you can find it
- 1/4 cup (19 g) dried lotus seeds*
- 2 tablespoons (19 g) coix seeds* (Job’s tears)
- 1” (1 g) ginseng root*
*See notes below.
Instructions:
- Grind or crush all of the ingredients. You can use a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder for some of the harder-to-crush ingredients like the coix seeds. Chop the ginseng as finely as possible before attempting to grind it.
- Once all of the ingredients are ground up, combine them in a bowl and mix.
- Line a bamboo steamer with parchment. Pour in the mixture and spread it out evenly. Steam over a large pan or wok for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the filling is liquidy. Carefully lift out the parchment and pour the filling into a bowl. It’s going to be very, very hot!
- Stir the mixture to help it cool down. Don’t let it cool too much or you won’t be able to form the balls. As soon as it’s cool enough to handle, roll it into about 1 1/2” balls.
- Let them cool completely, then serve them forth on your next secret night mission, or when you need an energy boost.
Notes
- Link for glutinous rice flour: https://amzn.to/49KK4Ki
- Link for dried lotus seeds: https://amzn.to/3QGxzGR
- Link for coix seeds: https://amzn.to/46lbvqT
- Link for Korean ginseng root: https://amzn.to/3wCZZsg
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