Do you like Japanese Cuisine? Normally people think that Japanese food is hard to make, actually it is easy to cook Japanese food even in home. Here is an easy recipe of Takoyaki, that can easy making by youself at home.Takoyaki literally translated means octopus fried, but takoyaki isn’t just
fried octopus – it’s a tiny, piping hot ball of batter filled with
green onions, ginger, crispy tempura bits and octopus. It’s crisp, it’s
gooey, it’s delicious.
Takoyaki is one of Osaka’s quintessential street foods. Now, you don’t have to travel to Osaka for takoyaki – they’re
basically found everywhere in Japan and it also quite popular in Malaysia too. If you ever come across a takoyaki stand stay awhile and
check out the takoyaki makers. They’re mesmerizing, when the bottom of the balls are cooked, they’re flipped with
skewers so that the inside batter flows out to create the other side of
the ball. It’s amazing to watch a real takoyaki maker. They’re fast,
furious and churn out the little balls like there’s no tomorrow.
Takoyaki need quite a few ingredients and a specialized pan, but I think
it’s worth it. You can find a takoyaki pan on amazon.com or a cast iron with many half-spherical molds. As for the insides, octopus is
classic, but feel free to put in shrimp, chicken, or whatever savoury
filling you like. I like to do a combo of octopus, squid and shrimp. I
also throw in some mozzarella cheese to get an crispy toasted cheese
outside with an extra gooey cheesy inside. If you’ve never seen takoyaki
being made, do a youtube search, it’ll give a good starting point for
how to flip the little balls around.
Takoyaki Recipe
from justhungry.com yield: approximately 60 balls
*Batter:
Fillings:
- 300g all-purpose flour
- 3 eggs
- 1 liter (4 1/4 cups) of cold water
- 3 grams salt
- 1 teaspoon dashi powder or chicken stock
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
Toppings:
- cubes of boiled octopus, or your choice of cooked, cubed protein (you could use shrimp, squid, chicken, hot dogs, etc)
- sliced green onions
- tempura bits or rice krispies
- shredded cheese
- Japanese mayonaise
- Takoyaki sauce (you can buy this in a bottle at most Japnese groceries,Daiso)
- bonito flakes
- aonori (powdered seaweed) or seaweed strips
Beat the eggs and add the water, and stock . Add the egg-water mixture to the flour and salt and mix well. Heat up your pan and oil the individual compartments with a oil brush or use a paper towel dipped in oil.
Pour the batter into the individual compartments up to the top. Don’t worry if the batter over flows a bit. Add green onions, your protein, tempura bits or rice krispies, and shredded cheese (is using).
After a while, the bottom of the takoyakis will be cooked through. At this point, you can use a skewer to turn them over 90 degrees. If you can’t turn the takoyaki easily, it probably needs to cook for a bit longer. Wait a minute or so and then do another 90 degree turn. The balls will become easier to turn the more they cook.
The takoyaki are done when they’re lightly brown and crispy on the outside and they turn easily in their holes. Overall I’d say it takes about 10 minutes per batch, from start to finish.
To serve, place the takoyaki on a plate and drizzle with Japanese mayonnaise and takoyaki sauce. Genrously sprinkle on the bonito flakes and aonori. Enjoy, but be careful, the insides are hot!
*If you’re feeling lazy, just go ahead and buy the prepackaged takoyaki flour at supermarket or Daiso. All you need to do is add water and eggs.
