About the Recipe
Takoyaki are a uniquely Japanese street food. Japan's second city - Osaka - can take the credit for inventing these little dough balls of delight. If you ever travel to Japan in summer, you'll find takoyaki stalls at festivals all over the country. Making your own takoyaki requires a little bit of practice (and of course, you need your own takoyaki maker) but you'll soon get the hang of it (take a look at the Youtube tutorial for some visual guidance). I often make takoyaki using piece of crabstick instead of octopus - it's cheaper and works just as well as "the real thing".
Ingredients
a takoyaki maker
you will also need 2 bamboo / wood kebab skewers (not metal ones as they will damage the surface of takoyaki maker)
2 spring onions
2 tbsp Japanese red pickled ginger
2 tbsp tempura crumbs (or fried shallots)
35g cooked octopus (or 3 crab sticks)
90g plain flour
300ml/10.5fl oz water
1 tsp Japanese dashi stock granules (or 1/2 vegetable
stock cube)
1 egg
2 tbsp vegetable oil
for garnishing:
Japanese brown sauce
mayonnaise
aoko (green seaweed powder)
Preparation
finely chop the spring onion
cut the octopus into 16 small pieces
mix the water & dashi stock granules to make the Japanese stock
put the plain flour in a bowl. pour the dashi stock in and whisk
add the egg and whisk again
set your the takoyaki maker onto your gas ring and make sure it is stable. turn on the heat. lubricate the surface of the takoyaki maker with either an oiled brush or an oiled and folded square of kitchen paper
pour half of the batter into the holes, then put the a piece of octopus into each one. add the chopped spring onion, tempura crumbs and ginger
now pour the rest of the batter over the surface of the takoyaki maker. turn the heat down to low-medium heat and wait until the surface start forming
now, using the wooden skewers, divide the batter into sections. (the takoyaki maker should have a grid of lines you can use as a guide.)
next, still using the skewers, half turn each takoyaki ball. as you do this, tuck the batter into the mold to begin forming your takoyaki balls
keep turn the takoyaki and tucking to form the balls. adjust the heat if necessary
after you have tucked all the batter into the mold and formed balls, still keep turn the takoyaki round using the skewers tunil they are a uniform, golden brown colour
once they are done, use the skewers to pick the balls out of the mold
serve with the Japanese brown sauce, mayonnaise & aoko
(PS: let the takoyaki cool for a few minutes before eating as the inside will be very hot straight from the mold)