Takoyaki
I've been getting back into Asian flavours this winter, my usual go to is Thai or Vietnamese, but this time around I was inspired by a Japanese Takoyaki recipe. I found it in a recent second hand book purchase. Lonely Planets "The World's Best Street Food where to find it & how to make it".
Takoyaki is simply comprised of 2 words, Tako = Octopus & Yaki = Grilled. Lonely Planet describes it as "...small, hot, crisp golf balls of octopus spiked batter, brought from vendors in the street and either slathered with sauce, mayonnaise and shaved bonito flakes, or carefully dipped into a sharp ponzu sauce."
You can see how it's cooked in this video:
Recipe:
Batter Ingredients:
1 large egg
1 1/3 Cups Water
1 Cup Plain Flour
1/3 Cup Corn Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1 1/2 tsp Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Instant Dashi Powder
*** If making your own dashi (stock)
omit instant dashi powder & water***
Filling Ingredients:
250 grams Boiled Octopus (cubed)
2 tbs Pickled Ginger (finely chopped)
2 tbs Spring Onions (finely chopped)
2 tbs Green Cabbage (finely chopped)
Garnish Ingredients:
Kewpie Mayonnaise, Okonomi Sauce
Bonito Flakes, Aonori, Gari, Fukujinzuke
Method:
1. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, sugar & dashi powder in a bowl, form a hole in the center & whisk in egg & water until smooth like a pancake batter. Set aside for 15 mins.
2. Heat pan over medium heat & brush with oil, once sizzling pour batter into pan.
3. Add 1 to 2 pieces of octopus & a sprinkle of filling ingredients.
4. Once bubbles start forming & the edges start to set, use skewers to loosen and turn balls. Turn until cooked to a crispy light golden brown.
5. Remove balls & serve with garnishes/sauces.
ENJOY!!!
What did I learn?
1. Don't use my cake pop tray again, It was supposed to be non stick, I even brushed it with oil, but the mixture still stuck pretty badly!!!! Maybe try a silicone style tray next time?
2. My balls weren't completely spherical & they didn't look crispy enough, they could have been pan fried/grilled after popping them out of the cake pop tray.
3. I skimped on the 250 grams of whole boiled octopus tenticle. I had some squid tubes my next door neighbour had given me after a fishing trip so I used that instead. I also didn't realise the octopus was supposed to be a large cube, so I cut it very small & mixed all the other filling ingredients together so it looked somewhat like a salsa!
4. I had some batter & filling left over too so I mixed it all together & cooked it like an Okonomiyaki pancake.
5. I realised that I forgot to buy & add dashi powder, then only after cooking everything discovered I had the ingredients to make my own at home. So for the general over all flavour & concept I think I did pretty well.
6. Remembering old & learning new Japanese words & ingredients:
Takoyaki, Gari (pickled ginger), Aonori (Flaked Seaweed), Katsuobushi (Bonito Flakes/dried, fermented, and smoked skipjack tuna). Tsukemono (Pickled Vegetables), Fukujinzuke (Pickled Daikon, Cucumber, Eggplant, Lotus Root & Ginger), Dashi = stock made from Kombu (sheet of seaweed) & Katsuobushi.
7. After re-reading the recipe in the book I discovered what Tenkasu was (little crunchy fried bits of tempura batter that look like rice bubbles) & that I could have added that to my balls!
Overall I gave my attempt at Takoyaki 7 out of 10 wooden spoons.
Takoyaki is simply comprised of 2 words, Tako = Octopus & Yaki = Grilled. Lonely Planet describes it as "...small, hot, crisp golf balls of octopus spiked batter, brought from vendors in the street and either slathered with sauce, mayonnaise and shaved bonito flakes, or carefully dipped into a sharp ponzu sauce."
You can see how it's cooked in this video:
So how does one go about cooking Takoyaki at home?
The main thing you will need is a baking or cast iron tray or electric grill with half ball shapes in it, about the size of a golf ball. I used a cake pop tray & baked them in the oven! you'll also need a skewer or chopstick for turning the balls as they cook.Batter Ingredients:
1 large egg
1 1/3 Cups Water
1 Cup Plain Flour
1/3 Cup Corn Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1 1/2 tsp Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Instant Dashi Powder
*** If making your own dashi (stock)
omit instant dashi powder & water***
Filling Ingredients:
250 grams Boiled Octopus (cubed)
2 tbs Pickled Ginger (finely chopped)
2 tbs Spring Onions (finely chopped)
2 tbs Green Cabbage (finely chopped)
Garnish Ingredients:
Kewpie Mayonnaise, Okonomi Sauce
Bonito Flakes, Aonori, Gari, Fukujinzuke
Method:
1. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, sugar & dashi powder in a bowl, form a hole in the center & whisk in egg & water until smooth like a pancake batter. Set aside for 15 mins.
2. Heat pan over medium heat & brush with oil, once sizzling pour batter into pan.
3. Add 1 to 2 pieces of octopus & a sprinkle of filling ingredients.
4. Once bubbles start forming & the edges start to set, use skewers to loosen and turn balls. Turn until cooked to a crispy light golden brown.
5. Remove balls & serve with garnishes/sauces.
ENJOY!!!
What did I learn?
1. Don't use my cake pop tray again, It was supposed to be non stick, I even brushed it with oil, but the mixture still stuck pretty badly!!!! Maybe try a silicone style tray next time?
2. My balls weren't completely spherical & they didn't look crispy enough, they could have been pan fried/grilled after popping them out of the cake pop tray.
3. I skimped on the 250 grams of whole boiled octopus tenticle. I had some squid tubes my next door neighbour had given me after a fishing trip so I used that instead. I also didn't realise the octopus was supposed to be a large cube, so I cut it very small & mixed all the other filling ingredients together so it looked somewhat like a salsa!
4. I had some batter & filling left over too so I mixed it all together & cooked it like an Okonomiyaki pancake.
5. I realised that I forgot to buy & add dashi powder, then only after cooking everything discovered I had the ingredients to make my own at home. So for the general over all flavour & concept I think I did pretty well.
6. Remembering old & learning new Japanese words & ingredients:
Takoyaki, Gari (pickled ginger), Aonori (Flaked Seaweed), Katsuobushi (Bonito Flakes/dried, fermented, and smoked skipjack tuna). Tsukemono (Pickled Vegetables), Fukujinzuke (Pickled Daikon, Cucumber, Eggplant, Lotus Root & Ginger), Dashi = stock made from Kombu (sheet of seaweed) & Katsuobushi.
7. After re-reading the recipe in the book I discovered what Tenkasu was (little crunchy fried bits of tempura batter that look like rice bubbles) & that I could have added that to my balls!
Overall I gave my attempt at Takoyaki 7 out of 10 wooden spoons.
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