Hey !

Here’s the Takoyaki recipe that I told you about in my November Favorites !
I learned how to do those because it’ll actually be in our Christmas menu.

 

 

Takoyaki are basically dough balls filled with octopus, served with yummy toppings. It’s a very popular treat in Japan, that you can find in a lot of restaurants but also in festivals and events. It was one of my favorites when I was there !

There are SO MANY recipes to make these, as each region likes to claim their recipe is the best. I’ll show you the one that I used, but don’t be afraid to try out another one if you want !

 

   
Festival version, and Restaurant version

 

 

The first thing you need to know to make Takoyaki, is a special takoyaki pan to cook them. It’s this specific kind of pan that comes with round shapes (apparently you can even make cakepops with those) :

       

 

 

♡ The Ingredients :

• 200g (1 cup) Flour
• 2 Eggs
•  ½ tsp Dashi Stock Powder
• 450 ml  Water
• 100g (4.2 oz) Cooked Octopus (or cooked chicken, or cheese … )
• 1 – 2 Green Onions or Chives
• Grated ginger to taste
• 15 g (⅓ cup) Tenkasu (tempura scraps)
• 1 Tbsp. pickled red ginger (Beni Shoga)

   Toppings :

• Takoyaki Sauce (substitute with barbecue sauce if you can’t find it)
• Japanese Mayonnaise (regular as substitute)
• Aonori Flakes
• Bonito Flakes

 

If you don’t have some hard to find ingredients it’s ok, the important part is the dough, and filling.
I didn’t have the pickled ginger and the bonito flakes, but they still tasted amazing !

 

♡ The Takoyaki Recipe :

1. In a bowl, mix the flour, with the water, the eggs, the Dashi Powder, the grated ginger, and mix well.
2. Heat your pan to medium heat, and add a generous amount of oil all over it, even between the holes. Make sure to spread it well with a cooking brush or a paper.
3. Start filling each hole of your pan with batter. Don’t worry about putting some on the sides !
4. In each hole, add a piece of cooked octopus or filling of choice, a bit of onions, Tenkasu, and pickled red ginger.
5. This is the technical part, you’re going to have to use two skewers (like bamboo or wooden skewers), and with these tools you flip all of your half Takoyaki to 90°, and then flip them again, so the cooked side is showing on top.
6. Flip them around with the skewers so they get golden brown on each side
7. Serve on a plate, dressed with the toppings !

 

 

And done !

 

 

 

 

The flipping is a very technical part that in my opinion, can only be truly explained by showing it. So here’s a video that I used to understand the right gesture to use (at 2:00 min) :

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

How do you like this takoyaki recipe ?
Would you want to try it ?