Takoyaki

The end of another hectic week...work wise and at home.

With our youngest child being born last month we've had my mother-in-law staying with us to help out with the new baby and the two other children. Whilst the help is greatly appreciated (I don't think we could manage by ourselves!) it has meant eating a very typical Japanese type diet; rice, fish and some vegetables. Which is great but there's a limit to just how many times a week I can eat that ans still find it interesting...

...so tonight was my turn to cook. And what did I decide upon...yes, takoyaki. For those who don't know what takoyaki are, let me explain. Basically they are balls of batter containing a piece of octopus. Sound good? Well let me give you a rough recipe;

First you're going to need a takoyaki cooker. Many types available but all consist of a griddle type pan but with hollowed out cups. I got my electric one from Olympic and it cost about 3,000 yen. I've included a link to the address on the side of my takoyaki cooker box.

Now onto the actual takoyaki recipe:

Take about 200 grams of plain flour and add 2 eggs, a little soy sauce, a dash of milk, some dashi stock (I usually use the powdered type), some grated mountain potato yamaimo (I used a normal potato a few weeks ago and it tasted great.

Add water and whisk to form a fairly runny batter.

Next finely chop a leek and some benishoga (pickled ginger)

Chop 150-200 grams into about 1cm cubes.

Switch the takoyaki cooker on and wait for it heat up before adding a little oil to each cup. Don't fill the cups full of oil but then again don't put too little in either. You need a certain of amount of oil to cook the batter properly.

Gather your batter, chopped leek, chopped benishouga, octopus bits and ,if you can find it, tenkasu (the bits left over from making tempura that look like rice crispies.)

Pour the batter mixture into the cups, don't worry about over filling them. Pop one octopus piece in each cup, sprinkle the leek, benishouga and tenkasu over the top.

And wait...

Take a wooden skewer (if using a non-stick cooker) and try to turn each ball around. If they are cooking each ball should twist around when prodded. Don't worry too much about the shape at this stage. Wait some more...

Use the skewer to turn the balls around in their cups and gradually work at creating an even ball.

When browned all over, lift out of the cooker and place on a plate.

Drizzle okonomiyaki sauce over balls, follow with mayonnaise, aonori (a kind of powdered seaweed) and katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes.)

Serve while hot...

Delicious.