A symbolic recipe of Japanese street food, now also available in our country, here is how to prepare even at home great Takoyaki. You will be really satisfied!
Practical information
difficulty: medium
Preparation: 20 minutes
cooking: 15 minutes
doses: 2-3 people / 16 pieces (5-8 pieces per portion)
Presentation of the dish
The takoyaki, delicious (and hot!) Octopus balls, are one of the Japanese street food icon dishes.
Typical of the Kansai region, but now widespread throughout Japan, the takoyaki come from Osaka and it is very easy to find them along the famous Dōtonbori.
They are cooked on the spot by skilled cooks and are considered "a quick snack", so often the shops that prepare them do not have tables and chairs.
The ingredients used in the filling vary from region to region. For example, there is a heated debate regarding theuse of cabbage: this is not used in the original Osaka recipe, but in some regional variations yes (eg Kyoto, Kobe, Tokyo).
The preparation of takoyaki is in itself very simple but, for cooking,
è the cast iron pan with hemispherical molds is fundamental. You can find it on the internet, in Asian shops in the city or, why not, bring it as a souvenir from Japan!
Takoyaki ingredients
For the dough:
100g of "00" flour
1/6 teaspoon of salt (scarce 1g)
1 egg
340ml dashi broth (cold)
1 tsp soy sauce
For the stuffing:
80g cooked octopus
60g cabbage
15g green leaves of the spring onion
12g merci shoga (red pickled ginger)
2 teaspoons katsuobushi powder (dried fish)
Topping:
sauce for takoyaki
mayonnaise (to taste)
aonori seaweed
katsuobushi in flakes
Preparation
In a bowl, mix the salt with the flour.
Gradually add the dashi broth, stirring with a whisk to remove lumps.
Next, add the soy sauce and mix.
In a bowl, beat the egg well. Add it to the previous mixture and mix. Transfer everything to a carafe.
Prepare the ingredients for the filling: cut the previously boiled octopus into pieces (about 1cm). Chop the cabbage and the green part of the spring onion. Chop up the shoga goods.
Heat the plate of the takoyaki - about 240 ° C - (if you use a gas stove, place a flame-spreading net, so that the temperature of the plate is homogeneous). Pour a generous amount of oil and distribute it with a paper towel both on the edges and in the molds. The whole plate must be well oiled, essential to be able to turn the balls smoothly during their cooking.
Mix the dough well and try pouring a few drops on the plate to make sure it is hot.
Pour the batter into the molds (no problem if it comes out, in the following steps you will be able to recover everything).
Insert a piece of octopus into each mold. Distribute the cabbage, the merci shoga, the katsuobushi powder and the spring onion on the dough.
When the batter around the molds begins to cook, with the help of two wooden skewers, separate the takoyaki and turn them 90 °.
Mix and add more batter to the molds. As before, when it begins to cook, turn the takoyaki a little at a time, giving it the typical "ball" shape.
When they are golden and turn easily, they will be ready.
Place the takoyaki in the typical bamboo boat (or on a rectangular plate) and dress them with the special sauce, mayonnaise, aonori seaweed and katsuobushi flakes.
Serve hot.
Curiosity and advice
You shouldn't have any problems finding the ingredients for this recipe (you can find them in any Asian food). There is also the "prepared for takoyaki”: In this case, just add the egg and a certain amount of water to make the batter.
Some possible replacements are:
vegetable broth instead of dashi;
leek instead of spring onion;
instead of octopus, you can use shrimps, peeled and deprived of the thread (in this case you will get “ebiyaki”), or squid;
you can replace the takoyaki sauce with the okonomiyaki sauce.
It would be optimal to consume freshly cooked takoyaki. But be careful: the balls inside will be hot! Wait just a few minutes before enjoying them. In the meantime, you can sip a good beer, perfect match with the dish.
