Takoyaki (たこ焼き) is a popular ball-shaped Japanese dumpling filled with diced octopus, pickled ginger and green onion while coated with batter and cooked in a special takoyaki pan!

Takoyaki Ingredients

Serves 2

Takoyaki Batter

1 Egg
340ml Ice Water (1.44 cups)
¼ tsp Kombu Stock Powder
¼ tsp Bonito Stock Powder
1 tsp Soy Sauce
A sprinkle of Salt
100g Cake Flour (3.53 oz)

Vinegar Sauce

150ml Water (5.1 fl oz)
¼ tsp Kombu Stock Powder
¼ tsp Bonito Stock Powder
1 tbsp Soy Sauce
2 tsp Vinegar
Spring Onion Leaves

Others

150g Boiled Octopus (5¼ oz)
½ cup Tenkasu – Crunchy Bits of Deep Fried Flour-Batter
6g Beni Shoga – Pickled Ginger (¼ oz)
2g Sakuraebi – Dried Pink Baby Shrimp (0.1 oz)
Okonomiyaki Sauce
Aonori – Seaweed
Hanakatsuo – Dried Bonito Flakes
Spring Onion Leaves
Mayonnaise

Takoyaki Preparation

Dice boiled octopus into half-inch pieces. Chop beni shoga (pickled ginger) into fine pieces. Quarter the spring onion leaves, stack and chop them into fine pieces. Next, toasts sakuraebi (dried pink baby shrimp) until aroma grows stronger. Allow them to cool long enough to handle and crumble shrimp into fine pieces with fingers.

Vinegar Sauce

Boil water (150ml) in a pot and turn off burner. Add kombu stock powder (1/4 tbsp) and bonito stock powder (1/4 tsp), making dashi stock. Add soy sauce (1 tbsp) and vinegar (2 tsp). Stir vinegar sauce with a whisk, completely dissolving the powders.

Takoyaki Batter

Crack an egg into a bowl and beat it well with a whisk. Add ice water to the bowl without dropping ice cubes in it. Add bonito stock powder (1/4 tsp), kombu stock powder (1/4 tsp), soy sauce (1 tsp) and salt. Stir and dissolve powders completely.

Sieve 1/3 of cake flour (100g) into bowl. Add cake flour to the egg mixture and stir with whisk. Repeat this process twice more, adding flour in 3 steps. Lightly whisk, just enough to avoid any pockets of flour.

Combining Everything

Turn on burner and grease whole surface of takoyaki pan (an iron pan with half-spherical molds). Drop a tiny bit of batter on to pan to test temperature. If batter sizzles, it means the pan is sufficiently hot.
Starting from the outside of the pan, fill the wholes with batter until they are 8 parts full. Drop octopus into each hole. Sprinkle tenkasu (1/2 cup), crunch bits of deep fried flour-batter, beni shoga (pickled ginger) and sakuraebi (dried pink baby shrimp). Fill holes with batter completely, allowing it to overflow a little. Finally sprinkle on the spring onion leaves.

When batter around the holes cooks, separate each takoyaki from pan with bamboo skewers. Tilt takoyaki 90 degrees to spill uncooked batter into the holes. Then rotate takoyaki 90 degrees again, shaping them into balls. Continue to turn takoyaki to brown evenly and grill until golden brown.

When takoyaki turns smoothly with a slight flick of bamboo tip, they are ready to serve. Place 8 takoyaki pieces onto a ship shaped wooden plate and coat them in okonomiyaki sauce with a pastry brush. Sprinkle aonori (green seaweed), hanakatsuo (dried bonito flakes) and lots of spring onion leaves. Finally, garnish with mayonnaise.

Takoyaki Tips

Enjoy delicious harmony of crispy outside, soft runny inside and the various toppings. You can also dip the piping hot plain takoyaki in vinegar sauce with spring onion leaves. You can use your favorite ingredients or boiled squid, cheese, sweet corns, sausages and chikuwa (fish cakes) for Takoyaki fillings. Takoyaki pan or similar products can be found on amazon.com