How to Make Takoyaki: A Step-By-Step Recipe (With Pictures & Video!)
When thinking of Osaka's famous foods, takoyaki (octopus balls) usually springs into people's minds. However, did you know that as long as you have a takoyaki plate, you can actually easily cook takoyaki at home? People even say that every household in Osaka has their own takoyaki plate! Today, we'll be teaching you one recipe for this Kansai treat.
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Below are text explanations for the recipe with images. They cover points that aren't discussed in the video, so please check them out!
What is Takoyaki?
Takoyaki is a dish of 3 - 5cm balls of fried dough with octopus inside and condiments sprinkled on top. People say that this dish originates from Osaka.
Many restaurants and stalls in Osaka focus on this dish, and in various festivals throughout Japan, takoyaki stalls are a common sight!
Street festivals are a common sight in Japan. What other classic foods might you find there? Read this article to find out!
Preparation for Making Takoyaki
There are many different variations of takoyaki, and a variety of ingredients are used to make them. It's a little extreme to say this, but as long as there's octopus in it, it can actually be considered takoyaki. That said, in this recipe, we'd like to introduce some classic takoyaki ingredients.
Ingredients
Batter
・200g of soft wheat flour
・3 eggs
・20ml of milk
*Adding milk gives the takoyaki more of a mellow taste.
・600ml of water or dashi (broth)
Approx. 160g of octopus (chunks)
2 sticks of green onions (finely chopped)
30g of tenkasu (bits of deep-fried dough)
Dried seaweed
Shoga (pickled red ginger)
Takoyaki (or regular) sauce
Mayonnaise
Salad oil
Katsuobushi (sliced dried bonito)
Equipment
Takoyaki plate
Takoyaki pick (bamboo skewer)
Basting brush
Bowl
Whisk
Ladle
How to Actually Make Takoyaki
Add the soft wheat flour, eggs, milk, and water to the bowl.
Mix until all the clumps of flour disappear.
Brush oil on every part of the plate.
Add in around half of the batter.
Add in the octopus.
Add in the tenkasu.
Add in the shoga.
Add in the green onions.
In general, feel free to add in as much or as little of each ingredient as you like.
Add in some more batter. You should do this until it overflows a bit.
Once a minute has passed, cut off the excess batter and tuck everything into their respective holes.
Once the pan's relatively clean, use the takoyaki picks to turn the takoyaki balls over, making sure that the picks touch the hot plate.
The trick is to fry them at 90-degree intervals!
After they're cooked to a certain point, start turning them around and around.
When the surface turns light brown, they're done!
Add some sauce, along with as much mayonnaise, dried seaweed, and katsuobushi as you like. Done!
Now that you've read this recipe, what are you waiting for? You can get takoyaki plates at any home electronics store, or even at Don Quijote. Go ahead and try making this takoyaki recipe - it also tastes amazing with some cheese added in as well!
Pro Tip: When shopping for a takoyaki plate, be sure to save the Don Quijote discount coupon below for a better deal!
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The information in this article is accurate at the time of publication.
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