Octopus balls 八爪魚丸

Tako means octopus in Japanese, and takoyaki are known as octopus balls 八爪魚丸. Takoyaki venders are very popular in Japan. To make takoyaki, a cast iron or electric takoyaki pan with many half-spherical molds is used.

Takoyaki is the little, spherical cousin of okonomiyaki, and like okonomiyaki it began in Osaka. It’s fundamentally a flavored batter having a little piece of octopus (tako) within, and is just truly a quintessential street food bite.

Takoyaki producing is rather time intensive, as well as the small balls are best consumed while piping-hot, so that I urge a tabletop model above a plate you set to the stovetop. Also remember that in case you have an electrical, ceramic best or induction array (when I really do), a routine takoyaki plate don’t work correctly since there won’t be sufficient contact area. My takoyaki machine is a relatively low-cost single-objective electrical version. You too can get fancier versions with inter-changeable plates for grilling, teppanyaki, and so on aside from the takoyaki plate.

Takoyaki machines are accessible at Japanese-oriented digital or housewares shops. Inexpensive ones are additionally on ebay.com, but realize that the majority are Japanese 100W – 50/60hz versions, which won’t function as-is really in Europe. They are going to work on U.S. 110W but could potentially be considered a fire risk, thus for security you must use them having a transformer. (If you’re purchasing a takoyaki manufacturing company in Tokyo, remember to let the salesperson know you’re going to be using it abroad. If you’re buying in Akihabara they’re accustomed to coping with this specific scenario.)

It’s usually not advised to make use of takoyaki plates on the table-top fuel cooker incidentally, since the plate can snare warm beneath and possibly damage the cooker area. Thus if you get a plate, simply utilize it in your stovetop.

Recipe of Takoyaki Balls

This batter is very uncomplicated to create, and produces great takoyaki! No fiddling around with grated nagaimo or something, no need to purchase special okonomiyaki flour. They say it’s for 4 individuals. I’ve discovered makes about 60 balls as a whole (allowing for a number of faults). 300grams / 10.5 ounces hakuriki ko (reduced-gluten white-flour): use cake flour (favorite) or all purpose flour 3 eggs 1 liter (4 1/4 cups) of ice water, by means of the cubes sifted outside before adding for the mixture 3 gs salt (into being 2/3 teaspoons.) 1/2 teaspoons. kombu dashi stock granules 1/2 teaspoons. katsuo dashi stock granules 2 teaspoons. soy sauce

My alterations: I made dashi stock using the chilly water system instead of using the dashi stock granules, and raised the salt to 5 grammes to compensate. The dashi was ice cold from being in the refrigerator anyhow, so I only place in a few ice cubes. The water/dashi is ice cold to prevent the gluten in the flour from developping. You can simply use a teaspoon of one sort (such as Hondashi (which is a trading name by the way, if you are using dashi granules)).

To make the batter: Whip the eggs, and blend together with the ice water and dashi stock granules (or ice cold dashi) and soy sauce. Add the flour, and mix together lightly. Don’t worry about getting all the balls outside – it’s best not to overmix the batter. So simple!

The octopus (tako)

You only want a small quantity of boiled octopus legs. It should ideally be cut up so each bit gets a bit of the suckers, for texture.

Today, call me blasphemous, but I do not think you necessarily want octopus to make takoyaki. You only want a little bit of something to supply a change in feel. I have used things like cut up chikuwa, squid legs, or (gasp, horror) wieners instead of the octopus. (My experiment in this region came about when the fishmonger refused to sell me a single octopus leg, and I didn’t need to cope with an entire unpleasant octopus.) Whatever you use, simply have it prepared to go and cut up into small squares.

The oil

You want some flavorless cooking oil to oil the takoyaki pan. I use peanut oil.

Making the takoyaki

The points: Heat up the pan before beginning. (they are using a devoted oiling brush oil the sections, but you can use a wadded up paper towel or a wad of cotton wool held with chopsticks. Be certain to oil the top of the pan also.) Pour in the batter – don’t worry if it overflows a bit. You don’t need to fill all the compartments either (I find that coping with 14 or 15 compartments at a time is my upper limit. If you are just starting out, strive about 8 or 10. For some reason, all Japanese takoyaki manufacturers have 18 compartments.) As soon as the batter is poured, drop in the octopus touches, one per compartment. Cut through the touches (where the hitter ran out), when the exteriors are sort of dried out and turn them over about 90 degrees with the wooden skewer. If you turn them overly early the takoyaki will fall and turn into a miserable, ragged ball of goo. It requires a bit of training to judge when to turn the balls over, but you soon get the hang of it. Turn the balls over all the way. Keep turning subsequently round and round with the skewer. Add a tiny touch of batter to an empty section, if the ball has a small hole and set the ball hole – side down into the batter (around 2 – 2) 40 With they feel lighter when you turn and poke them the takoyaki are done with the skewer, and are lightly browned an a bit crispy on the exterior. The key is for the takoyaki to be hollow on the interior. This permits the insides while retaining a creamy feel to they are cooked by steam, which nicely.

It just takes them a minute or so to make the takoyaki in the video, but it is edited down. I find it takes about 7-8 minutes per batch. Your results may fluctuate.

Serve promptly with dipping sauces, and chopsticks or cocktail sticks.

The dipping sauces

When you purchase takoyaki, they typically come smothered in okonomiyaki or ‘Bulldog’ sauce, occasionally mayo, bonito flakes, powdered aonori (a green nori) and pickled red ginger. But I actually enjoy the less-is-more traces. They have three dipping sauces: Okonomiyaki or ‘Bulldog’ sauce, the traditional dipping sauce. You can combine this with mayo. (My idea is to purchase either one sort of ‘Bulldog’ sauce and fix if necessary for things like okonomiyaki and takoyaki instead of purchasing a group of sauces that are taged as okonomiyaki sauce and so on. They all flavor pretty similar.) Nihaizu: 150ml (about 2/3 cup) dashi stock, 1 Tbs. soy sauce, 2 teaspoons. Acetum. This is my favorite – the little sourness with the saltiness is really refreshing. Osumashi (clear soup): 500ml (a bit more than 2 cups) dashi stock, 1/2 teaspoons. salt, 1 teaspoon. soy sauce. This is great if it’s ice cold, to counteract the piping hot takoyaki.

You could also attempt: normal American ‘steak sauce’ combined with a bit of mayo; oyster sauce; sweet chili sauce; barbeque sauce; even olive oil blended with salt. Experimentation!

You will never purchase those frozen dough balls again, once you have had recently made, hot off the griddle takoyaki. Chillie takoyaki can be reheated, but actually – they are so substantially outstanding recently made, that I never trouble to make additional.