Takoyaki
Molten batter spheres with a nugget of octopus inside, flipped with a skewer by people who make it look far easier than it is. You need the dimpled pan, and you need to accept the first three will be ugly.
- Total time
- 18 min
- Serves
- 2
- Effort
- Medium
What you need
Written for 2 — nudge the counter and the numbers follow.
0 of 10 in the basket.
How you make it
Whisk the flour, cold dashi and egg into a thin, pourable batter, looser than pancake batter, and transfer it to a jug.
Heat the takoyaki pan over medium-high and brush every well and the flat surface between them generously with oil.
Fill the wells to overflowing with batter, drop a cube of octopus into each, and scatter spring onion and ginger across the whole pan.
Cook for 3 minutes until the edges set, then use a skewer to cut the batter between the wells and turn each ball 90 degrees, tucking the loose overflow underneath.
Keep turning every minute or so for a further 6 to 8 minutes until each ball is round, crisp outside, and piping hot with a soft custardy centre.
Pile onto a plate, brush with sauce, zigzag mayonnaise over the top and finish with bonito flakes.
Read all that and thought “absolutely not”?
Completely fair. Takoyaki is sitting in the Japanese kitchen right now, it costs nothing, and it will never arrive.
Order it insteadMore from the Japanese kitchen
Quiet, precise, and secretly the coziest food there is.