Takoyaki

Octopus Batter Balls

Takoyaki are balls of very thin batter with a piece of octopus in the middle, turned in a pan of round hollows until the outside is crisp and the inside is almost molten. They are Osaka's street food and need a takoyaki pan, which is not expensive but is not optional.

Takoyaki are listed among the street foods of Japan.

The two recipes use a batter of flour, eggs and dashi poured into a hot, oiled takoyaki pan with cooked octopus, ginger and spring onion. The batters differ: about 160 ml of dashi to 125 g of flour in one and 500 ml of dashi to 165 g of flour in the other, which is far thinner.

Ingredients

For the batter

  • 150 g plain flour
  • 2 tbsp cornflour
  • 500 ml cold dashi
  • 2 medium eggs
  • 1 tsp soy sauce

For the filling

  • 180 g cooked octopus, in 2 cm cubes
  • 2 tbsp red pickled ginger, chopped
  • 30 g tempura bits (tenkasu)
  • 25 g spring onion, finely sliced
  • Vegetable oil, to grease the pan

To serve

  • Okonomiyaki or takoyaki sauce
  • Japanese mayonnaise
  • Aonori (seaweed flakes) or nori flakes
  • Katsuobushi (bonito flakes)

Method

  1. Make the batter Whisk the flour, cornflour, dashi, eggs and soy sauce together until the batter is thin and smooth, like single cream. Pour into a jug.
  2. Heat the pan Heat the takoyaki pan over a medium heat until hot and brush every hollow generously with oil.
  3. Fill Pour the batter into the hollows until they overflow. Put a piece of octopus in each, and scatter over the ginger, tempura bits and spring onion.
  4. Turn When the edges have set, run a skewer round each hollow to gather the overflow into the ball and turn it over. Keep turning the balls for 8 to 10 minutes, until they are round, crisp outside and golden all over.
  5. Serve Move to a plate and brush with sauce. Drizzle with mayonnaise and scatter over the seaweed and bonito flakes. Eat while hot, with a cocktail stick, and let the first one cool a little: the middle is very hot.

Food safety

The centre of a takoyaki stays very hot for several minutes. Let them cool before eating, and be especially careful with children. Use octopus that is already cooked.

The batter must be thin. A thick batter makes dense balls.

Oil every hollow well, or the balls stick.

More Japan recipes