Takoyaki. Is there any better snack food? Maybe for those wary of octopus, the idea of frying in up in batter doesn’t sound so appealing, but the beauty of the system is, if you make it at home, really anything can be substituted for filling.

Takoyaki is also the king of social foods. There are different, but easy jobs that people can help with and once the prep has been finished, everyone can pop a beer, grab a pointy stick, relax and chat as the batter balls turn.

You will need

Takoyaki maker

Pointy sticks or chopsticks

oil

Ingredients  

Cabbage diced finely* 

Egg*

water

takoyaki mix or 2 cups (480ml) Dashi, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp all purpose flour

pack udon soup mix*

Unsweetened rice bubbles*

Octopus chopped into small blocks*

Anything else you want to put inside takoyaki including cheese, pesto sauce, kimchi, anything!

Mayonaise, takoyaki sauce*

green onion and benito flakes*

beer*

friends*

* not necessary to the completion of takoyaki, but nice to have.

One thing I have discovered over a long experience of takoyaki making, is that takoyaki is not only simple to make, if messy, but most of the ingredients aren’t really that necessary. If you don’t have eggs, you can still make delicious takoyaki, though less firm. No shrimp flavoured rice bubbles or cabbage? No worries! The batter will still form into balls of deliciousness. Done carefully, eyeballing amounts of flour mixed to water still works too. Takoyaki is a very fuss free food.

Instructions

Heat cooker and grease the plate.

Combine takoyaki mix, udon soup mix, water, egg in a bowl.

Spread some rice bubbles, cabbage and filling into each cup of the cooker and pour in the batter. (This can be done interchangeably)

Wait until the batter begins to cook a little, then slide chopstick under a ball and gently spin it. This will take practice.

Apply more batter if necessary to round out the takoyaki.

Plop cooked takoyaki off the cooker onto a plate, cover in mayo, sauce and benito flakes to taste.

Wait! Fresh takoyaki will melt the inside of your mouth off. Set up the next batch while you’re waiting.

Enjoy!