Name: Takoyaki (Octopus Batter Balls with Sauce and Bonito)
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients: 100 g cake flour; 1 pc egg; 400 ml dashi; 1 tsp soy sauce; 0.25 tsp salt; 120 g boiled octopus; 3 stalks spring onions; 3 tbsp tenkasu; 2 tbsp beni shoga; 3 tbsp neutral oil; 3 tbsp takoyaki sauce; 2 tbsp mayonnaise; 1 handful katsuobushi; 1 tsp aonori

Ingredients

2servings

Batter
cake flour · plain works; bread flour turns it chewy100 g
egg1 pc
dashi · katsuobushi and kelp; even instant beats water400 ml
soy sauce1 tsp
salt0.25 tsp
Filling
boiled octopus · in 1.5cm pieces, patted dry120 g
spring onions · finely sliced3 stalks
tenkasu · tempura scraps; or crush any fried batter3 tbsp
beni shoga · red pickled ginger, chopped small2 tbsp
neutral oil · be generous in every well3 tbsp
To finish
takoyaki sauce · okonomiyaki sauce is the same thing3 tbsp
mayonnaise2 tbsp
katsuobushi · the thin shavings, so they move in the heat1 handful
aonori · powdered green seaweed1 tsp

Steps

Let the dashi cool completely. Mixed into lukewarm liquid, the batter thickens before it ever reaches the pan.
⏲ 5 min
Beat the egg, stir in the dashi, soy sauce and salt, then sift in the flour and fold it lightly. A few lumps are fine — over-mixing builds gluten and the shell turns chewy.
⏲ 3 min
Check the consistency. It should be thinner than milk, nowhere near cream — it runs off a ladle in an unbroken stream. Loosen it with more dashi if it does not.
⏲ 1 min
Pat the octopus dry and chop the spring onion and beni shoga, each into its own bowl next to the pan. Once you start pouring there is no time to prep.
⏲ 5 min
Heat the takoyaki pan over medium until it is properly hot — a drop of batter should sizzle at once. Under-heated, the batter grips the wells and will not turn.
⏲ 3 min
Brush oil generously into every well and across the flat surface between them. That flat part is where you will gather the batter from later.
⏲ 1 min
Pour the batter so it overflows the wells. The overflow is not a mistake, it is material — you scrape it in to build each ball.
⏲ 1 min
Drop one piece of octopus into each well, then scatter the spring onion, tenkasu and beni shoga over the whole pan.
⏲ 1 min
Leave it alone for 90 seconds, until the edges have set into a rim.
⏲ 2 min
Run a skewer between the wells to cut the sheet of batter apart. Then turn each ball only 90 degrees and push the overflow down into the well behind it.
⏲ 2 min
A minute later, turn another 90 degrees to close the sphere. Flip a full 180 in one go and the still-thin underside tears.
⏲ 1 min
Keep rolling them, shifting the angle a little every two or three minutes: 8-10 minutes in total, until the outside is deep brown and firm and a ball rocks lightly when you lift it with the skewer.
⏲ 8 min
Plate them and add sauce, then mayonnaise, then aonori, then katsuobushi — in that order, so the bonito flakes catch the heat and move. Wait half a minute; the centres are molten.
⏲ 1 min

Tips & Variations

Variations

Akashiyaki, from Akashi in Hyogo, is generally held to be what takoyaki grew

out of. It uses far more egg, so it is much softer, and it is dipped in warm dashi instead of being sauced. With no sauce over it, the dashi in the batter is what you taste.