takoyaki たこ焼き

I have been digging my food photographs. I found these from 2 years ago making takoyaki たこ焼きfor the first time. It all started from my shopping at the local Korean supermarket H-Mart. I came across this very inexpensive cast iron takoyaki mold. I snapped it up, and bought the needed ingredients to give it a try.

In Japanese tako is octopus and yaki is roast in a fire. Takoyaki is a very popular snack sold most commonly by street vendors. I didn't follow a recipe but instead just improvised based on the taste I remember from Japan.

cast mold - the owe looking tool is for turning the octopus ball and the strange looking brush is for applying cooking oil to the mold cavities

sushi grade cooked octopus

katsuobushi - shaved bonito flakes

sun dried shrimps

oh! also the japanese mayonnaise (this is a cheaper korean brand)

i pan roasted the dried shrimps and then crushed them to the batter for flavor

it is not round - don't panic as it would once you turn them

keep faith and they would become round as you turn them

the beauty of gas burners is you can use any cooking utensils

closeup

It turned out I am not a big fan of this snack. Too much starch and sweet for my taste.