Hi, I'm Francis,
the host of this show "Cooking with Dog."
Let's prepare the ingredients for Takoyaki.
Dice the boiled octopus into half inch pieces.
Chop the beni shoga, pickled ginger into fine pieces.
Quarter the spring onion leaves,
stack
and chop them into fine pieces.
Next, toast the sakuraebi, dried pink baby shrimp
until the aroma grows stronger.
Allow them to cool long enough to handle
and crumble the shrimp into fine pieces.
Let's make the vinegar sauce.
Boil the water (150ml) in a pot and turn off the burner.
Add the kombu stock powder (¼ tsp)
and bonito stock powder (¼ tsp), making dashi stock.
Add the soy sauce (1 tbsp)
and vinegar (2 tsp).
Stir the vinegar sauce with a whisk,
completely dissolving the powders.
Let's make the takoyaki batter.
Crack the egg into a bowl
and beat it well with a whisk.
Add the ice water to the bowl
but be careful not to drop the ice cubes in it.
Add the bonito stock powder (¼ tsp),
kombu stock powder (¼ tsp),
soy sauce (1 tsp)
and salt.
Stir and dissolve the powders completely.
Next, sieve one third of the cake flour (100g) into the bowl.
Add the cake flour to the egg mixture
stirring with the whisk.
Repeat the process twice more,
adding the flour in three steps.
Lightly whisk, just enough to avoid any pockets of flour.
Let's make Takoyaki.
Turn on the burner
and grease the whole surface of the takoyaki pan.
Drop a tiny bit of the batter onto the pan to test the temperature.
If the batter sizzles, the pan is hot enough.
Starting from the outside of the pan,
fill the holes with the batter until they are 8 parts full.
Drop the octopus into each hole.
Sprinkle on the tenkasu (½ cup), crunchy bits of deep fried flour-batter,
beni shoga, pickled ginger
and sakuraebi, dried pink baby shrimp.
Fill the holes with the batter completely,
allowing it to overflow a little.
Finally, sprinkle on the spring onion leaves.
When the batter around the holes cooks,
separate each takoyaki from the pan with bamboo skewers.
Tilt the takoyaki 90 degrees,
spilling the uncooked batter into the holes.
And then rotate the takoyaki 90 degrees,
shaping them into balls.
Continue to turn the takoyaki to brown evenly
and grill until golden brown.
When the takoyaki turns smoothly with a slight flick of the bamboo tip,
they are ready to serve.
Place 8 takoyaki pieces onto a ship shaped wooden plate
and coat them in the okonomiyaki sauce with a pastry brush.
Sprinkle on the aonori, green seaweed,
hanakatsuo, dried bonito flakes
and lots of spring onion leaves.
Finally, garnish with the mayonnaise.
Enjoy the delicious harmony of the crispy outside,
soft runny inside and the various toppings.
You can also dip the piping hot plain takoyaki in the vinegar sauce
with the spring onion leaves.
As shown, you can also choose your favorite ingredients for fillings.
The pan we used in the show is called a Takoyaki Pan
and you can find similar products on amazon.com.
Good luck in the kitchen!