In order to have some idea of the national cuisine of a particular country, you must try to cook one of its most famous dishes. True, sometimes it is not as simple as we would like. For example, in Japan, not only every cook knows this takoyaki recipe, but any housewife as well. And for Russians, this is an exotic product that many would like to try.
Basic recipe
Those who are fortunate enough to visit the Land of the Rising Sun and get to know the local cuisine better know that takoyaki are balls made of dough stuffed with octopus meat. The Japanese are very sensitive to their traditions, so in any cafe or restaurant the same takoyaki recipe is used.
According to the rules for its preparation, it is required: 200 grams of boiled octopus meat, 450 milliliters of water, 6 grams of powder broth, onion, 2 eggs, a little olive oil, mayonnaise, dried tuna chips , chopped pickled ginger and takoyaki sauce (or tonkatsu).
The dish is prepared as follows:
- First, the broth must be diluted in water, and then add eggs and flour to it. The mass needs to be mixed well.
- For cooking, a special device is used, which is called "takoyochnitsa". In fact, this is a pan in which there are several recesses in the form of hemispheres. Before use, it should be well lubricated with oil, using a brush.
- Fill each mold with 80 percent dough.
- Then add slices of octopus, ginger and onions.
- As you prepare the product, you need to constantly turn it using special sticks.
All that remains is to put the finished products on a plate, pour sauce with mayonnaise and sprinkle with dried tuna and onions. Such a takoyaki recipe is very simple. It requires only imagination, the availability of products and great desire.
Devices and tools
For the Japanese, dough balls with filling are the most common dish. Enterprising chefs cook it even on the streets. Moreover, they all use the same takoyaki recipe. Any passerby can stop, wait a bit and get his portion of the famous national fast food. In addition to food products, any cook needs special equipment and tools to work:
- Takoyachenitsa. This is a special pan with several spherical depressions. It can be installed directly on the stove or use the option with electric heating.
- Device for turning workpieces. It resembles a screwdriver.
- Brush to lubricate the surface of the plate. It is better if it is made of silicone.
To make such magic balls yourself, you need a special set for takoyaki, which, in principle, consists of these three tools. As a rule, it is present in every Japanese family.
Strict rules
The one who gets down to business for the first time, of course, wants to do everything right. Therefore, he must clearly understand the steps that need to be taken sequentially, so that the real Takoyaki will turn out. A recipe with a photo in this case is ideal. First of all, you need to prepare on the desktop all the necessary products. This is 80 grams of boiled octopus, a bunch of green onions, 120 grams of flour, a tablespoon of red pickled ginger, one and a half cups of water, 1 egg, 35 grams of vegetable oil, as well as salt, mayonnaise, takoyaki sauce, aonori and katsiobusi (dried tuna).
Further, everything is done strictly in steps:
- Boil the octopus meat and cut it into small pieces.
- Grind onions and ginger.
- Prepare the dough from flour, salt, eggs and water.
- Put such an egg carton on a stove (or plug it in a socket) and use a brush to treat it with oil.
- Partially fill the recesses in it with dough.
- In each recess, put pre-prepared crushed products.
- After a couple of minutes, turn the workpiece 90 degrees with a special wand.
- After a few minutes, repeat these steps again. As a result, a golden ball should be obtained from each blank.
After this, the finished products need to be laid out on a plate, pour with prepared sauces and sprinkle with aonori with tuna.
Do it yourself
The name of the popular Japanese fast food consists of two words: "tacos" and "yaks", which literally translate as "fried octopus." In principle, the recipe is the way it is. The dish really is a piece of boiled octopus meat, baked in a ball of dough. But as you know, any recipe sometimes makes it possible to allow various liberties. This mainly relates to a set of products. Nevertheless, the appearance should be real takoyaki. A home-made recipe may even look completely unusual.
Take, for example, the option for which it is necessary: per kilogram of potatoes - 3 eggs, 300 grams of shrimp (peeled), salt, flour, vegetable oil and spices.
In this case, work should be carried out as follows:
- Boil seafood for 5 minutes, pre-salting water.
- Add the remaining ingredients to the peeled grated potatoes and knead moderately thick dough.
- The mass is divided into pieces, each of which is said in a ball, and then broken into a cake.
- Place shrimp slices in the center of the blanks. After that, they need to be carefully rolled back into a ball.
- Semi-finished foods evenly fry in oil on all sides.
Of course, if such a damsel is at hand, then things will go faster and easier.
In the best traditions
Every Russian can easily prepare a dish of any national cuisine. Even if you don’t have the right component at hand, you can always replace it with what is in the refrigerator. For example, a Russian takoyaki recipe sometimes only basically resembles the original. Next, the culinary fantasy begins to work.
Octopuses and dough are better, of course, not to change. Otherwise, it will be impossible to make precisely such takoyaki. But the rest is quite amenable to adjustment. For example, you can add sausages and grated cheese along with octopus slices. It does not spoil the taste, quite the opposite. It will become more tender and soft. In addition, the cooking process itself can be conducted by the whole family. Everyone will find work: one will cut the ingredients, the other will prepare the dough, the third will lay out everything according to the forms and monitor the frying. This is very similar to how dumplings were made in Russia before. After all, our people love to do everything in a team. It is very comfortable. And time at work with a pleasant conversation passes unnoticed.