Takoyaki: Osaka's best street food

April 09, 2018

If you ask someone who is going to travel to Osaka, what they would like to try there, most of them would answer "takoyaki!" Takoyaki is famous for food from Osaka. It is tasty, cheap and fills your stomach.

Osaka has been a market city since the Edo period and people loved octopus as their legs look like the kanji: 八 (which means eight, the kanji widens towards the end which means prosperity and happy future). Also, people believed that octopi would catch money with their legs. For those reasons, people in Osaka have always loved eating octopus.

So what exactly is Takoyaki? 3 things make takoyaki.

1 Dough (flour) which needs to be mixed with dashi.

2 Octopus is used as a filling. 

3 Grill with a hot plate that makes the ball shape.

Get the takoyaki pan from here!

Takoyaki came from Tamagoyaki (Akashiyaki), and what makes the big difference between these 2 is, that eggs are added to the dough of Akashiyaki and they are softer. Takoyaki is more crispy. Also, tsuyu (dashi) is used for akashiyaki sauce but with takoyaki, we put okonomiyaki sauce and mayonnaise on them! 

 

How to make them

Takoyaki is easy to make! What you need to do is mix the powder and water, grill with octopus filling. Flipping them is the fun part!! It is so satisfying to make beautiful round ones.

It is so fun to make them with people, takoyaki is one of the popular party foods today. Also, every family has takoyaki cooking hot plates in Osaka. Today people put different fillings such as sausages, cheese, mochi, cod roe, etc.

A popular use of takoyaki plate today is to cook Ajillo (Spanish garlic tapas). Chop some ingredients such as seafood (shrimps, octopus, etc), cherry tomatoes, broccoli, potatoes, grill them with chopped garlic in olive oil. 

Try traditional Osakan takoyaki with our ultimate takoyaki kit! 

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