My First Japanese Menu is TAKOYAKI.

Menu Taste and Personal Experience:

I love this snack menu. Basically they taste sweet, a little bit sour, savory, and salty with crispy batter skin and chewy fillings (octopus). In conclusion, they are very delicious and tasty. People also sell takoyaki with different fillings, eg: Sliced beef sausage/ham, sliced chicken sausage, vegetarian fillings, cheese, etc.

Menu Description:

Takoyaki (literally fried or grilled octopus) is a popular Japanese dumpling made of batter, diced or whole baby octopus, tempura scraps (tenkasu), pickled ginger, and green onion, topped with okonomiyaki sauce, ponzu, mayonnaise, green laver (aonori), and katsuobushi (fish shavings).

History:

It was first popularized in Osaka where a street vendor named Endo Tomekichi is credited with its invention in 1935. Takoyaki can be found in shops called issen-yoshokuwhich roughly translates to "one-penny Western food". Yaki is derived from "yaku" which simply means "to fry or grill" in Japanese, and can be found in the names of other Japanese cuisine items such as teriyaki or sukiyaki.

Menu Ingredients:

Batter

• 100 gram flour
• 1 egg
• 400 ml water 
• 1/4 tbsp kombu dashi (bonito/fish stock)
• 1/4 tbsp soy sauce 

Fillings

• Half Boiled octopus - cut into 1cm square (other fillings can be used like prawns, beef sausages, etc)
• Bread Crumbs (Optional)
• Cheddar Cheese - cut into 1/2cm square (Optional)
  
• Gari (Pickled Japanese Ginger) - chopped (Optional)
• Chopped spring onion (scallions) (Optional)

Toppings

• Nori (dried seaweed) - chopped or powder
• Katsuobushi (Dried bonito flakes)
• Japanese Mayonnaise
• Takoyaki sauce ( or Worcestershire sauce )

Menu Directions:

Takoyaki Pan

1. Warm up iron plate and oil the surface.
2. Put the batter into the hole to almost full.
3. Then put all fillings into the hole.
4. When batter on the edge of the molds become cooked (the inside batter should still be liquidy), turn over takoyaki with pick.
5. When batter browns turn over to form balls. Continue to heat while turning it over and over until balls become evenly browned and well cooked inside.
6. Serve on plate, top with sauce, mayo,  katsuobushi and nori to taste.

Menu Related Videos:

How to make snack menu - takoyaki



Takoyaki Vendor



Automatic Tako Pan for making the menu




Menu Sources and References:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takoyaki
(GNU Free Documentation License)