Takoyaki in Donut Shape... Takonut?

Okay, I must admit Takoyaki is not typical Indonesian snack but I did grow up munching on tons of balls of this. It was one of the "it" snack back when I was younger. Actually, it still is the "it" snack, I saw stands selling this food with all kind of twists, from adding cheese to spicy sauce but my favorite is the basic Takoyaki, simple and awesome. 

One day, a friend of mine came to my place to show me how to make this chewy snack. The technique to make this snack is not that complicated, but you do need to have quite a collection of Japanese ingredients to get the real flavour of Takoyaki like bonito flake and ofcourse the special Takoyaki pan to cook on. Since I didn't have enough Japanese ingredients nor the Takoyaki pan, I never thought to make Takoyaki on my own. I was simply happy to have that lovely friend cook me those squidy balls of happiness. 

On my last trip to my fav asian grocery store I found this bag of bonito flake. I can be quite a compulsive shopper if I see exotic (rare to find) cooking ingredients. Especially if its come in a good packaging and I know it will last long enough until I finally decided what to do with it (and it can take quite a loong time.. LOL..).  I grab that bag full of bonito flake and went home feeling accomplished (why? I don't know, it just a feeling I tend to have when I find rare stuff at a store.. weird? I am... but I am sure you felt this way before, come one, admit it... I know you do..)

The day was rainy and gloomy. Its one of those days of the year that I call the Snacky day. You know, the day that makes you stay at home and bored and you end up just want to eat something comforting (comforting your weird craves that is). I like to spend the days like this to cook something different and today I decided to cook Takoyaki!.. I know I dont have the special pan but it didn't stop me. I saw my mini donut maker laying around begging to be used so I said to myself; why don't I give it a try! Don't you just love how you become so creative when you are hungry :)   So I went on and try the recipe from this lovely site.  

Takoyaki Ingredients:

200 gr of octopus (I used frozen calamari ring that I chopped into small pieces)

1/4 cup of dried bonito flakes (katsuoboshi), grind it into powder

1 cup of flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 eggs (I used extra large ones)

1 Tsp soy sauce 

1 1/4 cup of dashi stock

1/2 cup of scallion, finely chopped

1/3 cup of tempura breadcrumb (panko)

Cooking steps:

1. Sauté the calamari bits with a bit of oil and salt and pepper. Cook it just until its not transparent then set aside,

2. In a mixing bowl, add the powdered bonito flakes, flour and baking powder. Mix together,

3. Add dashi stock until whisk the batter until its clump-free,

4. Add eggs and soy sauce, mix thoroughly,

5. Add the chopped scallion and mix gently,

6. Shortly before you pour the batter into the pre-heated donut maker, add the tempura breadcrumb,

7. Pour the batter into the donut maker and let it cook itself, meanwhile, lets work on the mayo for garnish

Japanese Mayo Ingredients:

1 cup regular mayo,

2 tbsp rice vinegar,

1 tbsp sugar

Whisk the ingredients until the sugar dissolves. 

Takoyaki sauce:

3 tbsp Worchestershire sauce

3/4 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp ketchup

Mix all the ingredients until the ketchup dissolves

Garnish:

Japanese mayo

Takoyaki sauce

Bonito flakes

Shreded nori seaweed

Lay few of the takonuts on a plate, sprinkle bonito flakes and shredded nori seaweed on each of the takonut. Add japanese mayo and takoyaki on top, serve while its warm.

Happy Cooking!