Takoyaki

I'm a huge Takoyaki fan, and so got excited to the bone when I finally found a Takoyaki maker last December.  But life got in the way and I never got to try making Takoyaki until today.  I'm very happy to report that it turned out perfectly well, and we wiped out all 32 balls we made from this recipe. :)

TAKOYAKI

What's In It?

Takoyaki Batter

• 2 sachets Ajinomoto Dashi powder
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
• 2 large eggs, or 3 small ones, beaten lightly
• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

Fillings

• Diced Tako (octopus), about 1/2 cup
• Finely chopped cabbage, about 1/2 cup
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 2 T beni shoga (red pickled ginger), diced finely*
• 1/2 cup dried alamang (baby freshwater shrimps)*

Cooking oil

Kitchen Conjugations:

1. Make Takoyaki batter by first dissolving the dashi powder into the warm water.  Add in salt and soy sauce.  Pour in 2 cups water, then check seasonings.  Adjust by adding more dashi powder if desired. 

2. Check the dashi stock's temperature, which should be room temp. Slowly stir in the flour alternately with the beaten eggs.  Stir to combine well, ensuring the batter is free of lumps.  Set aside.

3. Plug in and turn the Takoyaki appliance on.  Brush each cavity generously with cooking oil.

4. Pour batter to each cavity to half-full.  Drop a little of each filling into each cavity. Let cook for about 3 minutes.

5.  Using skewers tilt each Takoyaki to check if the batter has cooked. Remove each half carefully, a row each time, and fill the vacated cavities as you have in step 4. Take the cooked Takoyaki halves back to their places, covering the other, still cooking half.  Do the same for the other Takoyaki halves.

6. Tilt the Takoyakis from time to time to ensure even cooking, also to make round them off.  Cook for another 3 minutes or until golden brown.

7. Remove from pan, serve drizzled with Takoyaki sauce and Kewpie mayonnaise (which I didn't have), sprinkled with Katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes, which I didn't have as well--bummer!) and aonori (green seaweed).

Tabemashou! 食べる食べましょう!

Quail Egg Surprise

Once back in highschool we were grouped into teams and were asked to come up with extraordinary recipes in Home Economics class. The other teams came up with pretty interesting dishes; the most remarkable, Banana Cake made from banana peels. That tasted okay, up until I imagined where the banana peels could have come from, and gagged.*

Anyways, our group's recipe wasn't extraordinary (supplied at the last minute by the mom of one of my mates who rescued us from impending non-submission). 'Twas called Meatball Surprise, just a meatball with a quail egg inside.

I made this to reconcile two different requests - Kwek-kwek for Gambel and Meatballs for Jam.
(I've made kwek-kwek/tokneneng before, here.) I was on the phone with Claire while rounding the balls and wasn't paying attention to how centered/uncentered the eggs were. Sowee. :)


QUAIL EGG SURPRISE

What's In It?

12 quail eggs, hardboiled and peeled
1/2 kilo ground pork
1 medium carrot, peeled and grated (or diced, if you like)
1 small red bell pepper, diced finely
1 medium onion, peeled and diced finely
1/2 teaspoon iodized salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup flour or bread crumbs
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup flour (for coating the eggs)
1 1/2 cups cooking oil (for frying)

Kitchen Conjugations:

Heat cooking oil in a deep fryer or wok over low fire. While waiting, work on the meatball mixture.

In a bowl combine ground pork, carrots, bell peppers and onions. Season with salt and black pepper. Mix thoroughly, then add in flour or bread crumbs. Mix a few more strokes, then pour in beaten egg. Mix to ensure the egg wets and combines with the mixture. (I use my hands to mix, for a better feel.)

Roll quail eggs in flour to coat. Then take a tablespoon of the mixture and line each flour-coated egg with it, shaping into balls as you go. Carefully drop the meatballs into the waiting oil. Deep fry for 3 minutes or until brown and golden.

Serve with sweet and sour sauce or sweet chili sauce.

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By the way, you can do this using chicken eggs, and end up making what is called Scotch Eggs.

*Of course I trust my classmates have been very careful, but I do have a very active imagination. :P

Lemon Grass Meatballs

We usually joke that to the unknowing, we can be considered weird because we have pots of grasses in our garden. But hey, no, we're not actual potheads -- just people who love some lemon grass - or tanglad-- every now and then.

(Our lemon grass are potted because we just carried them over from when we were renting, and back then all our plants were potted for better portability.)

I made Lumpiang Shanghai and after a few dozen rolls, ran out of lumpia wrapper. What to do with the excess lumpia mix? Well, meatballs of course! I stuck in lemon grass stalks, courtesy of our potted-tanglad-garden, for interest. Okay, di ba?