SPECIAL SUMMER PROGRAM -- 1997
SUGIYAMA STUDENT PROJECT #7:
TAKOYAKI, JAPANESE FOOD

Each webpage in the project was created by a small group of students.
Visitors can see, hear, read and share students' experiences from the Summer of '97!

WE LOVE TAKOYAKI!!! TAKOYAKI is very cheap and easy to buy in Japan. Most Japanese like takoyaki, and often eat them as snack. We will focus on this food becouse we can't eat them in America. It is a sad thing. We want Americans to know about this lovely food and to become familiar with it! Takoyaki was born in Osaka. We don't know why it was born in Osaka. But most Osaka people have a takoyaki maker. Americans donUt eat octopus. They arenUt familiar with the sea. Most Americans were farmers in the past. They have traditionally eaten meat and potatoes. I heard that Europeans even regarded them as sea monsters, "kracken", a long time ago, so they were scared of them. And Americans don't like its chewiness. Japan is surrounded by the sea. So we eat a lot of sea food, for example, octopuses, squids, shrimps, crubs, sea urchins, trepang, and so on. Takoyaki is typical seafood in Japan. We will tell you the recipe fo Takoyaki. Try it !!!

LET'S TRY TAKOYAKI!!! I'll tell you a recipe for TAKOYAKI. But, this recipe is a very orthdox one, so you can put into your favorite food in your TAKOYAKI. BATTER INGREDIENTS 100g Flour and 1 Egg. Make the desired amount of material in the ratio of 300-cc water (broth) to the above-stated quality. (Proportion the amount of great Chinese yam.) INGREDIENTS INSIDE TAKOYAKI: Boiled octopus ( bite sized pieaces a little larger than 1-cm sq) this is required for TAKOYAKI, Small green leek (cut into fine pieces), Red pickled ginger (cut into fine pieces), Tempura crumbs, Small shirmps (small dried shrimps) SAUCES, DIPS, ETC.: Worcester sauce, Tomato kettchup, Green laver, Powdered dried bonito ATTENTION: Don't forget to prepare the steel plate exclusively for TAKOYAKI, salad oil, any tool to turn over TAKOYAKI(something like a pick), and a cooking brush. DIRECTIONS: At first, make a batter of flour and water (or broth). The taste can be richer if you put egg or grated Chinese yam in it. When mixing it, take care not to form any lumps. Prepare the takoyaki steel mold, which has many hemispheric hollows, after the material has been mixed smoothly and the ingredients have been prepared. Pour enough the salad oil over the steel mold to fry the batter, and then heat it very well. It is okay if your hand feels a little hot when holding it ver the steel mold. Fill each hollow for one piece of TAKOYAKI with the batter. Put the cut octopus--- the main ingredient ----in each hollow. Usually one piece of octopus is used for a piece of TAKOYAKI. And put the other ingredients as you like. A tip for frying it is quick handling before it is burned. Keep the fire a little low, too. When the outside of the TAKOYAKI is gradually being fried, use a tool like a pick to hool it and turn it over. Repeat this often so that TAKOYAKI will not be overly fried, until it forms a round shape. TAKOYAKI being fried up, take them out onto the dish and put the sauce over them with a cooking brush. Mix the sauce in a desired ratio of Worcester sauce and tomato ketchup. Spirnkle green laver and powdered dry bonito over them. Now, it's done!!

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