Takoyaki Dream

The music from the Takoyaki Dream comes from these Japanese artists:
Rumi
Kakushin Nishihara
Yamasuki
Towa Tei

The longest line for food at this year's Cherry Blossom Festival at San Francisco Japan Town was for Takoyaki.

Although takoyaki is supposed to be made with octopus, the stall at the festival was using beef. The line was too long for us anyway, so we ordered some bbq short ribs from the San Francisco Asian Firefighters
The ribs were great.
I bought some supplies at Japan Town to make takoyaki. It is actually very easy to make if you have a takoyaki pan. I just used my Thai kanom krock pan which is basically the same thing. In the second half of the Takoyaki Dream video you will see how I make takoyaki at home.

Takoyaki
batter:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/4 cups dashi*
2 eggs

filling:
1/2 pound octopus diced and poached in dashi
3 spring onions, chopped
3 Tablespoons pickled ginger, chopped
3 Tablespoons dried shrimp, chopped
1 Tablespoon shichimi
3 Tablespoons tenkasu

Procedure:
Dice the octopus and poach in simmering dashi for 3 minutes (this will flavor the dashi and cook the octopus).

Place the flour in a large bowl. Whisk in enough dashi to form a thin batter (like crepe batter). Whisk in the eggs. Let sit at room temperature while you prepare the filling.

Combine all of the filling ingredients with the poached octopus.

Heat a takoyaki pan over medium heat. Brush with vegetable oil. Pour the batter to the top of each cup and drop a tablespoon of filling into the batter. The overflow will cook on the sides and eventually roll into the center. When the bottom of each takoyaki forms a light crust, loosen them with a chopstick and roll over. Continue to roll and spin each takoyaki with the chopstick until golden brown all over and cooked in the center.

Serve with soy sauce, Japanese mayo, or hot sauce.

*Dashi Broth
one 4" square of kombu, scored (see video for demo w/ scissors)
1 cup bonito flakes
1 Tablespoon say sauce
4 cups cold water

Heat the kombu in the water over medium low heat. Remove from heat just before it starts to boil. Let sit for 5 minutes and remove kombu. Bring to a simmer, turn of heat and add bonito flakes. Steep the bonito for 2 minutes and strain. Stir in soy sauce.












Tune: East Of El Rio Dolores Mix Vol II
Tracklist
1. Laura Huxley intro
2. Danca do mexe remexe - Dama do Bling
3. Eso Fue To! - Fuego Mambo
4. Que Calor - Fulanito
5. Ni Fu Ni Fa - Tego Calderon
6. Buba - Faytinga
7. Rocococo - Moreno Negron
8. Sacradinha - Sslowi
9. L'euro contre le dollars - Fefe Typical y Tiwony
10. Matofotofo - Pitch Black Afro
11. Japanese Rumba (Senor Coconut remix) - Towa Tei
12. Sanje Loveji from Bumcello album
13. The Audio Recording - Zulu
14. Klezma Tone - DJ Flack
15. Sit Dung Pon Di Wall - Mutabaruka
16. Cumbia Bichera (Tremor Mix) - El Remolon

Two of the tunes from above were found on one of my favorite sites that I just stumbled across this year. Esta Bater

You can still download Vol I of East of El Rio Dolores Mix at the Non Stop Bhangra Blog.
Vol I is a one hour mix of dubbed out beats from Africa Asia and all points East of El Rio Dolores.
Vol III of East of El Rio Dolores Mix now up at the Mission Bombay Blog