Taiyaki

A thin batter in a hot fish mould, filled on a half-set base and closed before it rises.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (milk).

Ingredients

• 250 g plain flour
• 80 g caster sugar
• 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
• 0.25 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 350 ml milk
• 300 g anko
• oil, for the mould

Method

1. FILLED ON A HALF-SET BASE, AND CLOSED BEFORE IT RISES. Batter into the hot mould, twenty seconds until the surface clouds but is still wet, filling laid on, more batter over, and the mould shut. Fill a fully set base and the two halves never join; fill a liquid one and the paste sinks through and burns on the iron.
2. A THIN BATTER, like single cream. Thick batter gives a bready cake with no crisp edge, and the shape comes out blurred.
3. Whisk everything smooth and REST IT 30 minutes, then stir once. Rested batter spreads into the mould's detail -- the fins and the eye -- where fresh batter sits in a lump.
4. Pour it into a jug. Spooning it in is too slow for the timing this needs.
5. Heat both halves of the mould properly and oil both, every time.
6. Batter to fill each half about two-thirds, deliberately overfilling the nose and tail where it thins.
7. 20 seconds, then a line of anko along the body only -- keep it well away from the edges or it welds the mould shut and burns.
8. More batter over to cover, then CLOSE AND TURN THE MOULD AT ONCE so the top half sets against the batter rather than away from it.
9. 2 to 3 minutes a side over a medium heat, turning twice. Open to check: deep gold, not pale.
10. Trim the flash off the edges with scissors while warm. Eat within the hour -- the crisp edge is gone by the next.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Japan · All recipes