Ikayaki
Photo: Jun Ohwada · CC BY 2.0

History

Osaka-style ikayaki was born around 1950 at the Momodani Yakiya Kaiyukan and became a city-wide phenomenon when Hanshin Department Store's Snack Park opened a counter in 1957. The high-pressure twin-iron-plate technique is the modern signature. Hanshin's daily queue still moves 5,000 ikayaki on busy days.

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Common allergens: Gluten, Shellfish, Soy, Egg

Make it at home

Yield 4Hands-on 20 minTotal 50 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 200g cleaned squid (tube and tentacles), chopped 1cm
  • 150g plain flour
  • 2 tbsp katakuriko (potato starch)
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp dashi powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 300ml cold water
  • 2 eggs (1 in the batter, 1 to crack on top)
  • 2 tbsp neutral oil
  • 4 tbsp okonomiyaki sauce (Otafuku or Bull-Dog)
  • Japanese kewpie mayonnaise
  • 1 tbsp benishoga (red pickled ginger), chopped
  • 2 spring onions, finely sliced
  • Aonori (dried green seaweed), to finish
  • Katsuobushi (bonito flakes), to finish

Method

  1. Whisk the flour, katakuriko, baking powder, dashi powder and salt in a bowl. Whisk in the cold water and 1 egg to a smooth batter the texture of pancake batter.
  2. Stir in the chopped squid; rest 15 minutes.
  3. Heat a heavy non-stick or cast-iron pan over high heat. Brush with oil.
  4. Pour 1/4 of the batter into the centre, spread to a 15cm round 5mm thick.
  5. Cook 60 seconds until the underside is golden. Crack a portion of egg (1/4 of the second egg, beaten) over the top and immediately fold the pancake in half.
  6. Press hard with a spatula and cook 30 seconds. Flip and cook another 30 seconds.
  7. Transfer to a board. Brush generously with okonomiyaki sauce and zigzag with kewpie mayo.
  8. Scatter with benishoga, spring onion, aonori and katsuobushi. The katsuobushi will wave from the steam.
  9. Repeat with the remaining batter. Eat immediately.

Tip from the editors. The pressed two-plate texture is hard at home without specialist gear; pressing with a heavy spatula in a pan is the closest. The 90-second cook is the secret.

Where to eat ikayaki

Ikayaki in Osaka

Kuromon Ichiba Market ★ 4.8

¥¥ MarketKuromon And Nipponbashi

Osaka's kitchen since the Edo period: 580 metres of covered arcade with 180 stalls of live-tank seafood, graded wagyu, Kansai vegetables, standing sushi.

Directions

Dotonbori Takoyaki Juhachiban ★ 4.0

¥ Street foodDotonbori And Namba

A Dotonbori takeaway takoyaki window whose batter is loosened with dashi and milk and packed with tenkasu, finished with sakura shrimp powder and red ginger.

TryTakoyaki

Directions

Aizuya Takoyaki Namba ★ 4.3

¥ JapaneseDotonbori And Namba

Around 500 yen buys a plate of takoyaki at Aizuya, the shop that invented it in 1933; seasoned in the batter and served without sauce or mayonnaise.

TipOrder at the counter in Namba Nannan underground town; the plain version with no sauce is the original.

Directions

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