How to Make Taiyaki

For those of you that don't know, taiyaki are Japanese cakes, usually filled with red bean, although there are a variety of fillings (chocolate, custard, etc.)  The outside cake part is similar to pancakes or waffles. What makes taiyaki special is that they are shaped like cute fish!

But that also means you need a special pan if you want to make them at home.  

Taiyaki pan

Here is the recipe I used for the batter:

1 egg

2/3 cup cake flour

1/2 t baking powder

1.5 T sugar

1/4 t salt

1 T oil

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup water

For the red bean filling, I used 1 can of sweetened Azuki bean paste, and there was plenty left over.

Now, let's make some virtual taiyaki.

Steps:

1.  In a bowl, combine the cake flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Then sift through a sieve.

2. In a separate bowl, beat the egg.  Add the milk, water, and oil.  Slowly add to the dry bowl while mixing.

3.  Mix well, and make sure there are no lumps.  The batter should be pretty thin.

4.  Preheat the fish pan, using medium-low heat.  Use a brush to coat the inside of the pan with vegetable oil.

5.  Use a ladle and spoon some of the batter into one side of the pan.  Add a scoop of red bean paste into the wet batter.

6.  Add some more batter on top of the red bean paste, and then flip the pan.

7.  Cook for 30 seconds, and then keep flipping the pan to evenly brown both sides.  You can open the pan to check how your fish are doing.

8.  When both sides are golden brown, remove your fish from the pan.  They should easily slide out.

9.  Eat them while they're hot!  It's the best.

The recipe made 9 fishes for me, although they were really flat.  There is no such thing as beginner's luck when it comes down to making food!  Some of my fish were badly bleeding out red beans.  But they were still delicious, so no worries!

I happily ate them as a reward for my hard work.  It was actually quite stressful making these taiyaki, since the pan made 2 fishes at once.  I felt like I was in an Iron Chef marathon.  And I probably lost.  But that's okay, because I have my taiyaki.

Made by Cathy.