Street food is food that you can easily enjoy at travel destinations, summer festivals, and service areas. It’s likely you have an image similar to “stall food” and “fast food.” It’s been a long time since B-class gourmet food was popular in Japan, but the country, which is said to be a treasure trove of food, boasts one of the best food cultures in the world. Of course, we are not lacking in street food.
Here, we focus on the wonderful street food that we usually eat, and once again we find it very appetizing. Let’s take a look at the recommended cooking site www.fooddiez.jp and be taken in by the excellence of Japanese food culture.
Takoyaki (Japanese takoyaki)
Takoyaki is a popular food in Japan. The round shape is lovely, and it’s one of the most important – and recognisable – dishes for Japanese people and tourists to see at festival stalls. After all, you can eat it in one bite, which is super convenient.
It first appeared in Japan in 1935, and the first was sold at a stall run by the first lord of Aizuya. The source of takoyaki was “Radio-yaki,” which was very popular in Osaka at that time, and instead of octopus, it was a food containing beef streaks and konnyaku.
The lord of the domain heard information in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, that there is an octopus in an omelette. That led to the idea of adding octopus to the radio-yaki. This became a big hit.
Is takoyaki completely different from akashiyaki?
People living in Kansai may be more familiar with the name “Akashiyaki” than takoyaki. In fact, akashiyaki looks very similar to takoyaki. However, there is a crucial difference between the two.
First, the amount of flour and eggs used in the dough is different. A lot of flour is used for takoyaki dough and a lot of eggs for akashiyaki dough. In addition, akashiyaki uses gin powder (starch powder), which is characterized by its plumpness, but takoyaki has a solid dough.Therefore, takoyaki is round and firm, and akashiyaki is soft and semi-circular. Also, the finishing sauce is different. In the case of takoyaki, sauce and mayonnaise are the basic ingredients, but Akashiyaki is eaten with soup stock that is close to transparent.
Recipe and Method for Takoyaki
The recipe and method for takoyaki are as follows.
<For 40 pieces of ingredients>
- Eggs: 2
- Flour: 2 cups
- Water: 6 cups
- Octopus: 2 tentacles
- Tenkasu: appropriate amount
- Green onion: appropriate amount
- Dried Cherry Blossom Shrimp: 2 teaspoons
- Soy sauce: a dash
- Sugar: a pinch
- Salt: a pinch
- Katsuobushi: appropriate amount
- Green seaweed: appropriate amount
<How to make>
Dissolve the egg in a bowl.Put all the flour, water, and seasoning ingredients (dashi stock, sugar, soy sauce, salt) in a separate bowl, mix them together, and add the melted eggs. Cut the octopus into 1 centimeter pieces. Grease the heated takoyaki machine and flush the dough over the hollow. Next, add green onion, dried shrimp, and octopus. If it’s cooked properly, turn it over and bake the opposite side. Serve with bonito, aonori, sauce, and mayonnaise.
American Hot Dog
American hot dog is s a typical street food in Japan that you want to keep eating no matter how old you are.
The American Hot Dog is a typical street food with a Frankfurter inside a fluffy and crisp outer batter. It’s on a skewer, so you can eat it while standing up or walking. Many of you may remember going to summer festivals and fairs for this purpose when you were a child.
The evolution of corn dogs is American hot dogs
In the United States, Europe, and Australia, there is a food called Corn Dog that is very similar to American hot dogs. It was the current American hot dog that brought this to Japan and evolved it.
As the name suggests, corn dogs use corn flour for their batter. The contents are frankfurter, and the skewer is exactly the same. However, American hot dogs in Japan use wheat flour instead of corn flour. Hence the name ‘corn dog’ not being strictly correct and the term ‘American hot dog’ being employed.
Recipe and Method for American Hot Dog
<Ingredients for 10 people>
- Fish sausage or Frankfurter: 10 pieces
- Sugar: 2 tablespoons
- Butter: 2 tablespoons (melted)
- Eggs: 1
- Milk: 50ml
- Flour: 1/2 cup
- Cornmeal: 1/2 cup
- Baking powder: 1.5 teaspoons
- Salt: 1 pinch
- Oil: appropriate amount (for frying)
- Thick skewers: 10 pieces
<How to make>
Add sugar, melted butter, eggs and milk to a bowl and mix well. After mixing until smooth and free, put flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a bowl to make the dough. After mixing well, put a thick skewer on the sausage and mix it around the batter. Finally, let’s fry it brown with oil heated to 175 degrees Celsius. If the temperature is too high, it burns easily, so you must pay attention to the temperature.