Taiyaki is a traditional Japanese fish- shaped pastry that can be filled with red bean paste, custard, or whatever yummy filling your heart desires. They date back to the 1900s, when they were created in the likeness of sea bream, a fish that is said to bring good luck and wasn’t a common meal unless you were wealthy. A popular theory is that taiyaki was invented as a means for those who couldn’t afford the real thing to get a taste of luxury, but the true origin has been debated since their creation. Either way, because of their unique shape and accessibility, they rose in popularity among everyone, and are now timeless treats sold at vendors all over Japan, especially during festivals, with dozens of different flavors and combinations.
Taiyaki batter calls for some of the same things you would need to make a regular cake- like cake flour, baking soda and powder, and sugar. However, to get the full experience of the fish- shaped pastry, you’ll need a taiyaki grill, which are pretty cheap on Amazon!
At Guraku Cafe in Asakusa, you can sign up for taiyaki-making workshops where they walk you through all the steps of making the perfect taiyaki!
For a batch of about 24 taiyaki (we went with a group), here are the steps:
- First, sift 750 mg of the dry ingredient mixture into a large bowl
- Next, pour 350 mg of water on top of the flour, and whisk them together until it becomes a thin consistency, and you don’t see any clumps left, and there’s your batter!
- Fill each half of the grill about ¾ of the way full of batter and use a spoon to cover the edges of the fish molds. This helps the two halves stick together
- Fill the bottom mold with your filling, we had red bean paste, custard, and cheese!
- Flip the mold shut, wait 2 and a half minutes, pull your taiyaki out, and enjoy your snack!
That was actually my first time eating taiyaki ever, so I couldn’t help but wonder what I was doing before then. Every filling we chose was so good, and luckily, we had enough left over to take home with us. Here’s to the first of many taiyaki eating experiences, and I plan to experiment with even more variations in the future!
Read some other abroad students posts to see what they’ve been up to!