Takoyucky

So, Travis has been hyping up one of his favorite Japanese cuisines, takoyaki, since we arrived here. I admit that when I saw it, I thought it looked pretty delicious. I expected a hush puppy consistency with a little piece of cooked octopus inside. Sounded pretty good to me.

Well, last night, we stopped by a little takoyaki stand in the supermarket, and I decided to give it a try. I have now affectionately named it, takoyucky. Yeah, the consistency of the little octopus balls was really soggy and mushy. There was no crunchyness involved and the outer shell just kind of caved in. 

This is how they cook the takoyucky. They cook it in little skillets with circular places cut out (look at the last three pans in photo). They're kind of like cupcake pans, but spherical. They then poke the octopus balls with a sharp little toothpick-like utensil to rotate them while they're cooking.

The little flakes on top are fish flakes. They use them in lots of Japanese dishes, but I don't really notice them. No need to be frightened. They really don't taste all that fishy to me. 

Here you can see the little octopus piece inside. It was kind of chewy, but since it was cooked, it didn't really have much flavor.