Japan: vegan takoyaki

This week, we are visiting Japan and cook some vegan takoyaki. From our last stop in Oman in West Asia, we headed straight across the continent to East Asia. Here in Japan, we make takoyaki, a delicious streetfood dish consisting of savoury, fried dough balls. This vegan takoyaki recipe uses mushrooms instead of the more traditional octopus.

While I have enjoyed a few different Japanese dishes in the past (at home, at restaurants and while visiting the country), I’ve never had takoyaki until I made it for the blog. For this post, I was twice lucky: Not only could I borrow a takoyaki pan from one friend, another friend showed me how to use it and helped brainstorm vegan substitutes for octopus!

Read on to learn more about Japanese cuisine and takoyaki or jump straight to the recipe.

Japanese cuisine

During its history, Japan has experienced long periods of isolation which have helped preserve and develop a very unique culture. As a result, Japan’s cuisine is world-famous and features many unique dishes. The cuisine is heavily focused on rice. Seafood, including lots of seaweed, is an important staple but many land animals are eaten as well. Dishes that don’t include rice usually use noodles instead. Mushrooms are common and vegetables include pumpkin, eggplant, radishes, cabbage, and cucumber are enjoyed ​[1]​. Spices are not used in abundance in most dishes, instead, flavours are derived from the ingredients themselves and a few select plants, like ginger and scallions. Fermented foods like soy and miso are often used to add complex flavour to many dishes.

Speaking of soy and miso, soybeans are very popular in japan in many different forms. You will find tofu in many different textures, deep-fried tofu, soybean mince (okara) left over from making soymilk ​[2]​, tofu skin skimmed from the surface of simmering soy milk (yuba) ​[3]​ and soybeans fermented to create slimy, stringy natto with a flavour reminiscent of hazelnuts or coffee ​[4]​.

Japanese dishes

Among the many of the unique dishes found in Japanese cuisine, sushi might be the most famous one. Sushi literally means “sour tasting” and has come to refer to rice flavored with vinegar and all the dishes made from it, such as raw fish on rice pillows (nigiri) and rice-in-seaweed rolls (different -maki) ​[5]​. Other Japanese dishes include different types of noodles served as soups like ramen ​[6]​ or in a bowl along with a dipping sauce like tsukemen ​[7]​. Other popular foods are dumplings, battered and deep-fried things (tempura), and a savoury street food pancake called okonimyaki filled with ingredients like cabbage, seafood or meat ​[6]–[8]​. Among the many popular dishes in Japan, yo also find fried, savory dough balls filled with octopus. Often sold as a streetfood, these takoyaki are the topic of this post.

Takoyaki

Takoyaki are a popular Japanese streetfood consisting oif fried dough balls filled with octopus ​[9]​. The name derives from tako – octopus, and yaku – to grill or fry. (The modern takoyaki balls were invented in Osaka in 1935, inspired by a similar fried octopus ball dish, askashiyaki, in the nearby city Akashi.

In traditional takoyaki, a thin batter is poured into a special pan with hemispherical pits, just like the pan used for Danish æbleskiver and many other “spherical pancakes“. While the thin batter cooks in the pan, the filling is added. The main ingredient is octopus (“tako”) while other items vary but often include pickled ginger, scallion, and fried tempura batter (tenkasu). More batter is then poured on and the cook starts forming the slowly solidifying batter into balls. When cooked, the takoyaki are scooped up and covered in mayonaisse and takoyaki sauce, before bing drizzled with seaweed flakes and sometimes dried fish flakes (bonito).

How to make vegan takoyaki

Your traditional takoyaki contains octopus (tako) as one of the fillings. To create vegan takoyaki, there are a few replacements to take into account. A common consideration is the texture of the octopus itself. Many recipes use a firm mushroom, such as king oyster mushroom (also known as king trumpet mushroom) ​[10]​, fresh shiitake mushrooms ​[11]​, or rehydrated dried shiitake mushrooms ​[12], [13]​. Tofu is another suggestion but does not seem as common as mushrooms ​[11]​. Some chefs also use konnyaku root for its firm, seafood-like texture.

Konnyaku root

If you want to take the texture element one step further, you can try a block of konnyaku ​[14]​. Konjac root is a starchy tuber that grows in Japan, China and Indoneisa ​[15]​. In Japanese cooking, the high amount of dietary fibre found in konjac root is used to create konnyaku. Konnyaku comes as booth white noodles and white or grey blocks to slabs, known as yam cakes. Konnyaku is considered a diet food as they contain some 97% water and almost no calories. Konnyaku has a very firm yet somewhat slimy texture which is what you might be after for an octopus replacement in takoyaki.

When I was researching this post, I had the fortune of having a friend show me how she makes takoyaki. One of the fillings she used to replace octopus in vegan takoyaki was a block of grey konnyaku. To prepare it for the takoyaki, she cut it into chunks and boiled it with some soy sauce, mirin and a bit of beer (lacking saké). In the recipe below, I chose to use king oyster mushroom instead of konnyaku because mushrooms are easier to find and konnyaku takes a bit of getting used to.

Vegan takoyaki batter

In traditional takoyaki, octopus is not the only non-vegan ingredient. The batter is based on dashi as the liquid, a Japanese stock base. Dashi is usually made by soaking dried seaweed, dried fish, and sometimes dried mushrooms in water and then removing the solid parts ​[16]​. Making vegan dashi can be as easy as just omitting the fish and using only seaweed and mushrooms. Instead of using dashi as the liquid, you can grind seaweed and mushrooms and include them in the flour ​[10]​. The traditional batter often contains eggs as well but those are easily omitted.

Vegan takoyaki sauce

For serving, the takoyaki balls are covered in mayonnaise and a dark brown, complex takoyaki sauce (often containing seafood) ​[17], [18]​. Vegan mayonnaise can easily be bought in most grocery stores. There are also vegan takoyaki sauces you can buy in some Asian supermarkets but these might be a bit harder to find. There are a lot of different recipes for takoyaki sauce out there ranging in complexity from simply using Worcestershire sauce on its own ​​[10]​​ to combining several sauces totaling 8+ ingredients ​[17]​​. I went with a fairly simple recipe consisting of vegan Worchestershire sauce (the original contains anchovies), soy sauce, ketchup, and sugar.

Frying takoyaki

To make takoyaki, a thin batter made from flour and dashi (Japanese stock, discussed above) is poured into a special pan with pit-like, hemispherical indents, just like the pan used for making Danish æbleskiver. (I already had takoyaki in mind when I purchased my æbleskive-pan.) While the batter is cooking, filling is added and more batter is poured on. When the batter begins to set, you start forcing all the overflow batter into the pits and start turning the batter, to transform the mess into spheres. It sounds, and looks, a bit tricky but it is quite easy when you start poking around. It is much easier than making æbleskiver. I put a short video at the end of this post.

Vegan takoyaki filling alternatives

While plant-based octopus substitutes are most common in vegan takoyaki, there are many other “tako”-yaki fillings to give the seasoned takoyaki eater some variation. I have not tried these but here are some vegan takoyaki filling suggestions I came across during my research ​[19]–[21]​.

• Konnyaku (see above)
• Tenkasu – deep-fried tempura batter scraps
• Spinach
• Corn
• Mashed potatoes
• Cabbage
• Kimchi
• Avocado
• Edamame
• Green peas

You can also make dessert-style “tako”yaki balls with a sweet batter and fillings like chocolate chips and crushed peanuts, apples, bananas, chocolate and banana, or matcha and banana ​[20], [22], [23]​.

Conclusion

Japanese cooking is world famous and quite unique. While I have eaten a few Japanese dishes over the years, including during a trip to Japan, I have never had takoyaki before. The balls are really delicious, fried, soft, slightly crispy, way too hot and with a tasty sauce on top. Go great with some beer. Definitely worth trying if you can find or borrow a takoyaki pan. (Check out the small, cast iron version I used for the post on Denmark, much smaller and easier to store than a dedicated machine.)

Vegan takoyaki recipe

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Vegan takoyaki

Japanese takoyaki balls are a streetfood made from stuffed, fried, dough balls. Traditionally made with octopus, this vegan version instead uses king oyster mushroom.

Course Snack, streetfood

Cuisine Asian, Japanese

Keyword deep fried, pancakae, snack, streetfood

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 30 balls

Ingredients

Batter

• 200 g all purpose flour
• 40 g rice flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 piece kombu
• 2-4 dried mushrooms e.g. shiitake
• 500 mL water

Suggested filling

• 100 g king oyster mushrooms
• 2 tsp canola oil
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 stalk scallion
• 30 g pickled ginger see note

Simple takoyaki sauce

• 3 tbsp vegan Worcestershire sauce N.B. Worcestershire sauce is not usually vegan
• 2 tbsp Ketchup
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar to taste depends on sweetness of ketchup

Toppings

• vegan mayonnaise
• aonori flakes see note

Instructions

Dashi

• To prepare the dashi, the stock used for the batter. Soak the seaweed and mushrooms in recently boiled water for 1+ hours.
• If you're short on time, you can grind a smaller amount of dried mushrooms and seaweed and mix them with the flour.

Filling and toppings

• Start with preparing your fillings: shred the pickled ginger and slice the scallions.
• Cut the mushrooms into ~1 cm cubes.
• Heat oil in a pan on medium heat and fry the mushrooms. When they start to brown, add the soy sauce and let it evaporate and coat the mushrooms.

Sauce

• Prepare the takoyaki sauce by mixing all ingredients.

Batter

• Finish the dashi by removing the mushrooms and seaweed.
• Mix the dry ingredients and then whisk in the dashi, a little at a time. The final batter should be quite loose.

Frying the takoyaki

• Heat your takoyaki pan or machine.
• Add oil to each indent.
• Pour in batter until each indent is almost full.
• Add your filling to each ball. It is ok to be sloppy.

  For the fillings suggested here, I placed one piece of mushroom in each indent and sprinkled on chives and ginger.
• Add more batter to cover the entire pan, all the way to the small rim.
• Wait and let the batter solidify. When it is almost solid, use wooden skewers to cut the batter surrounding the indents. Force this batter into the cups turn the batter, creating round balls with the filling on the inside.

  It is easier than it sounds.
• Continue cooking the takoyaki until they are brown all around.
• Serve topped with takoyaki sauce, mayonaisse and seaweed flakes.

Notes

Pickled ginger: classic takoyaki calls for beni shoga (young ginger pickled in plum vinegar) but any pickled ginger (such as the gari served with sushi) will add a lot to the dish.

Aonori flakes: aonori (green laver) is similar to the dark/black nori used when making sushi rolls. For this dish, I just ground a sheet of nori in a blender to create some seaweed sprinkles to use instead of aonori.

 

References