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My local ethnic grocery seems to be all out of Otafuku okonomiyaki sauce and not really in a hurry to restock based on the last few times I stopped by. There’s quite a few recipes on YouTube so I’m willing to put in some work, but does anyone have anything on hand they can recommend that tastes similar to the pre-packaged Otafuku sauce? I guess the obvious upside here would be that if I nail it I don’t need to worry about buying the genuine article again.
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Dec 26, 2020 23:42
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 09:03 |
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I’m definitely not seeing that on .com or .ca, but it could be because they’re only showing stuff that can be shipped to Canada? Either way, I guess it would be cool to be able to just make it at will.
some kinda jackal fucked around with this message at 00:50 on Dec 27, 2020 |
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Dec 27, 2020 00:48
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First attempt at takoyaki today, except I can’t find octopus to save my life so I substituted shrimp like a scrub. Also substituted okonomiyaki sauce, though I’m not sure there’s a huge difference. Tastewise it came out great. My biggest hurdle was my pan. It’s a $50 Amazon affair and I had an insanely hard time finding the edges of each divot to flip the balls. At first I overfilled everything and it was just a complete disaster so I disposed of that batch entirely. Second batch I filled just below the top, dropped in my ingredients and that went well enough, but any time I had to separate the batter from the divot next to it I had such a hard time. In the end it worked out well but definitely wish I’d bought a pan with all the holes in a row instead of circular.
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Mar 27, 2021 23:47
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I was fully intending to do photos but I was so frustrated with my first garbage batch that I ended up being in a grumpy mood until I started monching down on the end result which ended up making the frustration worthwhile. I think part of it was this was literally my first go at making them in my life and wasn’t expecting the pan problems so that just kind of threw everything for me. Now that I know what to expect I’ll totally do a nice effortpost with end results next time  The batter was really easy to make but I’m a big proponent of just using dashi powder and I never make it from scratch, which probably saves like 90% of the prep. I’d say it was probably literally two or three minutes of prep which puts it just over okonomiyaki as far as effort goes. Have a feeling these will become a staple now though. Also I’ve been making a super simple udon soup lately. Dashi, mirin, sugar, salt, and soy. Green onion garnish, and maybe a shiitake if I can remember to pick them up at the store. Simple and filling. I was hoping to find some inari age but it’s really hard to locate here, even in our big international food shop. I can find chinese fried tofu but I’m pretty sure that’s not an equivalent.
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Mar 28, 2021 00:10
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Grand Fromage posted:Technically tonkatsu/okonomiyaki/takoyaki/yakisoba sauces are different, but they're all the same vibe so subbing with whatever one you got is fine. I'm sure you're offending somebody by doing that but whatever. Takoyaki is the one sauce my asian shop doesn’t stock so for now it’ll do. I will eventually figure out how to DIY all these sauces but I’m so accustomed to the taste of otafuku’s that I hope I haven’t prejudiced myself against whatever I make.
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Mar 28, 2021 00:55
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I have a metric ton of udon from my last trip. Wondering how well that would do in yakisoba. Never actually tried anything but lo-mein style.
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Mar 28, 2021 01:09
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I can’t believe I’m asking this shameful question but.. What the heck is the secret to using all the kewpie in the bottle? Am I supposed to inflate the bottle after I squeeze it and store it upside down so it all settles on the bottom or what? Seems kind of weird that I’d be blowing up a condiment bottle like a balloon after each use. Otherwise I’m always left with a ton in a wrinkled crumpled up bottle.
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Apr 2, 2021 15:43
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This may be off base for this thread but can anyone recommend a rice cooker that prepares small-ish quantities of rice? The measuring thing on my Cusinart only starts at 3 cups of rice and that’s way too much for what I normally use. I don’t know if there’s something out there that handles down to one cup or less for an individual portion. I’m in Canada but I’m fine if it’s off a .jp that I can order.
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May 15, 2021 00:40
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Do the Zojirushis have actual markings for smaller portions? I’m certain I can cook like one cup of rice in my lovely Cusinart too but the markings start at 3 cups and I’ll be damned if I memorize instructions or maths for smaller portions. I’m at the stage of life where I feel entitled to my appliances humoring my stupidity by just outright having “insert water to here” printed somewhere on the unit. I am incapable of memorizing water ratios for rice even if it is incredibly simple. If you look at my google history you can 1:1 map when I made rice on the stovetop by seeing when I googled “cook rice how much water”
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May 15, 2021 04:11
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I’m sold, thanks gang.
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May 15, 2021 04:19
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OK awesome thanks everyone, I pulled the trigger on an NL-BAC05. I was kind of agonizing over some of the options on others but then I realized I literally only make plain white rice so no sense in going crazy over features I don’t use. I don’t know how substantially different long grain rice is from jasmine rice but I bet I could make jasmine work if I really tried, so who cares. I actually wanted the LGC05 for the retractable cord but it wasn’t in stock so no big deal, I’ll deal with a dangly cord.
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May 16, 2021 23:17
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What do you guys do to adjust your curry brick roux? I’ve been making it as is for the past two years, just wondering what flourishes could be possible? I have a very limited imagination when it comes to winging food.
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May 17, 2021 01:23
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Oh hell I’m going to use dark chocolate next time  The one time I tried to make my own roux it came out.. not great. The effort just left me disappointed and I ran to the asian grocery the next day to remedy my mistake 
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May 17, 2021 01:54
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Everyone who recommended the zojirushi rice-a-majig, thank you. I made half a cup of rice and it was everything I imagined it could be.
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May 22, 2021 02:16
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Hmm, now that outdoor fun with friends is a thing again, for the most part, I want to take my takoyaki and okonomiyaki game on the road for park picnics, but all my gear is electric. I guess it’s time to invest in a propane or butane stove and a cast iron takoyaki pan. Something like this ought to do the job, right? I hope the butane cans are somewhat standard like the ones I can buy at the local asian grocery. Other than that the takoyaki pan should be easy to source and a griddle is just a griddle. Though I guess I’d need to make sure it’ll fit on this smaller size grill. E: I mean I can also get a more basic butane stove but I think this one would be cool for being able to yakitori and kebab right on top.
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Jul 4, 2021 16:49
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My only problem with getting octopus for takoyaki is that I have to be ready to eat 400 of them because there’s no one nearby that sells in small enough quantity for like “eh I want a dozen takoyaki” I’m on a takeout wakame salad kick lately so I decided to finally invest in learning how to make it. I have the sauce down pretty much to what I expect but I can’t find the right wakame mixture. All I can get is wakame that rehydrates to small and wide crumbles, not the fun stringy stuff that I’m pulling out from between my teeth for the next hour. Wonder if it has a specific name that I could go looking for, either in Japanese or Chinese since the latter is more common in my immediate area as far as ethnic food shops go.
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Oct 17, 2021 17:32
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While we’re asking restaurant questions, I’m going to miss the kushikatsu place 30 seconds from my hotel. Thinking about trying to DIY when I get back to Canada, maybe make a fun backyard friends get together thing out of it. I’m wondering what sort of bread crumbs I’d be looking for when I get back, or whether whatever we can source in western shops is fine? I’ve done some googling and some people are running panko through a mesh trainer with a spoon until it gets a little finer, which seems like it would be a good idea too. Thoughts on the batter? I’ve seen both egg and non-egg based suggestions on google. I mean ultimately I can just try whatever I find when I get home and experiment, just wondering for some “authentic results” firsthand experience with western ingredients if possible. Panko being so universal these days that I basically lump it in with western ingredients..
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May 24, 2023 12:45
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I had a decent first attempt at using a stand mixer to “pound” mochi, though if I’m being honest I think I need to postmortem the whole process and see where I can improve. I don’t think I was prepared for the sheer stickiness of the mass, so I had a hard time working it into anything usable and found myself pretty frustrated pretty quickly. Cleanup was also a major disaster. THAT SAID, what I did manage to work into balls was delicious and enjoyed topped with sweet kinako. I have tried doing mochi from mochiko and I much preferred the texture and consistency of what I made yesterday so I’m probably going to continue trying to improve my technique, but I DO think I want to remove the stand mixer from the equation and maybe invest in a mochi maker. I’m typically not a fan of single use appliances in my kitchen but I think this is one I could justify, even at a relatively high price point.
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Jun 8, 2023 14:36
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Gaius Marius posted:Dough hook? Dough hook didn't seem to have much purchase on the ball, in the quantity I made, but in the end I used various non-whisk attachments. Going to take a second crack at it this weekend with my eyes open on process. Definitely things I know I can improve on, but also just going in with more understanding of what to expect vs what I've youtube'd. I still think I want to find a mochi machine at some point, but lack of one isn't going to deter me from trying Another factor could (read: definitely) is that I don't know how much water to add, if any at all. At various stages the mass seems incredibly thick and adding small amounts of water did seem to make it more workable, but also very likely contributed to the big stick situation so I think I'll try adding "less" in a general sense. I wasn't adding a ton just a slpash or two, but that may already have been too much.
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Jun 9, 2023 11:21
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I’m feeling a little down about my tsukemono experiments. I’m trying to replicate the various red/yellow pickled daikon tsukemono that I remember getting with meals, but whie I’m coming close there’s just … something off about my attempts. I’ve been trying various youtube reciples, playing around with salt/sugar ratios, trying various combinations of mirin and rice vinegar and other recipes, but this far out I’m having a real hard time identifying what is “off” about my tastes to adjust in one diretcion or another. I’m not giving up but it’s so maddening not being able to articulate what isn’t “right” about the taste compared to memory enough to adjust :/
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Aug 27, 2023 20:19
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 09:03 |
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Hmm -- every (english) recipe on youtube for takuan I've come across seems to be some mix of salt, sugar, vinegar, and a yellowing agent of some sort. Some add a bit of kombu, some add chili or other things, but they mostly line up there. So most of my experimentation has been based on various recipes which call for different proportions of the base ingredients listed above. Some have been just ridiculously unappealing, way too much vinegar and salt, etc., but since I posted I think I came across a recipe that manages to at least trigger the memory of how I remember takuan tasting in a generic sense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWG-X4Ejz04 My Japanese is awful but this one was simplistic enough that I could follow, and I think it's passable. After two days in the brine my last batch is something I can see myself making again so I made sure to jot down the proportions from the video. I'm going to expand to other tsukemono real soon and I do agree that rarely do they include any forms of vinegar -- I think perhaps takuan might be the exception based on how often I see vinegar included. I suppose what makes a good takuan is really subjective anyway, so I'm not going to bash any of the other videos for creating something I don't like. If I grew up eating takuan as prepared in one of those videos I might think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. So no harm no foul.
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Aug 30, 2023 17:59
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