Halloween is an exciting event either for adults or kids. Kids must be looking forward to this annual event.

We would like to share a recipe of Halloween art Takoyaki using Takoyaki pan. These cute spooks are all Takoyaki!

Takoyaki, which is one of representative Osaka/Kobe food, can be good for party by adding some extra touch. What is more is that it’s quite easy to cook Takoyaki.

We are going to show you how to cook Halloween Takoyaki using ingredients that can be easy to get even in western countries. Let’s have a party with a little special Takoyaki!

Recipe of Halloween Takoyaki

Ingredients for 2-3 servings

• 30g of bouillon powder (A)
• 1 egg (A)
• 700 mL of water (A)
• 30g of bouillon powder (A)
• 10 cherry tomatoes
• 6 leaves of basil

Decorations

• 1 tsp of potato starch
• 1 sheet of sliced cheese
• Squid ink (appropriate amount)

Toppings

• A ladleful of Tempura bits
• Ketchup
• 2 sheets of sliced cheese
• Japanese Okonomiyaki sauce
• Aonori (dried green seaweed)
• Katsuobushi (dried bonito)

Preparation

Usually, raw octopus is used for ingredients, but it might be difficult to get in some countries or regions or they just don’t eat it. So, we use tomatoes and basil instead.

Cut tomatoes into 4-6 pieces before starting cooking.

How to make Takoyaki batter

Put the ingredients marked with (A) into a bowl to make batter. Put flour and egg first and then add water little by little so that the batter won’t be clumpy. First add approx. 100mL of water to mix flour into a paste and then add more little by little to dilute it.

Next, add bouillon powder and further mix them. Then batter is ready! As the components will be precipitated after a while, make sure to mix the batter again right before pouring it over Takoyaki pan.

How to make facial parts

We will explain how to make facial parts of Jack-o'-lantern, mummy and zombie.

Eyes, nose and mouth of Jack-o'-lantern are mode of 1 tsp of potato starch, 1 tbsp of water, cheese and a little amount of squid ink. Mix and heat them. Squid ink can be replaced by Japanese Okonomiyaki sauce. Adjust the amount of sauce (approx. 1-2 tbsp).

Once the ingredients get mixed and sticky, sandwich it with parchment paper and flatten it over the parchment paper with a rolling pin.

Once it cools down, cut out each part ― eyes, nose and mouth.

The parts don’t need to be the same in size or shape so that you can enjoy irregularity that will result in different facial expressions. The same process applies when making mummy’s facial parts.

For mummy’s bandage, just cut sliced cheese into strips.

How to make Takoyaki

First apply enough amount of oil and heat the pan. For this, oiling brush specific to Takoyaki would be useful.

In fact, oil brush is quite useful in other cooking occasions.

After pouring the batter over the pan, put diced tomatoes and basil in each hole and scatter Tempura bits (2 tbsp per time) on the entire pan. Adding cheese would make it even more delicious.

When the batter gets solid, turn the Takoyaki balls to make them round with a Takoyaki pick.

Decorations

Once Takoyaki is done, now it’s time to put toppings!

Glue the facial parts with Okonomiyaki sauce and put Katsuobushi on the head. If you add pumpkin puree in the batter, it’d be more like Jack-o'-lantern.

Above is Mummy Takoyaki.

Twirl a cheese strip around Takoyaki ball, and put the eyes in the same way as for Jack-o'-lantern. The combination of tomato, basil, cheese would be awesome.

Above is Zombie Takoyaki.

Use ketchup for its blood and Aonori for its hair. It is a zombie, but still cute.

This is something atypical, sweet Takoyaki with white chocolate sauce.

Apply melted white chocolate on Takoyaki ball. Once it cools down, decorate it with strawberry jam. Draw eyes with chocolate sauce. If you add baking powder and sugar in the batter, it would be awesome sweets.

Let’s cook Halloween Takoyaki to enjoy Halloween party even more with your family and friends!

It must be an unforgettable memory.