An Osaka Specialty: Ika-yaki (Squid Pancakes)

Name: An Osaka Specialty: Ika-yaki (Squid Pancakes)
Yield: 3 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 100 grams - 180 grams Squid; 140 grams Cake flour; 10 grams Bread (strong) flour; 5 grams Katakuriko; 1 tsp Dashi stock granules; 200 grams Water; 1 Vegetable oil; 1 Okonomiyaki sauce and takoyaki sauce

cookpad.japan @cookpad_jp

These are the ika-yaki sold at a certain department store, and occasionally at food stalls during summer festivals... I found out just recently that this is only sold in the Kansai area. In other regions, 'ika-yaki' means a whole grilled squid! I sometimes get a strong urge for Kansai style ika-yaki, but they don't sell it where I live, so I tried making it.

I think at that certain department store they use iriko (dried sardine) dashi stock... but most Kansai people don't use that, so regular dashi should be fine.
The key is to press down hard on the pancakes as you cook them.
You can make these with just cake flour, but I added some bread flour too for a more chewy texture. For 3 20 cm [7.9 in] pancakes. Recipe by estrela

cookpad.japan @cookpad_jp

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Ingredients

3 servings

100 grams- 180 grams Squid
140 gramsCake flour
10 gramsBread (strong) flour
5 gramsKatakuriko
1 tspDashi stock granules
200 gramsWater
1Vegetable oil
1Okonomiyaki sauce and takoyaki sauce

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Steps

1

Slice the body of the prepped squid into rounds, then cut into 1cm dice.
2

Combine the flours, dashi stock granules, and water, and mix until it's slightly sticky (meaning the gluten in the flour has formed).
3

Add the squid to the batter, and leave for at least 30 minutes. If the batter becomes too firm, add a little water so that it's the consistency of crepe batter.
4

Add oil in a pan, and pour in the batter (You can add an egg here to upgrade the pancake to a deluxe version.)
5

When one side is browned, turn the pancake over. Cook the other side while pressing down hard on the pancake with your spatula.
6

When the pancake is cooked, spread the combined okonomiyaki and takoyaki sauces, fold in half and press.
7

If you add too much squid, the pancakes will be hard to cook. I'm not too good at cooking these myself. If you're not used to making pancakes, try cooking one with just a little squid added to the batter.