Wednesday, April 1, 2009

ANIME DINNER (TAKOYAKI AND ONIGIRI)


Yup, Anime dinner, foods that you commonly see in the anime shows. My daughter gave me this idea a long time ago but there was one dish that i could not make w/o the pan. I am glad that the Asian store is now selling this kind of grill, i believe it's because of the demand that's why they carry it now. I think a muffin pan can be a good substitute for the grill then bake it..hhmm i've got to experiment on that.


If you have kids, chances are you've heard of Anime and Manga or if you watch Japanese cartoon shows obviously you have an idea what anime is. http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vZW4ud2lraXBlZGlhLm9yZy93aWtpL0FuaW1l

Okay, just what is anime? It means animation in English. It originated in Japan, it's actually Japanese cartoons with incredible animation techniques while Manga is the comics version. Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Sailor Moon or Dragon Ball Z are just a few example of an anime. In these shows they have incorporated Japanese foods..ofcourse sushi being the common/popular food but they have introduced more Japanese dish.


We made two of the many dishes. The first one is Takoyaki w/c means Tako (Octopus) Yaki (Grill)- Octopus Balls/Dumplings. Japanese considers this fast foods because they are cooked or sold on the street.


The second one is my daughter's favorite Onigiri w/c means rice balls. This is actually a snack in Japan. But i personally find it too heavy to be a snack. It's traditionally filled with pickled plums, or fish. There are a lot of variations on what fillings you can put in the rice ball. My daughter used tuna with Japanese spicy Mayo and egg, we aren't sure if it's served w/ a dip but we like ours w/ wasabi and soysauce.

The Onigiri are fun and easy to make w/ your kids, so if you have kids that are into Anime this is a good start for kids to explore or "enhance" their taste. They are both delicious!!!!




Takoyaki Grill Pan (This is a Vietnamese version)



Ingredients for the Takoyaki :

Boiled octopus, dried shrimps,tempura crisp, dried seaweeds, dashi stock or fish stock or plain water, chopped green onions, flour, eggs and takoyaki sauce.




Tako (Baby Octopus)







Cooking Away





Almost done!







Takoyaki with bonito flakes(dried fish flakes)






Takoyaki w/o the bonito flakes (Takoyaki sauce, mayo, nori)








Onigiri (Made by my daughter)





Typical Onigiri shape Fillings made: Tuna with Japanase Spicy Mayo and Eggs









Wasabi and Kikkoman Soy sauce



ENJOY!!!

6 comments:

  1. Love the colours, the little rice parcels, it all looks very appetizing, well done to you and your daughter. It's funny how it reminds me of playing Sushi bar, how long did it take you to make them all?

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  2. Hi, Raymonde. Thank you. Onigiri is one of my daughters' Japanese dish fave aside from sushi. Onigiri is the same as you make a sushi. It's the mise en place that takes time but the forming of the rice is easy and quick. For the Takoyaki again the mise en place. Cooking them in that grill is quick but you have to pay attention to every turn of each balls.

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  3. Oohh wow homemade takoyaki! Hee hee you probably figured I'm a big anime/manga person :P?

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  4. Hello, FFichiban. My daughter got me hooked w/ anime and manga. So, do you watch them all? My daughter makes sushi and onigiri all the time. It has been a while since i had takoyaki, i was so happy when i saw this pan. I'm sure you get to eat them there all the time.

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  5. OH..I'm down with the onigiri Pam. You do such a great job!!

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  6. Hope we will get enough time to cook on our next meeting. These will be great for us to make!

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