Takoyaki Pan

[MissMegan]

I *love* takoyaki and I want to make it at home. Have been looking for a pan for ages and I canNOT seem to find one. I searched Richmond today in earnest but alas, to no avail. Does anyone know where I can find one of these (or have one they want to sell me ) ?

Friends tell me it is possible to find them here, but the places I was directed to (and looked at today) didn't carry them. I was at Aberdeen Centre and at YaoHan. I don't care if it's a stovetop cast-iron beast or an electric one - just something that makes those little balls of heaven!

Thanks for your help!

[Vancouver]

I remember seeing one in the cookware section at Daiso in Richmond a while ago. But I don't know if they still carry them. It wasn't a particularly good one though, since it was of course only $2.

If you can't find it locally, you can always try House of Rice: http://www.houserice.com/takoyakipan.html or buy one from Ebay - there are lots available on there.

[Panda]

I was at Konbiniya on Robson today and saw an electric one on sale for $39.99, or at least that's the price the cashier told me. Here's a picture of it, sorry about the poor quality but it was taken with my phone. Hope this helps.

[Hiroyuki]

Just curious, have you ever considered using an Aebleskiver Pan instead?

[MissMegan]

Panda - thanks! I will head down there today and hope it is still there!!

Hiroyuki - yes, I have been looking into those as well! (Great minds think alike). The only problem that I found with them was that the aebelskiver pans had bigger depressions in them - I think about 2 1/4 inches across whereas the takoyaki ones are usually smaller? Whichever I get, though, I do plan on making both - further reflection leads me to think it might be a love of all things round and edible that is guiding this search!

[MissMegan]

Mission Accomplished! Am now the proud owner of a takoyaki pan. As per Panda's suggestion, I went to Konbiniya on Robson and yes, price was $39.99.

Thanks for all your help! Now I guess I better figure out how to make these suckers ... and who to rope in for testing purposes . . .

[Hiroyuki]

I measured the diameter of a depression of my takoyaki pan. It was 38 mm, or 1.5 inches. Now I hope you can find a premade takoyaki mix, katsuobushi (dried bonito shavings), beni shoga (red pickled ginger), and all other necessary ingredients!

[Panda]

Glad I could help Megan. I think I'm gonna grab one myself on my next trip downtown. Now to find a good takoyaki recipe .

[MissMegan]

Panda - if you can read Japanese, there is a recipe for takoyaki included with the pan - of course, I've no idea how good it is although all the recipes I've seen seem to be pretty similar.

If you go to the Japan forum and search Takoyaki, the thread The Takoyaki Topic comes up. No idea how to make links in here yet (I will learn!) but one of the recipes that was included is here:

http://www.bob-an.com/recipe/dailyjc/ref/tako/tako.html

Now I'm off to T & T for the ingredients. So far I've got beni shoga ... it's a start, right?