Cooking and planning your meals every day is more tedious than you might imagine.

Have you ever looked at the table and thought, "I want one more dish..."?

Takoyaki Style Boiled Eggs

"I want another dish for dinner, but don't want to use (and then have to wash) a frying pan..."

If this thought ever entered your mind, here's a new twist on boiled eggs that could be just what you're looking for.

The recipe was posted on the Twitter account belonging to 全農広報部, the PR Department of Zen-Noh, Japan's National Federation of Agricultural Co-operative Associations (@zennoh_food).

The source of inspiration?

Takoyaki!

For those who don't know it, たこ焼き takoyaki are fritters containing minced or diced octopus, and popularized in Osaka. They're cooked in special grills with semi-circular grooves in them to create perfect ball shapes. Once fried, they're usually served brushed with a special "takoyaki sauce" which has a distinctive and recognizable flavor, and topped with other ingredients.

Leng Cheng, CC by SA 2.0, © Flickr.com

The recipe suggested by Zen-Noh PR division essentially replaces the octopus fritters with another similarly round food item, boiled eggs!

Reproduced with permission from 全農広報部 {Zen-Noh PR Department} (@zennoh_food)

All you have to do is treat your eggs just like takoyaki fritters hot off the grill and put the following ingredients on top:

  • Mayonnaise (Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise for a more authentic flavor)
  • Takoyaki sauce*
  • 青のり aonori green laver
  • 鰹節 katsuobushi dried bonito shavings

*You can find takoyaki sauce at many Asian specialty shops and online shopping sites outside of Japan (for example, in the USA, Japanese food brand Otafuku Foods sells it), but if you can't find it, follow the recipe below to make one at home.

Quick takoyaki sauce recipe

Put 1 tbsp. Worcester sauce, 1/2 tbsp. triple concentrated つゆtsuyu noodle sauce (or unconcentrated tsuyu boiled down to a third of its volume), 1/2 tbsp. ketchup and 1/2 tsp. sugar in a microwaveable dish and heat uncovered at 600 W for 20 secs, then blend well.

If you use freshly boiled eggs, your katsuobushi shavings will even "dance" in the steam just like takoyaki does!

You can easily enjoy this not only as a side dish for dinner but also in a lunch box or a drinking snack for your favorite beverages.

These Takoyaki Style Boiled Eggs which are easy to make and require little washing up, received many rave comments, such as:

  • "This is absolutely delicious!"
  • "Behold the birth of a devilishly good dish!"
  • "I never thought of this idea.... Genius!"

Speaking of "devilishly good," the takoyaki toppings also work great on deviled eggs! (You may want to reduce the mayo or use lite mayo in the mashed egg yolk filling if you want to top them with drizzled mayo as well)

Zen-Noh's PR Department calls the dish "the new wave of boiled eggs"!

Especially for our readers who have fond memories of the takoyaki they tried in Japan but don't have a takoyaki grill at home (or fresh octopus available at their local fishmonger), not to mention a restaurant nearby that serves it, this could be a good takoyaki substitute to enjoy until your next trip!


By - grape Japan editorial staff.