A taiyaki’s exterior is made of crispy fried batter, similar to that of a waffle. Usually, this fish-shaped pastry is filled with sweet adzuki bean paste (sweet red bean paste), but you can find many different taiyaki flavors and fillings, ranging from custard cream to ice cream and even curry! Taiyaki is hard to find outside of Japan or Japanese markets, so if you want to try this delicious street food anywhere else, you’ll have to make it yourself. But don’t worry, you can enjoy this delicious fish-shaped bread without traveling to Japan. We’ve got you covered, read on and find out how you can make it at home!
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Tai translates to "sea bream", while yaki means "to bake" or "to fry". So, taiyaki means ‘fried/baked sea bream’. The name might make you think of a savory fried fish dish, but that couldn’t be further from the truth! This fish-shaped pastry is a sweet Japanese treat made to look like a sea bream, but definitely doesn’t taste like one.
But why is this weird Japanese snack sea bream-shaped? Perhaps, because sea bream is considered an auspicious fish in Japan and is usually only eaten during celebrations. So when you eat taiyaki, it’s like it’s own little celebration!
However, taiyaki was not originally fish-shaped. The snack was circular in shape and called imagawayaki (a Japanese pastry filled with adzuki paste). There are many theories about why it was called imagawayaki, but the main one is that this Japanese snack was sold near Imagawa Bridge during the Edo period (today’s Kanda, Tokyo). In the Meiji era, these circular sweets took on the familiar fish shape, which made them explode in popularity.
This unique fish pastry is so popular, in fact, that you can find them all over Japan today from convenience stores to full-on taiyaki shops. It is also gaining worldwide recognition, with shops like Taiyaki NYC spreading the fish-shaped love.
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Here is our ultimate taiyaki recipe, so you can make this summer festival snack yourself!
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Once you have prepared your ingredients, let’s get cooking!
To reheat pre-cooked taiyaki, you can place them in a toaster oven, or fry them in a pan with a bit of oil. You can also use the microwave, but your taiyaki will lose some of its crispiness.
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