Griddle & dumplings ── Konamono (flour-based griddle dishes)
Akashiyaki
Akashiyaki — egg-rich octopus batter balls dipped in warm dashi
Octopus folded into a batter of wheat flour, jin-ko starch, egg, and dashi, cooked and dipped in a warm broth — Akashi's own take on the round batter-and-octopus dish, distinguished from takoyaki by that broth in place of sauce.
- Origin: Hyogo Akashi
- About 450 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
A whole piece of octopus goes into a batter of wheat flour and jin-ko, a refined wheat starch, loosened with egg and dashi. Jin-ko is said to resist toughening even when heated, and with more egg than takoyaki batter carries, the result is said to come out soft enough to fall apart at a touch. Dipped in a bonito-and-kelp broth, the egg's richness and the broth's aroma layer together.
How it's made
Octopus is rubbed with salt to strip its sliminess, then batter of flour, jin-ko, and dashi is poured into the round wells of a heated copper pan. Copper is said to spread heat evenly, and each piece is carefully turned to keep it round without breaking. Unlike takoyaki, finished with a brush of sauce, Akashiyaki is dipped in a broth, warm or cold, said to be its own distinct way of eating it.
Why it took this shape
From the late Edo period into the Taisho era, Akashi was known for making decorative "Akashi balls," a craft that used only egg white — and the leftover yolks, mixed with octopus caught right offshore, are thought to be where the dish began. Dipping it in broth rather than sauce is also said to reflect that origin as a byproduct of a local industry. The name Akashiyaki itself dates only to around 1988, coined by a city employee for publicity; before that it was simply called tamagoyaki. Dipping it in broth, though, is said to be the one thing that hasn't changed since.
Before you go
- Tanabata and festival food stallsA guide to the somen said to be eaten on Tanabata, and to festival-stall staples like yakisoba, takoyaki, candy apples, and shaved ice.
- At yatai food stalls and while eating on the streetPaying and ordering at a yatai food stall, handling your trash, the etiquette of eating as you walk, and how to step into a Hakata yatai.
Dishes in the same style
- Fuchu-yakiA Fuchu, Hiroshima take on okonomiyaki that swaps sliced pork belly for ground beef or pork worked right into the batter, so the meat's flavor is said to come through evenly in every bite.
- Funayaki"Funayaki," from the Chikugo region of Fukuoka, is a thin round of flour-and-water batter folded around either brown sugar or pickled takana greens — a snack whose name is said to come from the boat shape it takes once folded.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Hyogo
- Ako saltA salt tied to Japan's earliest full-scale commercial saltfields, using the irihama tidal-field method perfected in the Edo period. Controlling seawater with channels and embankments let work continue regardless of the tide, and the method is said to have remained Japan's main salt-making approach for some 300 years.
- Awaji BeefPure Tajima-line cattle raised on Awaji Island, a brand producers founded in 1986 — selected for balance between lean and fat rather than marbling volume, with a small annual output.
- Banshu RamenA distinctly sweet soy broth, said to have taken root among the town's textile-mill workers.
- Banshu Tenobe SomenA document held at Ikaruga-ji temple in Taishi records the word 'saumen' in an entry dated 1418, the oldest known reference to somen in Hyogo. In the Edo period the Ryuno domain formally licensed and encouraged the trade, built on locally grown wheat, the clear Ibo River, and salt from Ako.
- Botan NabeA Tanba-Sasayama hot pot of wild boar and seasonal vegetables simmered in a broth of white and red miso, often finished with a dusting of ground Japanese pepper. Some restaurants are said to arrange the sliced boar meat like the petals of a peony.
- ChobojiruAn Awaji Island soup of cowpeas, taro-stem, and rice-flour dumplings simmered in a thick broth — it looks like a sweet red bean soup but is not sweet at all. It has been made to help new mothers recover and to mark a child's shrine visit, it is said.