Recipe: Perfect Ikayaki

Delicious, fresh and tasty.

Ikayaki. Ikayaki (いか焼き, イカ焼き, 烏賊焼) is a popular fast food in Japan. In much of Japan, the term refers to simple grilled squid topped with soy sauce; the portion of squid served may be the whole body (minus entrails), rings cut from the body, or one or more tentacles, depending on the size. Ikayaki is served in many izakayas and a grilled tentacle on a stick is popular at Japanese.

Ikayaki The squid is grilled until tender and drizzled with a combination of soy sauce and other Japanese condiments. Ikayaki - grilled squid in sweet sauce - is a traditional summer street dish that you can easily recreate at home. In the original version, the squid is grilled whole, with only diagonal cuts in the flesh, but it's easier to eat if cut into rings. You can Have Ikayaki using 11 ingredients and 7 steps. Here is how you achieve it.

Ingredients of Ikayaki

  1. Lets Go Prepare 500 g of whole squid (cleaned).
  2. Lets Go Prepare 2 tsp of fresh ginger (grated).
  3. It's 2 tbsp of soy sauce.
  4. Lets Go Prepare 1 tbsp of aka miso (red miso paste).
  5. It's 2 tbsp of mirin.
  6. What You needis 1 tbsp of sake.
  7. What You needis 2 tbsp of oil.
  8. Lets Go Prepare 2 tsp of sansho pepper (Japanese pepper, and more to serve).
  9. It's of Lemon wedges (to serve).
  10. What You needis of tools.
  11. Lets Go Prepare of Grill plate (optional).

Ikayaki covered in sweet brown sauce. Putting it in the simplest possible terms. Ika meaning squid, and yaki meaning to grill or cook. However, as is always the case with traditional Japanese cuisine, there's so much more to this story than just this mere simplistic outline.

Ikayaki instructions

  1. To prepare the marinade, combine soy sauce, aka miso, mirin, sake, ginger and sancho pepper in a large bowl, and mix well..
  2. Add in the squid, and spoon the marinade over to coat well. Set aside to marinate for 15 mins..
  3. When it’s time to cook, separate squid from the liquids, but reserve the marinade for later use..
  4. Cooking on a grill plate: Heat a well-oiled grill plate over stovetop. When grill plate is hot, place squid on the grill to cook for about 12-15 mins, turning occasionally, and glazing the squid with marinade. Cooking time will vary a little according to the size of the squid..
  5. Cooking on a pan: Heat a well-oiled pan over medium-high heat. Add squid to cook on pan for about 4-5 mins on each side, turning occasionally. Add the marinade and cook a further 1-2 mins until the sauce thickens..
  6. To serve, slice the squid into rings and place on serving plate. Add a dash of sansho before serving, and a lemon wedge on the side..
  7. Squeeze lemon over hot squid and enjoy ikayaki with a cold beer!..

This traditional Japanese dish is made of grilled squid, and Millenaire villagers sell them from town halls and lone Inns. Ikayaki is bought by Japanese Outposts and foreign Merchants. This dish is called 'Ikayaki' in Japanese. It's a Squid version of 'Takoyaki', that is ball-shaped Japanese savoury cake and commonly filled with cooked Octopus. It's a pancake and rather looks like 'Okonomiyaki'.