You may have noticed a particular penchant in some of my posts – a penchant for the sweeter things in life. Not that I am a big cake eater. But give me a cute little macaron, a delicate pastry, a luscious truffle, some choux filled with custard, or a sweet yeasty dough, and I’m in heaven. Therefore it should come as no surprise that these imagawayaki hit my sweet spot.
Traditionally these festival treats are filled with red bean azuki paste, but we also found ones pumped full of custard, green tea flavoured bean paste, yam/taro and even a chocolate custard version.
The sweet batter is poured into a heated cast cast iron mould, and when the bottoms are browned, the filling is placed on one side and the other side is flipped over on top. It is left to finish cooking and heat through.
As you can see, the imagawayaki are a delicious and filling snack, and certainly not shy on the red bean paste (mmm). As a side note, imagawayaki also go by many different regional names such as obanyaki and taikoyaki, and these days even come in savoury versions (eww).
Another variation is the taiyaki, or sea bream fish shaped cake. Same batter, same filling. And yes, I ate this one too. Just to make sure.
There is much discussion about the origin of taiyaki, but they have apparently been made at Naniwa in Tokyo since 1909.
These smaller taiyaki are being filled with a green bean paste, and come in a small, medium or large bag. I didn’t eat these ones as I was full on my other two indulgences.
Do these look familiar? Yes, they are similar to the Emperor’s Puff we had in Sydney last year, and are basically a cooked sweet batter. Kept warm over a hot plate, shovelfuls are heaped into bags for festivalgoers. These were particularly popular with the locals.
Taiyaki!!!!!!! Yum!!!!!!!!!
Those Emperor’s Puff cakes look so delicious! They look like the kaya balls you can get in Malaysian shopping centre food halls. Damn sedap, man! Do you guys like those?
xox Sarah
Mmmmm, now we’re talking! This is my pick of the Takayama posts so far.
Oh
My
God
What are you doing to me?! Too much yummy food all thrown up here in such a short time…
I want some.
*ahem* perhaps I should have chosen my words a little better… change that to “too much yummy food all blogged here in such a short time”……
Mmmm those look and sound so delicious. I now have to venture to our Japantown to get one of those asap!
Hey there Sarah – kaya balls? Are there truely such things of beauty?!? I have only recently been introduced to the delights of kaya (after having met EG who hails from Singapore). We have kaya toast/soft boiled eggs for breakfast at least once a week. I am absolutely addicted to the stuff!! But I have never had a kaya ball. They sound damn sedap!
Hi Cindy – ahh, I see you are as attuned to you sweet tooth as I am
Hey ya anna – I can not be held responsible for such things!
Hey foodhoe – You can get them in Sydney chinatown, athough I am yet to find them in Melbourne
yup, this kind of taiyaki that i’ve been looking for.
Thanks for posting it in your blog. Dunno if i can find it in Singapore.
*sigh*
Hey utty – they are excellent huh? Unfortunately I didn’t come across any in Singapore while I was there, but one place to try might be Central on Clarke Quay. They have heaps of Japanese stores, and there might be one there doing something along those lines. Good luck!
oh how yummm.. I came across a delicious and fun Taikoyaki stall at the Mornington arts and craft market. I love Japanese sweets and was surprised to never have seen these before. They are definitely worth the drive and I am guessing the stall would attend other markets near Melbourne too..
Hi there Tori!
Oooh, thanks for telling me about the taiyaki store in Mornington! I sooooo love them, and must make the journey to try them out.
By the way, if interested I have a recipe to make a similar treat called Dorayaki here. Check it out!
oishisou