Pour the batter over the molds, filling each one about halfway. Don’t worry about batter that spills outside the wells, as it will be incorporated when rolling.
Place a piece of octopus in each well.
Then pour more batter on top until the surface is completely covered, including the areas between wells.
Sprinkle the prepared topping mix evenly over the entire surface.
When the batter starts to firm up a bit, use a bamboo skewer to score lines between each well, dividing the surface into squares.
Then use the skewer to gently scrape around the edge of each well in a circular motion, turning the takoyaki halfway.
After a few minutes of cooking, roll each piece again to cook the bottom and tuck any loose edges underneath.
This creates the perfectly round shape that’s characteristic of takoyaki.
By the way, if you want to see the whole cooking and shaping process in action, you can check it out on my takoyaki YouTube video below.
