鯛焼き [Taikayi - Not That Fishy Grilled Fish]

I was looking for a sandwich maker earlier and fond on a particular model that I found online. It is available in the market for awhile but a new generation was launched just last month. The only reason I like it so much is that it comes with add-on plates such as doughnut and madeleine plates, so that I can different type of snacks for my always hungry boys.

Instead of spending whole budget on new model, I decided to use the same amount to get more plates. So, I got myself a second-hand sandwich maker which comes with three type of plates, sandwich, waffle and taiyaki plates. Then, I am buying two other types online and total cost still lower than the new model which comes with only two type of plates.

Before I received my sandwich maker, I already planning to make this 鯛焼き (read as taiyaki, direct translation will be  "grilled snapper"), one of the most popular Japanese sweets. It is pancake batter cooked in snapper fish mold, with sweetened red bean filling traditionally. My 4-yo boy helped in preparing batter, made first batch then had his taiyaki contentedly in his little comfort corner did not want to help me anymore.

[Recipe adapted from Vitantonio's User Guide]
Ingredients (makes 12):

• *150 g cake flour, sift together with baking powder
• *1/2 tbsp baking powder
• 1 large egg
• 40 g sugar
• 180 ml fresh milk
• 100 g red bean filling or other filling such as cheese, custard and jam

Methods:

1. Combine sugar and egg in a mixing bowl, mix with a whisk till sugar is dissolved. Add in milk and flour, mix till just blended. 
2. Preheat taiyaki mold. Grease with cooking oil lightly.
3. Fill each mold (half of fish) half-full with batter, add filling then top-up batter to make the mold as full as possible. Close the sandwich maker, and cook for 4-5 minutes or as directly on the taiyaki mold's user guide.
4. Remove taiyaki with a skewer or chopsticks. Best serve warm with a cup of tea.

They came off nice and clean, none of them were sticking to the mold. For better colour tone, I cooked them a little longer.