The Richmond Night Market made me fall in love with fish shaped waffles (aka Taiyaki) filled with red bean paste, and for many years I’ve wanted a pan to make them at home. I had no clue where to buy one until my friend Barb acquired a pan a few years ago at Uwajimaya in Seattle. I’ve tried there myself on the last few visits to Seattle, but they’re always out of pans.

Thanks to a suggestion from a friend to try Amazon coinciding with a gift card from my sister as a birthday present, I finally have a taiyaki pan of my own. I kind of forgot Amazon has everything, no matter how obscure.

It arrived last week and I put it to use immediately. We live near a Japanese grocery, and I was delighted to discover you can buy ready-made packages of sweetened red bean paste there. I was happy to skip the process of making the paste because it involves a pressure cooker, and we don’t have one. We followed this recipe to make the taiyaki batter.

These are the first few Boris and I created as a team. They made for an excellent end of day snack. I can’t wait to make more!

I love Taiyaki.