Octopus Sausages

Aren’t these sausages the cutest things you’ve ever seen??? I see them packed into bentos all the time in the mangas I read, but I never thought they were actually possible to make.

Octopus Sausages

INGREDIENTS

• 6 hot dogs (or 12 cocktail-sized sausages)
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 bamboo skewer

DIRECTIONS

1. Slice both ends off of your hot dogs, about 1-1/2 inch long.
2. Take a knife, and make slits on the non-rounded end of each hot dog end. Turn your sausage so that the cut-end is facing up. Make one long horizontal slit across the cut end of the hot dog, then two equally-spaced slits perpendicular to the original slit. Click here, for a visual (bottom left side of the screen).
3. Heat your oil on medium-low until tiny bubbles form on the surface.
4. Start frying your octopus sausages by placing them sideways on the pan, turning them with chopsticks or metal tongs every 15 seconds or so. The legs will brown/curl and bloom outward very quickly. Repeat until all sausages are cooked. Set cooked sausages on paper towels to absorb excess oil.
5. To make "eyes," use your bamboo skewer to poke two holes into each sausage above the "legs."
6. Use a sharp, thin knife to carve a mouth below the eyes.
7. Serve warm, with ketchup and mustard, or with rice and cooked veggies in a bento box.

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