Otoshibuta is a Japanese drop lid often used in Japanese cooking. It’s super useful for simmering dishes and can be easily made at home with various items typically found in the kitchen.
Equipment.
- Aluminium Foil
- Pan/pot you need the Otoshibuta for
- Dish towel
- Chopstick
How to make an Otoshibuta.
Time needed: 5 minutes
Step by step guide on how to make an Otoshibuta out of Aluminium foil.
- Gather Equipment.
You will need the pan you plan to use, a roll of aluminium foil, a dish towel and a chopstick (or any pointy object).
- Measure the foil.
Take your foil and cover the pan, make sure to have some extra foil as you’ll be needing that to make a sturdy edge.
- Scrunch the foil.
Work your way around the pan whilst scrunching up the foil to form a circular shape.
- Shape the Otoshibuta.
Lift the foil off the pan and start rolling the edges inwards to make the lid smaller.
- Check the size.
Check the size by placing the lid into the pot/pan. It should roughly be the same size as the base of the pan.
- Flatten.
Once you have the right size, flatten down the edges of the Otoshibuta.
- Poke the holes.
Fold up your dish towel and place it on the counter with the Otoshibuta on top of it. Take your chopstick and carefully poke 5 holes.
- Finished!
Nice, you’ve made your own Otoshibuta!
Extra Notes
- The lid should fit inside the pan, not on top of the rim.
- Take care not to scratch non-stick pans with aluminium foil.
- It doesn’t matter which side of the foil you use.
