Homemade okonomiyaki for dinner!
I was craving okonomiyaki today, but I felt like saving some money and cooking! Making it was a lot easier than I thought. And my recipe didn’t leaving me feeling heavy and greasy afterwards :) If you’ve never heard of or tried okonomiyaki, it’s delicious! “Okonomi” roughly means “as to one’s liking” or “how you like it.” It is kind of like a savory pancake made from a base of batter and cabbage and lots of different ingredients. It is especially popular in Kansai, as it is said to have originated in Osaka. There is also another style of cooking in Hiroshima, but I think Kansai-style is easier to make.
Here is an easy recipe you can try at home, especially if Japanese restaurants in your area don’t have okonomiyaki on the menu. The beauty of okonomiyaki is that you can put whatever you want in it, so feel free to modify to your liking. I usually like to order mine with seafood and vegetables. I didn’t use bacon for the recipe since I rarely eat meat, which helped make it a lighter meal. I didn’t use mayonnaise, but I like it with mayo sometimes. (Be careful with the brand of mayo you use because most of the mayo brands I’ve found in the US taste awful, hence why I usually hate it). It’s up to you - if you wanna get heavy with lots of mayo, bacon and meats, go for it! This stuff is definitely comfort food, so do what you want. Also, make sure to oil the pan so that the pancake doesn’t stick and burn when you try to flip it. I only had olive oil on hand and it worked fine. Stripped down to the basics, you need some kind of flour, eggs, cabbage, brown sauce, cooking oil, and katsuobushi. If you have an Asian or Japanese market in your area, you should be able to find everything.
OKONOMIYAKI RECIPE
INGREDIENTS (to make 2)
1 cup Okonomiyaki Flour (regular flour is ok)
2/3 cup Dashi or Water
2 Eggs
4 cups Cabbage, cut into small strips
2 stalks Green Onions, thinly sliced diagonally
1/4 cup Tenkasu (Tempura bits)
6 strips Bacon, cut into 3 inch pieces
1 oz Beni Shoga (Pickled Ginger)
Other ingredients you want!
TOPPINGS
Okonomi Sauce (aka tonkatsu sauce / Worcestershire sauce)
Japanese Mayonnaise
Aonori (Seaweed Flakes)
Katsuobushi (Bonito Flakes)
PREPARATION
1. In a bowl, mix okonomiyaki Flour and water until smooth
2. Add eggs, chopped cabbage, veggies, meat, seafood, etc whatever you want to add
3. Oil a griddle that has been heated to 400F and add okonomiyaki mixture divided into two pancakes OR use a cooking pan to make them one at a time if you don’t have a griddle (like me T-T)
4. Use a spatula to flatten and form pancakes until around 3/4 inch thick. Add bacon pieces to cover top of each pancake, if you want.
6. After about 3 minutes, flip over pancake (bacon side down) and cook for 4 minutes.
7. Flip pancake again (bacon side up) and cook for 3 minutes or until firm and well browned.
8. Remove to plate and drizzle with mayonnaise, okonomi sauce and sprinkle with Aonori and Katsuobushi.
This recipe was modified from http://okonomiyakiworld.com/best-okonomiyaki-recipe.html#ixzz1dbaacrel
You can get really complex with this recipe, or strip it down to basics for a quick and easy meal. Try it!
Daikokucho, Osaka
One of my favorite things thus far about Japan is the juxtaposition of new and old. I am staying at a hotel near Daikokucho Station this week for training, and each day I walk by this scene. I can’t seem to get a decent photo, but next to a serene shrine is the gaudiest of convenience stores, 24-hour Supa Tamade. Flashier than Vegas! And this little pocket of timelessness integrates seamlessly into Osaka’s urban landscape in a way that works without seeming out of place.
