I’ve been planning on making a food category for my blog, but haven’t decided whether I want to keep it to just my own creations, or food I eat at restaurants. At the moment, I’m going to go with just food I make. Which makes me want to smack myself in the head because I forgot to take pictures of the hamburg lunch set I made for Vince’s lunch today. D’oh! Another time I guess. (Though it bugs me because that meal came out as intended, whereas the one I’m going to be posting about now - okonomiyaki - is not going to be accompanied by pictures that go with how it *should* look like. Sigh. I’ll add better pics next time I make it I guess.)
Anyways, uh yeah, this is supposed to be about okonomiyaki (one of my many favorite Japanese foods).
Literally, okonomiyaki means pretty much “baked/grilled as you like it” - in other words, the ingredients are really only limited to your imagination! It’s been called a Japanese pancake or Japanese pizza, neither which is really right IMHO, but whatever. You can add whatever you want to it. That said, there are some basic ingredients that you should add for the right consistency. The recipe is for roughly about 4 people.
Must haves for the Base:
- 2 cups Okonomiyaki mix* (I personally buy a brand called Yama-imo Oji-san that comes in a yellow bag from Mitsuwa Supermarket. If you can’t find this or some other brand, substitute with regular wheat flour and add some dashi to the water)
- 1.5 cup water (add about 1/2 tsp dashi to the water if you aren’t using a specific okonomiyaki flour mix)
- 4 eggs, uncooked (one for each person)
- 1/2 head of cabbage, chopped finely (think shredded like in cole slaw) - avoid using the center white parts)
Toppings (Choose whatever you want, or add your own! Below are just some of the things I usually add to mine - add as little or as much as you want. I’ve often been accused of adding too many different types. :-P)
- Bacon (cut the strips into one inch pieces)
- Shrimp (shelled, de-veiend, and cut into smaller pieces - I usually cut this into thirds) or squid or octopus
- Ground beef (or pork or turkey)
- Thin slices of pork or beef, or small pieces of chicken that cook easily/quickly
- Shredded cheddar
- Mochi (white rice cakes, they should usually be hard and unflavored for the savory recipes - cut into small half inch cubes)
- Mentaiko (spicy cod roe)
- Green onions, chopped
Traditional Condiments/Garnishings (optional, but for me is what really makes it taste right)
- Ao-nori (dried green seaweed, that looks almost like a powder)
- Katsuo-bushi (dried, shaved bonito flakes)
- Kewpie mayonnaise
- Okonomiyaki sauce (or tonkatsu sauce) - it’s a brown sauce that typically comes in a brown and orange type bottle for some reason.
Misc. Stuff
- Large flat frying pan/griddle (ideally non-stick!) - We usually use a family size George Foreman Griddle which allows us to cook two at a time.
- Cooking spray
- Large spatula
- Individual mixing bowls
Steps:
- Prepare the base by mixing the water and okonomiyaki flour together. You might have to adjust the amount of flour/water - ideally you want a consistency that is a bit thinner than pancake batter.
- Chop up the cabbage, and prepare the toppings that you plan to use (such as de-veining shrimp, chopping up meats etc).
- Since it is “as you like” each person should have their own mixing bowl to mix whatever toppings they want into their own okonomiyaki. Use about half a cup of batter and 1 egg per person, and have them add cabbage and any other ingredients they desire to their own bowl.
- General rule of thumb: Stick to about 3/4 cup cabbage, and 1/2 cup to 3/4 cups total of other toppings.
- Mix the base, egg, and toppings together well and heat up the griddle/frying pan!
- Once the frying pan is hot, give it a quick spray of Pam’s or Crisco non-stick cooking spray and pour the mixture onto the pan.
- Flatten it out into a round shape, about 1/2 inch thick.
- Check the bottom after a few minutes - once it starts browning and is more stable, flip it over and cook both sides evenly. If you have a thicker pancake, and need to cook it longer, lower the heat to prevent burning.
- It’s done when the ingredients you added are cooked basically - typically about 5-7 minutes? I almost always add mochi, so I go by how soft the mochi has turned, orI check to see if the meat is cooked, shrimp has turned orange etc.
- Once it is done, you can sprinkle the top with ao-nori, katsuo-bushi, and squeeze kewpie mayonnaise and okonomiyaki sauce onto it.
Pics:
Kewpie Mayo
Cabbage
Batter (I like it a bit thinner than what it looks like in this pic I grabbed off the net)
Cooking on the Griddle (notice something missing? YES THE CABBAGE!!!! I wanted to eat okonomiyaki that day but had no cabbage….so I added lots of mochi and ground beef to make up for it….but it came out more like a hamburger patty with lots of rice cake mixed in. Still good though, and the final product at least *looks* like a normal okonomiyaki. Sorta? You can compare below)
My finished hamburger okonomiyaki without cabbage (Really, I do make normal ones usually! With cabbage! At least I have a salad and a small side of mentaiko!)
Someone else’s okonomiyaki (with cabbage. *sniff*)
If you use the recipe, let me know how it turns out! Nothing’s really precise about this recipe, I just make it the way I like it to taste, and my roommates all mix it their own way when they add their toppings. Some, like Chieze (who hates eggs), always tries (foolishly) to get by without mixing an egg into the batter. And always ends up adding it anyways. Others, like Eddy, seem to like adding a lot more batter than actual toppings, so his usually looks like an actual pancake. Jess and I tend to make topping overloaded okonomiyaki (especially me), but that’s how we like it, so there! =P
February 21st, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Niiiice, I think you should move on to monja now ;p You should pick Acchan’s brain when it comes to washoku ;p