The Glutton's Sins: Okonomiyaki

Original post HERE: 25 May 2011
Discrepancy due to failure to export/import blog

Another of my first attempts; this time, making the Okonomiyaki [お好み焼き]. It is a Japanese savoury pancake containing a variety of ingredients. The name is derived from the word okonomi, meaning "what you like" or "what you want", and yaki meaning "grilled" or "cooked". Okonomiyaki is sometimes compared to an omelette or a pancake and may be referred to as "a Japanese pancake" or even "Osaka soul food". Oh yeah, my dear Roseate June and I are both absolute suckers for Japanese food.

Ingredients and Preparation: The most important is the flour mix for the batter. Some supermarkets bring in Okonomiyaki flour or a premixed blend so you can pry your eyes wide open to read the labels at the Japanese food columns. If you are lucky, you might find them in "Daiso", I got mine there. Or if you ran out of luck, I heard that you can use regular white flour, some dashi or bonito stock and grated mountain yam. Unfortunately, mountain yam is pretty hard to obtain but because of its glutinous and gooey texture when grated, it gives the batter a very good consistency and the cooked product a authentic flavor.

I couldn't get any mountain yam of course, so I'll stick to my Okonomiyaki flour and dashi. Adding in eggs and a pinch of salt to flavor, I mixed the batter to a nice thick mixture. If your mixture is like regular pancake mix, it is too thick. Add in more water. And remember to use a large bowl, because after that, you would put in the other main element of the okonomiyaki; shredded cabbage and garlic leek. I think leek would work fine too, if not green onions. The magical thing about the Okonomiyaki as its name suggests, is that you can add whatever you would like, practically. But stick to vegetables for now. Meat and stuff like that should be added later as it requires more thorough cooking. I was thinking of trying sliced shitake mushrooms the next time, it should gave a very awesome flavor.

As for the meat topping, the typical additions go from sliced pork, bacon, seafood, shrimps, octopus, vegetables, squid, kimchi, mochi, cheese or topping it with another sunny side up. Having said so, I've seen people adding "lup cheong" [chinese sausage], sliced bratwursts, ground meat and other uncommon stuff. Maybe you can add pepperoni or salami even to make it more like a pizza. Hmmm... which gives me an idea of diced tomatoes.

Lastly, for the sauce, you will need okonomiyaki sauce which is similar to Worcestershire sauce but thicker and sweeter. [Try Otafuku or Bulldog brands] And the all time favorite; Kewpie Mayonnaise!

The Cooking: Unless you have teppan [a flat iron griddle], heat up a well oiled skillet over medium heat. Pour the batter [mixture of flour, dashi, eggs, cabbage, leek and what not] to form a large pancake. But not that big. A 6 inch [15cm] diameter okonomiyaki should be ample to fill a regular tummy nicely. Let it cook for, say 3 mins then lay the bacon, sausages or meat *blah blah blah* all over the top. Now scoop a little of the remaining batter and smear lightly or spread thinnly over the topping. This action will secure the toppings in place when it's cooked. After another 2 -3 minutes, when the pancake should have been cooking on that same side for approximately 5-6 minutes, it's time to flip the whole thing over and use whatever necessary time your special ingredients require. If there's nothing special that's hard to cook, another 4-5 minutes will suffice. And its time to serve on a plate.

The key to its taste are the 2 sauces. Slather the pancake generously with okonomiyaki sauce, and drizzle the kewpie mayonnaise all over. Don't be stingy on the sauces. It's optional, but you may sprinkle seaweed flakes and bonito flakes for the final touch!

Add/do whatever you like, have fun and enjoy your okonomiyaki!

Bon Appetit~ ... ... I mean.. itadkimasu~