Okonomiyaki

A few weeks ago, Abagail at Mamatouille posted a new recipe for Okonomiyaki. One I had never heard of before. It takes instant ramen noodles, so I was eager to try it. I love to try things I have never even thought of before. I got a little too enthusiastic on chopping cabbage, so had to add another egg to keep it all together. I also substituted thinly sliced pork (cooked with some salt) for the bacon. It made about 6 okonomiyakis. Ryu really liked it. He said it was a lighter recipe than my traditional, so please check it out.

This is my "traditional" recipe. Unlike Abagail, I HAVE been taught countless times how to make Okonomiyaki. Unfortunately NO ONE has ever used a recipe nor measured ANYTHING! When it comes to Japanese cooking, I prefer to use recipes. So, finally, I decided to try to come up with a recipe that had the amounts written down. After trial and error, more watching a friend from Osaka "teach" me how to make it again, here is our recipe.

Okonomiyaki

2 cups flour
3 eggs
2 tsp. dry dashi (could use consume granules or bouillon, I am sure.)
about 1/2 a small cabbage - chopped into 1.5 cm squares - more or less
water to mix.

The KEY to this recipe is to not add too much water. I mix the flour and dashi and eggs up first, add the cabbage and mix. Then I add water a little bit at a time, stirring after each addition. When you can dip the mixture out of the bowl with a ladle, it is wet enough.

We tend to use thinly sliced pork for our Okonomiyakis. I like to cook it first with a bit of salt so we don't die of food poisoning. Then I cut it up and mix it in the batter. You can use any seafood or...whatever you like.

I use my hot plate, and cook two or three (pancake-size) at a time. I put the lid on to get that cabbages steamed a bit too. When it is browned nicely, turn it over and cook the other side. My friend pushes down on the okonomiyaki as it cooks on the second side, so I do too. Hmmm. I'm sure there is a good reason for this.

To top it, we like Otafuku Okonomiyaki Sauce. The label has a lady with big cheeks - mump-like. Or, tonkatsu sauce. Jun and I like to sprinkle katsuobushi on top (dried bonito flakes that move in the steam from the okonomiyaki), and Ryu likes aonori (green seaweed flakes). It is also good with some hot mustard (karashi) in the sauce or mixed with a little mayo and put on top.