Japanese cooking: Okonomiyaki (Savory pancakes)
When you hear "Japanese dish", you may imagine cooking Japanese dishes is complicated, difficult to make. In reality, many of Japanese dishes are easy to make. If you have soy sauce, Mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine), and sake, you can make some of easy Japanese dishes.
One of easy Japanese dishes you can make in short time with a few ingredients is savory pancake called "O ko no mi ya ki". Okonomiyaki is very famous dish especially in western part of Japanese main island such as Osaka prefecture, Kyoto prefecture, Hyogo prefecture.. In those area, you can go to Okonomiyaki restaurant that let you make your Okonomiyaki yourself. It is fun to visit if you visit Japan. Also, there are some variations depending on where you would visit. Nagoya city in Aichi prefecture has its own style of Okonomiyaki, and Hiroshima prefecture has its own style of Okonomiyaki. How they make it, what are in it is different from one region to the other.
My mother makes Okonomiyaki with whatever meat she had in fridge, and shredded cabbage (green one,not purple one), shredded carrot, and whole corn kernels, and sometimes, she put chopped chikuwa (made from fish paste,sugar,salt,starch and it looks like tube-like food), or squid,octopus etc in base ingredients.
My grandmother likes to make her version of Okonimyaki,she use taro root. It makes Okonimiyaki very different taste.
I too do similar thing when I make Okonomiyaki and tend to use whatever meat I have in fridge, but my favorite combination of ingredients are shredded cabbage,shredded carrots,whole corn kernels, and sliced Frankfurt.So, how do you make Okonimiyaki with my favorite combination ingredients?
Here is how.
1. When I make okonimiyaki, I use ladle to measure flour. With about 2 adult serving worth, 1 ladle-ful of unbleached all purpose flour into big bowl.
2. sprinkle dash of Morton brand's Nature's seasons (it is skinny bottle with yellow label with blue cap) to flour,and stir to mix
3. Add about 1/3-1/2 of coleslaw bag (a bag that has shredded cabbage and shredded carrots for coleslaw making) to flour, add about 2oz of drained canned whole corn kernels, some sliced Frankfurt, and lightly beaten 1 whole egg and add 2 ladle-ful of water to it and mix well.
* Consistency of batter will be a bit thinner than regular pancake batter.
*You can adjust amount of each ingredients such as coleslaw to your preference.I always eyeball each ingredients amount except water,flour,egg amount.
4. Prepare a big non stick skillet on stove, put it on medium high heat, add about 1 tbs of sesame oil
5.When skillet got hot enough, pour some into skillet
* I pour batter to skillet enough to make about 4"-5" pancake. I make each Okonomiyaki thickness about 1/4".
* I make smaller pancakes because it is easy to flip. With 12" skillet, you can cook about 4 pancakes at one time. Making pancake with thickness of 1/4" or less makes it to cook faster.
6. Cook one side at about 4 minutes, flip side and cook about another 3-4 minutes. Cooking time would depend on thickness of Okonomiyaki so, watch how it cooks.
7. Plate them up and drizzle Worcester sauce
8. Put your favorite condiment
* I like to put Aurora sauce which is simply mixture of ketchup and Mayonnaise. But sometimes, I like OKonomiyaki sauce,which is mixture of Ketchup plus Worcester sauce. My husband likes A1 sauce on it. My mother in law likes A1 sauce on it too and likes Okonomiyaki.
* You can use chopped shrimp instead of Frankfurt in Okonomiyaki. Shrimp Okonomiyaki is my second favorite.
** With Okonimyaki, ratio of water and flour is important. If your batter was too thick for Okonomiyaki, you get gummy Okonomiyaki.
This is very easy dish to make and, if you have griddle, everyone can cook their own at kitchen table. Also, this is easy to make vegetarian version of Okonomiyaki.
Also, if you were looking for something different for parties, you can prepare all kinds of ingredients for people to pick from and can make to order for them.
Enjoy!
One of easy Japanese dishes you can make in short time with a few ingredients is savory pancake called "O ko no mi ya ki". Okonomiyaki is very famous dish especially in western part of Japanese main island such as Osaka prefecture, Kyoto prefecture, Hyogo prefecture.. In those area, you can go to Okonomiyaki restaurant that let you make your Okonomiyaki yourself. It is fun to visit if you visit Japan. Also, there are some variations depending on where you would visit. Nagoya city in Aichi prefecture has its own style of Okonomiyaki, and Hiroshima prefecture has its own style of Okonomiyaki. How they make it, what are in it is different from one region to the other.
My mother makes Okonomiyaki with whatever meat she had in fridge, and shredded cabbage (green one,not purple one), shredded carrot, and whole corn kernels, and sometimes, she put chopped chikuwa (made from fish paste,sugar,salt,starch and it looks like tube-like food), or squid,octopus etc in base ingredients.
My grandmother likes to make her version of Okonimyaki,she use taro root. It makes Okonimiyaki very different taste.
I too do similar thing when I make Okonomiyaki and tend to use whatever meat I have in fridge, but my favorite combination of ingredients are shredded cabbage,shredded carrots,whole corn kernels, and sliced Frankfurt.So, how do you make Okonimiyaki with my favorite combination ingredients?
Here is how.
1. When I make okonimiyaki, I use ladle to measure flour. With about 2 adult serving worth, 1 ladle-ful of unbleached all purpose flour into big bowl.
2. sprinkle dash of Morton brand's Nature's seasons (it is skinny bottle with yellow label with blue cap) to flour,and stir to mix
3. Add about 1/3-1/2 of coleslaw bag (a bag that has shredded cabbage and shredded carrots for coleslaw making) to flour, add about 2oz of drained canned whole corn kernels, some sliced Frankfurt, and lightly beaten 1 whole egg and add 2 ladle-ful of water to it and mix well.
* Consistency of batter will be a bit thinner than regular pancake batter.
*You can adjust amount of each ingredients such as coleslaw to your preference.I always eyeball each ingredients amount except water,flour,egg amount.
4. Prepare a big non stick skillet on stove, put it on medium high heat, add about 1 tbs of sesame oil
5.When skillet got hot enough, pour some into skillet
* I pour batter to skillet enough to make about 4"-5" pancake. I make each Okonomiyaki thickness about 1/4".
* I make smaller pancakes because it is easy to flip. With 12" skillet, you can cook about 4 pancakes at one time. Making pancake with thickness of 1/4" or less makes it to cook faster.
6. Cook one side at about 4 minutes, flip side and cook about another 3-4 minutes. Cooking time would depend on thickness of Okonomiyaki so, watch how it cooks.
7. Plate them up and drizzle Worcester sauce
8. Put your favorite condiment
* I like to put Aurora sauce which is simply mixture of ketchup and Mayonnaise. But sometimes, I like OKonomiyaki sauce,which is mixture of Ketchup plus Worcester sauce. My husband likes A1 sauce on it. My mother in law likes A1 sauce on it too and likes Okonomiyaki.
* You can use chopped shrimp instead of Frankfurt in Okonomiyaki. Shrimp Okonomiyaki is my second favorite.
** With Okonimyaki, ratio of water and flour is important. If your batter was too thick for Okonomiyaki, you get gummy Okonomiyaki.
This is very easy dish to make and, if you have griddle, everyone can cook their own at kitchen table. Also, this is easy to make vegetarian version of Okonomiyaki.
Also, if you were looking for something different for parties, you can prepare all kinds of ingredients for people to pick from and can make to order for them.
Enjoy!
Another great sounding recipe. I copied it and hope to make it soon. My Dad used to make a dish of browned and drained hamburger, and then added cabbage (about a head for 1 lb. of hamburger.) Cook until cabbage wilted and then season to taste. We usually had ketchup on it. I still love it!
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I hope you like Okonomiyaki.I think Okonomiyaki is not only quick and easy dish but also it is very versatile dish. I also think this is one of those budget friendly recipes with vegetable as main ingredients too.
In another entry titled "Japanese restaurants in Japan;Okonomiyaki", I wrote more on Okonomiyaki, and also you can watch videos on Okonomiyaki and see what are the differences are between okonomiyaki made in one region to the other.Okonomiyaki is made differently region to region and, it would be interesting for you to see the differences.
With cabbage dish with ground meat you have talked about, my mother has made a similar dish.It is shredded cabbage leaves satay in the skillet with lightly beaten egg and seasoned with salt and pepper. We ate them with ketchup.
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