Japanese restaurants in Japan; Okonomiyaki
Here in the states, there are wide variety of restaurants specialize in specific countries' cuisine; Mexican food,Italian food,Indian food,British food etc. In Japan, you can find Italian restaurants,Chinese restaurants but not as much variety as the states can offer. In fact, I have never had Mexican food or bowl of chili or corn bread,flaky biscuits etc before coming over to the states.
Instead, Japan has many kinds of Japanese restaurants specialize in special type of Japanese food. One of them is Okonomiyaki restaurants.
What is Okonomiyaki?
Okonomiyaki is savory pancake (You can find recipe in previous entry titled "Okonomiyaki ".) What is unique about Okonomiyaki is that there are many versions of Okonomiyaki depending on regions. It is very famous dish especially in western part of Japanese main island such as Osaka prefecture, Kyoto prefecture, Hyogo prefecture,but Nagoya city in Aichi prefecture has its own style of Okonomiyaki, and Hiroshima prefecture has its own style of Okonomiyaki. Tokyo has its own style of Okonomiyaki.
In Japan, you can go to Okonomiyaki restaurant that let you make your Okonomiyaki yourself on hot iron griddle right in front of you adding meat,seafood, vegetable etc.. and season with Okonomiyaki sauce and sprinkle seaweed,bonito flakes,and eat. After order your choice of Okonomiyaki from menu, server would bring pre chopped ingredients in the bowl and let you know how you can make your Okonomiyaki yourself. If you had a chance to visit Japan, try look for Okonomiyaki restaurants. It is fun to experience different kinds of restaurants.
When I was University student, near the school, there was one Okonomiyaki restaurant. I remember me and my friends visited there a lot and, ate many Okonomiyaki throughout the year. What was unique about this specific restaurant was that one of their Okonomiyaki menu had Mochi (Rice cake). It is something you never have back in where I grew up and I kept having the same "Okonomiyaki" over and over. Some of the Okonomiyaki on menu has soba noodle (yaki soba).
I came across youtube videos from Okonomiyaki restaurants in various region in Japan. Some of the videos show chef is cooking for you but you can cook the Okonomiyaki yourself too.
<Kansai style Okonomiyaki>
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1. Okonomiyaki batter that has grated taro root is poured over the iron griddle
2.Put lots of cabbage on top and sprinkle with chopped green onion
3.Top it with beef tendon (Gyu suji) that was cooked for 3 days
** I have never had Okonomiyaki with Gyu suji (Beef tendon).I wonder what it would taste like..
4.Sprinkle ten kasu (cooked tempura breading without anything in it) over and flip over
5. Brush it with slightly sweet soy sauce based sauce
** Guests seemed raved about how good the Okonomiyaki was.
Later,you will see the chef cooking up the different kinds of Okonomiyaki with bacon,bonito flake,seaweed and Okonomiyaki sauce with mayo with grated taro root Okonomiyaki batter.
<Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki>
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1.Pour plain batter on iron griddle,and top it with tons of shredded cabbage
2.Top it with seafood; octopus,squid,and shrimp
3.Sprinkle sliced perilla (You can see what perilla is at wikipedia website here .It is a herb)
4. The Japanese narrator does not explain this, but this footage got slice of bacon on top, then flip over
** One of the guests said to Okonomiyaki chef that the top; the thin batter part has no meaning if the filling was so thick. But it was later explained that it is there to press it down from top easier. By pressing the cabbage and other filling,it squeeze out the moisture,but leave the deliciousness (umami) and sweetness in it.
5.Cook soba noodle (Yaki soba) on clear griddle area
6. Crack an egg on clear griddle area and over the cooked egg,put the soba and other cabbage part on top. And sauce over and slice and eat.
<Tokyo style Okonomiyaki>
If you are a blog subscriber or reading from Facebook,please click here to watch video.
In this Tokyo style Okonomiyaki video, what you will see is as followings. This video is in Japanese so, I will explain what you see in the video in English bellow.
1. Cook ground pork and Mentaiko (roe of pollock; you can read on Mentaiko at wikipedia here )
2.Put shredded cabbage over the cooked ground pork and Mentaiko
3.Put slightly bigger pieces of cabbage over along with ten kasu (cooked tempura breading without filling)
4.Make a well with cabbage etc and pour dashi into the well
5. Mix with cabbage well, and chop
6.What is unique about Monjha-yaki (Tokyo style Okonomiyaki) is that, you will sort of pull to your side with utensil pressing hard to the iron griddle and making the Monjha-yaki a little crunchy on bottom and eat them.
The way my mother,my grand mother, and I make is different from professional chefs, and we just mix everything in the bowl and cook in the skillet with our own favorite ingredients. I like the one with Tenkasu,Japanese pickled ginger in it with other ingredients a lot. I think Japanese pickled ginger is sold at Asian stores, and you may find Ten kasu too at Asian stores.
If you had griddle in the house, you maybe can prepare just batter,ingredients etc and each family member can sit around the griddle and cook their own version of Okonomiyaki. It is fun and it may also be good party entertainment type of dishes.
Instead, Japan has many kinds of Japanese restaurants specialize in special type of Japanese food. One of them is Okonomiyaki restaurants.
What is Okonomiyaki?
Okonomiyaki is savory pancake (You can find recipe in previous entry titled "Okonomiyaki ".) What is unique about Okonomiyaki is that there are many versions of Okonomiyaki depending on regions. It is very famous dish especially in western part of Japanese main island such as Osaka prefecture, Kyoto prefecture, Hyogo prefecture,but Nagoya city in Aichi prefecture has its own style of Okonomiyaki, and Hiroshima prefecture has its own style of Okonomiyaki. Tokyo has its own style of Okonomiyaki.
In Japan, you can go to Okonomiyaki restaurant that let you make your Okonomiyaki yourself on hot iron griddle right in front of you adding meat,seafood, vegetable etc.. and season with Okonomiyaki sauce and sprinkle seaweed,bonito flakes,and eat. After order your choice of Okonomiyaki from menu, server would bring pre chopped ingredients in the bowl and let you know how you can make your Okonomiyaki yourself. If you had a chance to visit Japan, try look for Okonomiyaki restaurants. It is fun to experience different kinds of restaurants.
When I was University student, near the school, there was one Okonomiyaki restaurant. I remember me and my friends visited there a lot and, ate many Okonomiyaki throughout the year. What was unique about this specific restaurant was that one of their Okonomiyaki menu had Mochi (Rice cake). It is something you never have back in where I grew up and I kept having the same "Okonomiyaki" over and over. Some of the Okonomiyaki on menu has soba noodle (yaki soba).
I came across youtube videos from Okonomiyaki restaurants in various region in Japan. Some of the videos show chef is cooking for you but you can cook the Okonomiyaki yourself too.
<Kansai style Okonomiyaki>
If you are a blog subscriber or reading from Facebook,please click here to watch video.
In this Kansai style Okonomiyaki video, what you will see is as followings. Kansai is area around Osaka,Kyoto,Hyogo prefecture ;western part of main island of Japan. This youtube video is in Japanese and I will explain what you are seeing in the video bellow. I think Osaka style Okonomiyaki has grated taro root in the batter.
1. Okonomiyaki batter that has grated taro root is poured over the iron griddle
2.Put lots of cabbage on top and sprinkle with chopped green onion
3.Top it with beef tendon (Gyu suji) that was cooked for 3 days
** I have never had Okonomiyaki with Gyu suji (Beef tendon).I wonder what it would taste like..
4.Sprinkle ten kasu (cooked tempura breading without anything in it) over and flip over
5. Brush it with slightly sweet soy sauce based sauce
** Guests seemed raved about how good the Okonomiyaki was.
Later,you will see the chef cooking up the different kinds of Okonomiyaki with bacon,bonito flake,seaweed and Okonomiyaki sauce with mayo with grated taro root Okonomiyaki batter.
<Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki>
If you are a blog subscriber or reading from Facebook,please click here to watch video.
In this Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki video, what you will see is as followings. This video is in Japanese so, I will explain what you see in the video in English bellow. Hiroshima prefecture is further western area of main island of Japan.
1.Pour plain batter on iron griddle,and top it with tons of shredded cabbage
2.Top it with seafood; octopus,squid,and shrimp
3.Sprinkle sliced perilla (You can see what perilla is at wikipedia website here .It is a herb)
4. The Japanese narrator does not explain this, but this footage got slice of bacon on top, then flip over
** One of the guests said to Okonomiyaki chef that the top; the thin batter part has no meaning if the filling was so thick. But it was later explained that it is there to press it down from top easier. By pressing the cabbage and other filling,it squeeze out the moisture,but leave the deliciousness (umami) and sweetness in it.
5.Cook soba noodle (Yaki soba) on clear griddle area
6. Crack an egg on clear griddle area and over the cooked egg,put the soba and other cabbage part on top. And sauce over and slice and eat.
<Tokyo style Okonomiyaki>
If you are a blog subscriber or reading from Facebook,please click here to watch video.
In this Tokyo style Okonomiyaki video, what you will see is as followings. This video is in Japanese so, I will explain what you see in the video in English bellow.
1. Cook ground pork and Mentaiko (roe of pollock; you can read on Mentaiko at wikipedia here )
2.Put shredded cabbage over the cooked ground pork and Mentaiko
3.Put slightly bigger pieces of cabbage over along with ten kasu (cooked tempura breading without filling)
4.Make a well with cabbage etc and pour dashi into the well
5. Mix with cabbage well, and chop
6.What is unique about Monjha-yaki (Tokyo style Okonomiyaki) is that, you will sort of pull to your side with utensil pressing hard to the iron griddle and making the Monjha-yaki a little crunchy on bottom and eat them.
The way my mother,my grand mother, and I make is different from professional chefs, and we just mix everything in the bowl and cook in the skillet with our own favorite ingredients. I like the one with Tenkasu,Japanese pickled ginger in it with other ingredients a lot. I think Japanese pickled ginger is sold at Asian stores, and you may find Ten kasu too at Asian stores.
If you had griddle in the house, you maybe can prepare just batter,ingredients etc and each family member can sit around the griddle and cook their own version of Okonomiyaki. It is fun and it may also be good party entertainment type of dishes.
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