Okonomiyaki

Posted on 2002/09/07 21:02:48 (September 2002) by john.

A bit of a change from the usual socio-political rantings.

Last time I was in Japan I got really into okonomiyaki. Sometimes they're (inappropriately I think) called Japanese pizzas, in reality they're much more like omelettes or pancakes. Today for the first time I cooked them myself, and although I do say so myself, they came out pretty well, and were. So, in an attempt to get a bit of variety into the maison weblog, here's the recipe I used. There seem to be many variations on this theme, and almost no Japanese people reading this will recognise it as the "right" way to do it

2 eggs
16oz (400g ish) flour.
Half a pint or so of water.
Half a pint or so of milk.
A splash of sake, sho-chu or similar (hell, whisky will probably do)
A teaspoon or two of seaweed stock powder (kombu dashi) if you can get it.
Alternatively, the same amount of vegetable stock powder will probably do.
Some shredded cabbage (about half the quantity of the flour).
Two or three spring onions, chopped.
Some cooked noodles. I like Japanese Udon, but I guess anything will do.

The method is not a million miles away from making pancake batter. Whisk the eggs, then add in the all the liquid ingredients and the stock. Gradually add this mixture to the flour, mixing as you go to make a smooth batter. Mix in the cabbage and spring onions and give it all a really good stir. Pour some of the mixture into a hot oiled frying pan. Now, put some of the noodles on, just enough to cover it. When the underside is done, flip the okonomiyaki over and allow to cook on the noodley side. Serve noodle side up.

There's a whole pantheon of choices in what you put on top of you okonomiyaki. You might want to add extra ingredients in as you're cooking, or put cold stuff on top afterwards - anything goes really. To be honest though, I quite like just the basic okonomiyaki.

The sauce is however, fairly crucial. I used tonkatsu sauce, which to my tastebuds is pretty similar to whatever the proper okonomiyaki sauce is called (or maybe I was just given tonkatsu in Japan as well!). You'll have to go to a Japanese food shop to get this, but it's vaguely similar to good old HP brown sauce, which I guess would make a reasonable substitute. Alternatively I would imagine it could probably be approximated fairly well with a mixture of ketchup, worcester sauce and soy, as well as possibly some molasses (black treacle may do) and I guess a hint of something sharp - lemon juice or maybe vinegar. Generally the Japanese will also put a good swirl of mayonnaise on top. Japanese mayonnaise is (to my mind) far tastier than the European variety, but I guess you could have a go with Helman's (not sure how to spell that) or whatever. I didn't use mayonnaise this time, because I didn't have any, but next time I'm in a Japanese food shop I'll make sure to get some.

Here's the finished item:



And here's a picture of a rather demented looking Englishman eating one:



OK, well perhaps I'm not the best food photographer in the world, and the presentation is somewhat lacking, but believe me, it was really nice.

Looks great. One day you can cook this for me. One day soon? Very soon?

Posted by Rob Lang at 2002/09/09 21:15:36.

OOOOh. Nice. May try this at home. .. actually, it is your turn to cook for me...

Posted by rowanboy at 2002/09/10 17:22:14.

i went to japan and had okonomiyaki...bloody beutiful..my favourite dish..and now i can cook it at home!..thanx

Posted by blake at 2003/09/13 22:29:17.

I always wanted to test okonomiyaki... Thanks for the recipe!

Posted by Sailor Universe at 2004/12/14 17:57:14.

Post a comment