Japanese Pizza = Okonomiyaki

Since I’m still a wee bit sick (yes I know story of my life, this time of year is a bad one for me. Damn fibro!) I’m still jonesing for some comfort food. The last couple of days I’ve been on a Japanese food kick. Dinner on Tuesday night was some onigiri with spicy tuna and mayo (I would have taken a picture but... umm.. I really need to brush up on my onigiri molding skills) and today its okonomiyaki.




My first introduction to okonomiyaki was through a Thai lady married to a Japanese man I had met in my Japanese class in Bangkok. She introduced me to sushi and a lot of typically cooked at home Japanese dishes. Okonomiyaki was one of my favorite dishes she introduced me to. My love affair with Japanese foods other than sushi began because of her. I miss my "elder sister" from Thailand, I wonder if she is back in Osaka now. Whereever she is, I'm very grateful for the cooking lessons she gave me so many years ago. Now, sad to say, I probably cook more Japanese cuisine than I do Thai. The main reason for this is because most of the ingredients I need can be found at my local grocery store. Whereas, for Thai cuisine I almost always have to go the Asian market.

After reading the okonomiyaki thread at egullet. I decided I needed to try making this dish myself. The okonomiyaki that I’m used to has ground pork, shrimp, konnyaku, and shredded cabbage. Looking in my fridge I realized the only thing I had was a head of cabbage. *Grumble* Well I guess it was time to improvise. Scrounging around, I found a can of spam and some artificial crab sticks so that’s what ended up in my okonomiyaki. It was actually pretty good, though I really have a hankering to try the original version again. That, however, would require a trip to the grocery store and the asian market so that might have to wait for another day


In the pan prior to flipping.

Recipe:

2 eggs

1-2 cups flour, approximately

2 cups water, approximately

1/2 head of cabbage, shredded large

1/2 lb ground pork

1/4 lb raw shrimp, cut into small pieces

1/2 cube konnyaku (optional)

3-4 green onions, diced

Topping:

Tonkatsu sauce or worchester sauce

Kewpie mayo

Bonito flakes

Nori (seaweed) flakes

Combine first 3 items, you're looking for a pancake like consistency; add flour or water as needed to get the right texture. Add the rest of the ingredients, stir. In large non-stick frying pan on medium heat, pour half the mixture and pat until it looks like a large fluffly pancake. Cook about 10 minutes on first side, flip*, cook another 10 minutes other side. Slide onto plate, top with tonkatsu sauce (or worchester sauce), mayo, bonito flakes, and nori. Repeat with other half of mixture. Makes two large okonomiyaki. **

* I use the Spanish tortilla method. Put large plate over skillet, flip skillet over, slide okonomiyaki from plate back into frying pan.

** I can eat about half of one before I get full. Then again I can only eat two slices of American style pizza so that may give you an idea of how much to make.

Feel free to experiment with ingredients as okonomiyaki like American pizza have whatever you like in it.