Okonomiyaki!

YES - we made okonomiyaki the other night and it was awesome as usual. Okonomiyaki is like Japanese pancakes. They are savory, though. Wikipedia just taught me this: "The name is derived from the word okonomi, meaning "what you like" or "what you want", and yaki meaning grilled or cooked." I think it is one of the best things we make at home. And we get to do it together - awww. <3 Did you know there is another contributor to this blog? It seems like it's just me - right? Oh well, let's move on....

You are going to need a few things from the store, including what you see above - the okonomiyaki sauce and japanese mayonnaise and (optional) benito flakes. You can include any kind of meat you'd like in the mix. We used bacon and little shrimp, but use whatever you'd like. Here's a list of ingredients:
whatever meat items (we used about 8 strips of crumbled bacon and about a cup of mini shrimp)
1 cup flour
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups shredded cabbage (I use cole slaw mix in a bag)
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
2 tablespoons pickled ginger, chopped (I throw it into the food processor for a second, as you see below)
2 eggs
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 sheet of torn up nori
bonito flakes (optional)
okonomiyaki sauce
japanese mayo ( both available at most asian grocery stores)


I put the flour, water and salt in a bowl first and mix them up. Then add everything but the sauce, mayo and benito flakes. It turns into a really chunky batter.

Heat up a pan on medium heat with some vegetable oil and pour a little pancake shaped portion on.


Let it sit like you would a pancake, until the underside gets brown. Then flip it over! Smoosh it down so that it all gets cooked. Use a brush to brush on the okonomiyaki sauce on the done side while the other side cooks.

After both sides are cooked, plate it up and squeeze on your Japanese mayonnaise. Then, if you'd like, scatter some benito flakes on top of that. If I had video you would see that they are fluttering around on top looking rather lively.


As you can see, you then both tear away at it with chopsticks (while the next one cooks) like little okonomiyaki vultures.