Okonomiyaki

Tonight I was in the mood to cook something I have never tried to do yet.... make Okonomiyaki.

What is Okonomiyaki? Well as best as I can describes its somewhere between an pancake, an omelet and a latka cake. Its mostly comprised of cabbage, green onion, egg and a binder made out of wheat mix (traditional binder is made out of wheat flour with Japanese radish graded in, but I chose to get the ready-mix flour). 

What I also added to my Okonomiyaki for a more traditional flare was bacon... but I omitted the shrimp and Chinese sausage... as I already knew that this was going to be something of a glutinous dinner.

Pretty much all you do is mix all the ingredients in a big bowl and plop onto a hot, greased pan. The cabbage cake cooks on one side for awhile as you add the bacon on top. Once nicely browned you flip the cake over and let the bacon and the rest of the cake cook. 

Interesting with all that heat the cake doesn't burn that much and continues to cook through. The more you heat, the more the cabbage softens.

Once done you remove the cake from the pan and prepare it for toppings. First you add some special Okonomi -sauce over the entire top. Second you add bonito flakes (smoked fish flakes) and thirdly you sparingly cover with Japanese mayonnaise (i would later regret not getting the full fat variety as the low fat stuff isnt as thick... and never as good as the fatty stuffy).

And there you have it, Okonomiyaki. I am quite proud that it came out so well for my first attempt at making it. Its pretty much a 'add what you want' sort of cabbage cake. But, you must always serve with beer and I remembered to do. 

Also featured in this blog slide show is another miso ramen dinner I made... my little ramen dinner kit.