Okonomiyaki お好み焼き

When I say that to people, the common response is. O.o
Economy-what??
Hopefully, by the end of this post, you'll know what it's all about.

Okonomiyaki is made of a batter (of flour and water), eggs, shredded cabbage and panko/normal bread crumbs. A variety of toppings are also added to it, such as bacon, spring onion, vegetables, cheese and seafood. These ingredients are cooked on a hot plate or pan in the form of a savoury pancake. It is also served with okonomiyaki sauce (or BBQ sauce if you're desperate) and japanese mayonnaise (or regular mayonnaise, though this is often too acidic).

The word is made up of two parts:
Okonomi (お好み), which means 'what you like' or 'what you want'
Yaki (焼き), which means grilled- mentioned in the 'Teriyaki' post

This is my attempt at Okonomiyaki, or commonly referred to as 'Osaka soul food':




Ingredients are flour, water, bread crumbs, cabbage, eggs, bacon, spring onion, BBQ sauce and Japanese mayonnaise.





To prep these ingredients:
Mix 2 cups of flour and 1.5 cups of water, making sure no lumps are present
Chop 500g Cabbage into strips
Chop about 2 stalks of spring onion
Chop 3-4 rashers of bacon into short thick strips
Measure out 2/3 cup of bread crumbs





Then, get a separate bowl and add in a quarter of the cabbage, bread crumbs, eggs and batter.
In a small pan, heat up a little bit of oil.
Empty the contents of the separate bowl and flatten the mix.
Sprinkle over bacon and spring onion.
Cook for about 6 minutes on each side until golden-brown and until all the batter is cooked.
Repeat another 3 times.

Serve with streaks of BBQ sauce and mayonnaise. Sprinkle over some toasted sesame seeds and strips of 'Nori' (dried seaweed).





However, as its might be a new thing to you, it's best to try it first as I did.
I bought this Okonomiyaki from the food court in a nearby shopping centre for about $6-. Taste it and see how close you can get to replicating it!




Good Luck :)
WB.