Japanese Menu - OKONOMIYAKI

Menu Taste and Personal Experience:

One of my in laws friend is a japanese and she made one for us. She made the kansai/osaka style snack menu okonomiyaki where she mix all the ingredients. It tastes very yummy with differenct flavours of sweet, a little bit sour, savory, and salty. Whats more she even put different kinds of fillings like prawns, chicken, beef, etc which makes things more interesting.

Menu Description:

Okonomiyaki is a Japanese snack menu for savoury pancake containing a variety of ingredients. The name is derived from the word okonomi, meaning "what you like" or "what you want", and yaki meaning "grilled" or "cooked" (cf. yakitori and yakisoba). Okonomiyaki is mainly associated with Kansai or Hiroshima areas of Japan, but is widely available throughout the country. The menu's toppings and batters tend to vary according to region.

Kansai area

Osaka-style okonomiyaki is the predominant version of the dish, found throughout most of Japan. The batter is made of flour, grated yam, water or dashi, eggs and shredded cabbage, and usually contains other ingredients such as green onion, meat (generally pork or bacon), octopus, squid, shrimp, vegetables, kimchi, mochi or cheese. Okonomiyaki is sometimes compared to an omelette or a pancake and may be referred to as "a Japanese pancake" or even "Osaka soul food."

Most okonomiyaki restaurants are grill-it-yourself establishments, where the server produces a bowl of raw ingredients that the customer mixes and grills at tables fitted with teppan, or special hotplates. They may also have a diner-style counter where the cook prepares the dish in front of the customers.

In Osaka (the largest city in the Kansai region), where this dish is said to have originated, this Japanese snack menu is pretty much prepared like a pancake. The batter and other ingredients are fried on both sides on either a teppan or a pan using metal spatulas that are later used to slice the dish when it has finished cooking. Cooked okonomiyaki is topped with ingredients that include otafuku/okonomiyaki sauce (similar to Worcestershire sauce but thicker and sweeter), aonori (seaweed flakes), katsuobushi (bonito flakes), Japanese mayonnaise, and pickled ginger (beni shoga).

Hiroshima area

A lantern beckons customers into an okonomiyaki restaurant

In Hiroshima, the ingredients are layered rather than mixed together. The layers are typically batter, cabbage, pork, and optional items such as squid, octopus, and cheese. Noodles (yakisoba, udon) are also used as a topping with fried egg and a generous amount of okonomiyaki sauce.

The amount of cabbage used is usually three to four times the amount used in the more common Osaka style. It starts out piled very high and is pushed down as the cabbage cooks. The order of the layers may vary slightly depending on the chef's style and preference, and ingredients vary depending on the preference of the customer. People from Hiroshima claim that this is the correct way to make okonomiyaki. This style is also called Hiroshima-yaki or Hiroshima-okonomi.

Okonomi-mura, in Naka-ku in Hiroshima, was the top food theme park destination for families in Japan according to an April 2004 poll.

Other areas

In Tokyo, Tsukishima town is popular for both Okonomiyaki and Monjayaki. Monjayaki is a liquid, runny variant of okonomiyaki. The main street of this town is called Monja Street.

In Hamamatsu, takuan (pickled daikon) is mixed in okonomiyaki.

In Okinawa, okonomiyaki is called hirayachi (ヒラヤーチー) and is thinner than ins other areas. People cook it at home, so there are no hirayachi restaurants in Okinawa,[citation needed] although okonomiyaki restaurants can be found in a few places.

Osaka-style Okonomiyaki Recipe

Menu Ingredients:

• 2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cup dashi soup stock or water
• 4-6 eggs
• 1 - 1 1/4 lb cabbage
• 6 tbsps chopped green onion
• 2/3 cup tenkasu (tempura flakes)
• 12 - 18 strips of thinly sliced pork or beef
• For toppings:
• Ao-nori (green seaweed)
• Katsuobushi (bonito flakes)
• Okonomiyaki sauce (or tonkatsu sauce)
• Mayonnaise

Menu Directions:

People Eating Okonomiyaki
Photo by http://www.nnanime.com

Pout dashi soup stock in a bowl. Mix the flour in the soup stock. Rest the batter for an hour in the refrigerator. Chop cabbage finely. Take about 1/2 cup of the batter (to make one sheet of okonimiyaki) in another bowl. Mix chopped cabbage (about 1/4 lb), chopped green onion (about 1 tbsp), and tempura flakes (about 2 tbsps) in the batter. Make a hole in the middle of the batter and add an egg in the hole. Stir the batter. Heat an electric pan and oil slightly. Pour the batter over the pan and make a round. Fry meat or your choice of toppings on the side. Cook 5-7 minutes and place meat (toppings) on top of the okonomiyaki. Flip the okonomiyaki and cook for 5-7 more minutes. Flip the okonomiyaki again and spread okonomiyaki sauce and mayonnaise on top. Sprinkle aonori over the sauce. Sprinkle katsuobushi (bonito flakes) and beni-shoga (red ginger) if you would like. Makes 4-6 sheets.

Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki Recipe

Menu Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup dashi soup or water
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups finely chopped cabbage
• 2 cups bean sprouts
• 12 pieces thinly sliced pork
• 4 packages pre-steamed chucka noodles for yakisoba
• Seasonings:
• yakisoba sauce or salt
• okonomiyaki sauce or Worcestershire sauce
• Toppings:
• chopped green onion
• aonori (dried seaweed powder) 

Menu Directions:

Mix flour and dashi soup stock to make okonomiyaki batter. Heat and oil a large skillet or iron plate. Spread a scoop of the batter into a thin round over the pan. Place a handful of cabbage and bean sprouts on top of the batter. Place pork slices on top of the vegetables. Pour some okonomiyaki batter over the ingredients. Flip the okonomiyaki over with spatulas. Cook it on low heat until meats and vegetables are cooked. Meanwhile, fry yakisoba noodles on the side and lightly season with okonomiyaki sauce or salt as you like. Replace okonomiyaki with spatulas on top of yakisoba noodles and press on the top firmly. Fry an egg on the side an break the egg york with spatula. Replace the okonomiyaki on top of the fried egg and again press on the top firmly. Serve the okonomiyaki on a plate with the egg side up. Repeat this process to make more okonomiyaki. Spread okonomiyaki sauce or Worcestershire sauce and mayonnaise on the okonomiyaki. Sprinkle chopped green onion and ao-nori (dried seaweed powder) on the top.
*Makes 4 servings 

Menu Related Videos:

Hiroshima Style Okonomiyaki Vendor



Hiroshima Style Okonomiyaki



Osaka Style Okonomiyaki



How To Make Snack Menu - Okonomiyaki



Menu Sources and References:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okonomiyaki (GNU Free Documentation License)
  
• http://japanesefood.about.com/od/holidaytraditionalfood/r/okonomiyaki.htm
• http://japanesefood.about.com/od/holidaytraditionalfood/r/hirookonomiyaki.htm
• http://www.nnanime.com