Okonomiyaki

My friend Ai taught me how to make okonomiyaki awhile ago. It was SO good! It's like a meat & vegetable pancake. There are 2 different styles of okonomiyaki in Japan. Ai is from Osaka, where they're famous of okonomiyaki, so this is an Osaka style recipe. You can buy okonomiyaki flour that has the nagaimo and other spices in it, but she showed us the scratch recipe.


Ai’s Osaka style Okonomiyaki

(Per person)
1 c cake flour (cake flour is lighter like Japanese all purpose flour)
2/3 c water
¼ c grated nagaimo (It’s a Japanese yam that is a raw egg consistency when grated)
1 egg
Whatever toppings you want:
Bacon, cabbage, green onion, cheese, thin sliced pork, yakisoba noodles, tenkatsu, shrimp, squid etc.
Okonomiyaki sauce
Japanese mayonnaise
Mix the first 4 ingredients together. Portion out a cup of the mixture into medium size bowls, one for each person eating. Add an egg to each persons bowl and mix it in thoroughly. Each person mixes their own bowl after that and can mix in, bacon, thin sliced pork, diced cabbage, green onion, cheese, shrimp, squid tenkatsu, (little fried tempura balls) or whatever else you want.
Once each person has mixed their bowl together you pour their bowl out into a hot oiled pan like you would a big pancake. You want a pan with a lid. Cover and cook until brown and crispy. If you want yakisoba noodles then put them on top of the pancake before you flip it so they will cook on the second side. Once both sides are browned and cooked through put it on a plate and serve it with okonmiyaki sauce and mayonnaise.