Making Okonomiyaki

Hi! I tried making Okonomiyaki recently! I would like to introduce what Okonomiyaki is and I would like to briefly tell you how I made it.

What is Okonomiyaki?
Okonomiyaki is a popular pan-fried dish in Japan that consists of batter and cabbage. You can choose any kind of toppings and ingredients to put in. The variability is reflected in the dish name; “Okonomi” which means, “to one’s liking”. There are many regional variations in Okonomiyaki and the main two styles are Kansai(Osaka)-style and Hiroshima-style.

Osaka style okonomiyaki is made by mixing ingredients like cabbage and meat into a savory batter and frying it on a hot, oiled iron griddle called a teppan.

Hiroshima style okonomiyaki is similar to the Osaka style, but the cooking process is quite different. Instead of mixing all of the ingredients together, it’s made up by adding individual layers such as thin pancake, cabbage, meat, seafood, fried egg, and noodles like soba or udon.


How to make it?
First, you make the batter with hot water and flour. Cut the cabbage and seafood into small pieces and add to the batter mix. After that, add egg and mix it all together until all the ingredients are mixed evenly.

Heat the hot plate to about 250℃ and start grilling the batter. Pour the batter into a round shape on the batter and add sliced pork onto it.

When the side on the hot plate gets a little brown, turn it over with a turner and wait for 3-4 minutes. After 3-4 minutes and when the sliced pork is crispy, you can turn it over again and heat for 3-4 minutes.

Move the Okonomiyaki to the plate and add toppings such as okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise, dried bonito flakes, green dried seaweed. It is ready to serve!


My thoughts
I arranged my Okonomiyaki and I added seafood, enoki mushrooms, and chikuwa which is fish meat. The seafood includes many things such as shrimp, clam, squid, crab sticks, sakura shrimp. The unique Okonomiyaki I made tasted good and I enjoyed the texture. There was a mixture of very soft and chewy textures. I think I was able to this texture because I mixed a variety of seafood that has different textures. The flavor was delicious and I could taste the shrimp and chikuwa. Overall, I thought adding enoki mushrooms to the Okonomiyaki made it softer and I enjoyed eating it and I am happy to find a new delicious recipe.