Okonomiyaki: One Person's Street Food, Another Person's Hack
Submitted by Stuart Broz on Mon, 03/23/2009 - 7:59am
Okonomiyaki is a Japanese street food that is something like a savory pancake.
Image by WordRiddenNow, if you were to walk up to me last week (before I'd heard of okonomiyaki) and say "savory pancake," I'd have smiled. It is exactly the sort of thing that I would have come up with. The fact that one of the core ingredients of okonomiyaki batter is cabbage makes me even happier. I like cabbage, but it is one of those things that I buy infrequently, as I inevitably end up with more than I can reasonably use before it goes bad. I can pickle the leftovers, but... well... I usually forget to do so in time. I'm always looking for new and different ways to use it.
There are different regional styles of okonomiyaki, but it is usually made to order on a griddle with bowls of raw ingredients from which each person chooses individually. Ingredients or toppings for okonomiyaki are varied, ranging from mayonnaise to seafood to pickled ginger to noodles. The end result is something like a cross between an omelette, a pancake, and a pizza.
To me, this is a great example of why it is important to learn about other cuisines. I may or may not like the mix of flavors in many traditional okonomiyaki preparations, but even if I don't, I can definitely take the form of it and adapt it to my purposes. A cabbage and onion filled pancake-frittata that serves as the basis for toppings? That sounds like the sort of thing that is right up my alley.
Have any topping suggestions?
Comments
Go with tradition
My wife, who lived in Osaka, Japan for a few months brought the idea of okonomiyaki into our house. We had it with pretty traditional toppings and loved it.
- mayo (only Kewpie mayonnaise)
- okonomiyaki sauce (think A1, but thicker, we made our own)
- bonito flakes
- green onions
hmmm
Do you remember how you made the sauce?
I'll probably try some traditional toppings, but I don't want to be limited by them.
Okonomiyaki
Dear Friend!
Greetings!
How's life?
I agree toatlly with your attitude toward okonomiyaki.
It became popular silmuteanously in Hiroshima and Osaka (they are still fighting about the ownership of the invention! LOL) just after WWII when there were no restaurants left standing. They were the first food stands to reappear out of the rubble.
It is "poor man/woman's food" (in the very good sense) like paella or bouillabaisse. It was very simple at first, and cabbages were cheap then. In Hiroshima they mix in fried noodles. Actually everything goes. Just let your imagination run free!
Cheers and all that!
Robert-Gilles