Okonomiyaki

20100527: Today I helped Steph make Okonomiyaki with help from Tiffany.


T: Peeled sweet potato.


S: Chopped cabbage. S: Chopped onion. S: Chopped sweet potato.


T: Diced sweet potato in blender.


T: Chopped pork into about 1 cm by 1 cm by 3 cm pieces. T: Cut two strips of bacon into thirds.


S: Mixed flour, onion, cabbage, eggs. T: Measured two cups water. S: Mixed water in.


T: Mixed pork in.


Cooked bacon on grill.


Put two thirds of bacon on the grill. Put the mixture on top of the bacon. Made a third pancake without the bacon. Cracked an egg on top of the bacon ones.


Flipped them over when ready.


Flipped them again. The eggs had been enveloped! It was amazing.


The first ones with bacon, we poured sauce and added this thinly sliced dried fish flakes. Delicious. Okonomi Sauce. Katsuo Bushi. The Katsuo Bushi (the flakes) move when you put them on the pancakes. They move because of the steam from the pancakes.


Started making the rest of the batter, some with bacon, some without.


Thoughts on Taste: I tried a piece with sauce and a piece of the pancake without. With the sauce was definitely better. Some pieces I ate with mayonnaise and some without. It was good both ways. Overall, it was a delicious dish.


Other Comments: A whole lot was made; probably enough for eight people. I guess we should have resisted pressing down on the pancake when we wanted it to cook faster. I don't know why, but it seems like a reasonable temptation to resist.
 
Another thing is the addition of the egg and the cooking of the bacon. We should have cooked the bacon on one side and then, when that side is close to being cooked, flip it over and add the batter. Then we could have added the egg on the side and flip the batter over onto it.* *Our method was to make a dimple, put the egg on top, and then flip both over. This method was met with success but we were trying to think of alternative methods.

[20100527][20161015 Edit]

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Relevant Links:
Okonomiyaki (Wikipedia.org)