Okonomiyaki

If you read the post about our trip to Japan, you know that we ate some very delicious okonomiyaki in Japan (And also raised our glasses to our marriage with Japanese businessmen at an okonomiyaki restaurant, but that’s another story…). Okonomiyaki are a type of savory Japanese pancake. There are two styles of it: Hiroshima okonomiyaki and Osaka okonomiyaki. Back in 2017, I didn’t know this dish at all. However, I had set a goal to teach Kevin how to cook, and as motivation, I lend him a Japanese cookbook. Kevin was so motivated that he even marked recipes with sticky notes. In the end, the choice fell on Osaka Okonomiyaki. The actual batter is not only flour, eggs and water, but also dashi, mayonnaise and white cabbage. The recipe also lists bonito flakes, but we couldn’t get them anywhere here.

Of course, the first attempt failed. Taste-wise, our okonomiyaki attempt tasted quite good, only it had nothing in common with okonomiyaki, which had several reasons. For one, the cabbage was too coarsely cut and poorly portioned. On the other hand, the coating of the pan in Kevin’s WG had it long behind and so the Okonomiyaki stuck of course and fell apart when turning.

We couldn’t let that sit with us, especially since it was so delicious even on the first try. So I adapted the procedure over time and tested newer and newer variations. If you heat the pan too much, the okonomiyaki are more reminiscent of potato pancakes. The ratio of batter to white cabbage also plays a crucial role, and here you should follow the recipe exactly. As mentioned above, you should take the trouble to chop the cabbage really well. Also, you should not ignore the addition in the recipe that you should choose only a maximum of one ingredient for the filling. So our Okonomiyaki can really be seen in the meantime 🙂