By: Andreea
Savory, Uncategorized, ,

Osaka Style Okonomiyaki | A glimpse in Japanese Street Food

I have not been to Japan yet, but that is one goal that I have in this life. I was always interested in Asian cuisine, but after so many stories that my partner in crime has told me about the country, but also about the food there, my desires to actually have a taste of it has grown.

I must say, trying to make from scratch a dish that you have no idea what it tastes like, or better said, you can’t imagine and don’t know how the end result is supposed to taste like is quite intimidating. But all in all, playing around with new flavours is also something that brings me joy. So, I wanted to make one of his favorite Japanese foods, Okonomiyaki, Osaka Style.

As a small introduction, there are two main styles of Okonomiyaki: Osaka style and Hiroshima style. The Osaka style is more like a savory pancake, with some fillings, topped with Okonomiyaki sauce and Japanese Mayo, and some Katsuobushi (bonito flakes) dancing on top of it. Hiroshima style is quite different, and it is not as compact as the Osaka style, and also contains noodles.

The meaning of Okonomiyaki is in fact the things that you like fried. So, this makes it very customizable to your liking.

Let’s begin with the ingredients:

Batter:

  • 300g flour
  • 75g potato starch
  • 225g dashi
  • 2 eggs
  • a handful of tempura bits – tenkasu

Fillings:

  • cabbage – I used about half of a cabbage; I chopped it in my food processor, but you can also leave it in bigger chunks if you like it like that
  • 12 tiger prawns
  • 4 slices of bacon

Toppings:

  • Japanese Mayo
  • Katsobushi
  • Bacon
  • Okonomiyaki Sauce:
    • 1 tbsp ketchup
    • 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
    • 1 tsp honey
    • 1 tbsp soy sauce

Okay, so let’s get into it:

  1. First we need to make the dashi. Dashi is basically a fish stock that we will be making out of bonito flakes and kombu. You can obviously buy it from an Asian Food store, but I did not find any, so I had to make my own. I added a liter of water to a pot, a handful of bonito flakes, the shells from my prawns – I thought that they should not go to waste – and a sheet of kombu. I boiled it for about 12-15 mins and that was it. I took out the kombu and then I strained the stock and left it to cool.
  2. My second step was making the tenkasu, because I had none of that either. So, I made a tempura batter and made some tempura prawns and kept the leftover fried dough scraps.
  3. Another prep step was poaching my shrimps. I just added them in hot water and got them out when they were pink. You can also add them raw, but I prefer having them cooked, just to be sure that they are properly cooked in the final dish.
  4. Chop the cabbage, bacon and prawns into small pieces.
  5. Now let’s make the batter. Beat the eggs, add the dashi and then the flours. Mix it up, don’t beat it too hard as you still want to make it kind of fluffy.
  6. Add the cabbage, bacon and prawns in the batter.
  7. Normally this is made on a teppan – sort of a metal plate – but this can be made easily in a pan.
  8. I used a small cast iron pan in which I added a bit of oil. Once that was hot, I added some of the batter in, without pressing it. I added some bacon sheets on the top and then covered with a lid. I used medium to low heat and left it covered for about 10 mins. After that I flipped the pancake and pressed it with my spatula and made some little holes in the dough so that steam can come through. I left it to cook uncovered until it was nice and brown.
  9. After the Okonomiyaki is taken out of the pan, it is time to add some toppings. I drizzled some okonomiyaki sauce (you just mix the ingredients and you have it) and some Japanese Mayo (I used Kewpie) and some bonito flakes.

And here you go, this is the Osaka style Okonomiyaki right in your home. I made 6 Okonomiyakis , but my pan is quite small, so you might make 4 larger ones.

I don’t think this is a difficult recipe, and if you manage to find dashi and tenkasu in a store, you will probably save some time. I froze my leftover dashi, and will probably make some use out of it in a ramen really soon.

This is a dish that you have to try. It’s a burst of flavour, it is not complicated or very time consuming and it makes a great lunch or dinner. It is quite filling, I must say.

Hope you enjoyed this recipe 🙂