Recipe: Okonomiyaki

Well, here is something interesting. Really now, does the prospect of food really not spice up your taste buds when you hear the delicious words "pancake" and "pizza" mentioned in one breath? If it does, that is exactly what Japan's famous Okonomiyaki's all about — a mixture of pancake and pizza served in one go with your favorite sides of meat and vegetables.

The word Okonomi in Okonomiyaki, means "as you like." If you put two and two together, you must be smart enough to understand that Okonomiyaki must mean a pancake and pizza mixture with toppings as you like... no? If you didn't, thats alright; your "smarts" must have just taken a day off. In truth, there is no real recipe in making Okonomiyaki which makes this dish so intriguing. It's not so easy to start off with, but once the pancake and pizza mixture is done, the rest is all up to you. All you have to do is add in your favorite sides (such as beef, chicken, pork, seaweed, octupus, mushroom, tuna, and even candy, corn nuts, chocolate, sug — uhh whoops). In reality though, if you feel like you have the urge to put candy in your supposedly unsweet dish, by all means go ahead. (This is only proof of how far you really can go with making your own Okonomiyaki.)

Below are the directions in making the pancake/pizza mixture:

Main Stuff

1. 300 grams of flour
2. 210 mL of dashi soup or water
3. Two eggs

Suggested Extra Ingredients

1. Squid
2. Shrimp
3. Dried bonito flakes
4. Pork, meats, etc.
5. Cabbage head

The Recipe

1. Mix the dashi soup or water, the eggs, and all the flour together
2. At this stage, you can add in additional ingredients to your liking, such as meat, etc. Shred cabbage heads into strips on top of the okonomiyaki for example.
3. Lightly oil the pan and fry the okonomiyaki and flatten it
4. Just before air bubbles start forming, while the the okonomiyaki is hot and not yet overturned, more special ingredients can be topped off
5. Turn the okonomiyaki, put on mayonnaise, okonomiyaki sauce, or any other sauce
6. You can add some katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) and ao-nori (dried seaweed powder) on top too
7. You're done! Most importantly, enjoy!