okonomiyaki

Posted on May 18, 2004 by mariko

I am finding it hard to find bloggable topics this week, so today I will jabber a little bit about okonomiyaki (man, that’s hard to type), also known as Japanese pancakes. That is actually a deceiving description, since the only thing about okonomiyaki that resembles a pancake is that it is round and flat and contains some flour. It’s savory and includes egg and usually cabbage and some sort of meat or seafood product. The sauce is a rich worcestershire sort of sauce, kind of like what you eat with tonkatsu but not quite. We never ate okonomiyaki when I was growing up, but now I like to have it every once in a while:
okonomiyaki.JPG
I used an okonomiyaki flour packet that my mother sent me to make the batter, and the sauce? Bottled stuff. I included cabbage and some chopped up knackwurst (I have a freezerful of sausage, if you’ll recall). Go here for a basic recipe.
*Thanks for all the seasickness prevention suggestions. I will be checking into all of them! The Coast Guard Cocktail sounds rather appealing.
Okay, peeps, I will try to muster up a more interesting post tomorrow!

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17 Responses to okonomiyaki

  1. Jan says:
    May 18, 2004 at 20:31

    I love okonomiyaki!! I have a Japanese friend whose mother and grandmother run a little okonomiyaki stand in their neighborhood in a small town outside of Nagoya. On one of my visits, I got to visit and even ‘flipped’ a few! Good memories!

  2. Erica says:
    May 18, 2004 at 20:47

    I looooooove okonomiyaki too! I had it when I was living in Japan, and fortunately I’ve found a decent one in Vancouver. I also adore takoyaki, octopus balls. Yummmmmm!

  3. chris says:
    May 18, 2004 at 21:13

    Is that anything like a Korean dish called Pa Jun? If so, count me in on the love!

  4. megan says:
    May 18, 2004 at 21:25

    Mmmmm..okonomiyaki. I met some cute Pajanese girls at a street fair in Brooklyn….and what were they selling???? Dish rags! Their website is http://www.lebouton.com/47/yonyonyon/
    I got you a cute flower scrubber…I’ll put it in the mail tomorrow!

  5. Insane Brother says:
    May 18, 2004 at 21:34

    I told Patricia about the okonomiyaki store in Portland (Kyo-Fu on 40-something and Powell) and she went TWICE last week.

  6. kat says:
    May 18, 2004 at 21:45

    Yeah I love okonomiyaki too (being a kansai girl at heart – but now living in tokyo) BUT for all you okonomiyaki lovers out there – BEWARE of monjayaki – Tokyo’s sorry version of okonomiyaki – it sucks. We went to a okonomiyaki restaurant a couple of weeks ago – darin ordered scallop okonomiyaki and I was adventurous and ordered monjayaki – she brought out a bowl of what looked like water and cabbage – it was completely thin – NO flour – it ended up as a mushy mesh on the hotplate and I sulked so darin shared his okonomiyaki.

  7. Rachael says:
    May 19, 2004 at 04:08

    I love your new slippers! And the fact that you called them swiffer slippers… that’s definitely what mine do….
    As to motion sickness, I get it mildly, but the best boat trip I ever had was when I boarded queasy from a hangover. Somehow the rolling just evened out. Odd, that. Somehow, though, I don’t think drinking heavily will be a good idea before sailing….

  8. Em/Michelle says:
    May 19, 2004 at 05:23

    Mariko, you always write interesting posts! Like today, I learned about a dish that I’d never had before. And it sounds yummy!

  9. heidi says:
    May 19, 2004 at 08:31

    Hey, I think okonomiyaki is a perfectly good blogging topic. Yum.
    Maybe you could tell us your dog’s life story if you haven’t done that already. Seems like an interesting character to me!

  10. kat says:
    May 19, 2004 at 09:23

    love okonomiyaki…there is a restaurant here in honolulu that makes “fancy gourmet” okonomiyaki. it’s one of the dishes i miss the most from growing up in japan. please email me…i would love to send you some things from hawaii…

  11. Rose says:
    May 19, 2004 at 10:13

    I love okonomiyaki… That’s is one thing I miss about being in Japan and I think I did go to that place in Vancouver that Erica speaks of… On Robson??? Yum.

  12. Rose says:
    May 19, 2004 at 10:18

    Oh and have you ever tried just chewing on candied ginger or ginger candy or drinking ginger water for motion sickness? I carry it all the time when I fly, just in case. I think Trader Joes carries ginger candy on occasion. If not, email me, I can get the candy for you.

  13. melissa says:
    May 19, 2004 at 10:24

    beautiful presentation! I like your placemats too.

  14. Sara says:
    May 19, 2004 at 13:15

    Yum – I miss okonimiyaki too – I’ll have to check out the place in Portland (40th and Powell, you say?). In Kyoto and Osaka, they make a version with cheese – sounds weird, but sooo good! I had an unconrollable urge for curry rice the other day and actually found SB Curry Roux in my local grocery (Bend, OR)- I guess the world is becoming more international.

  15. becky says:
    May 19, 2004 at 13:29

    we went for lunch at Kyo-Fu in Portland a few months ago. The meat on ours was a bit too tough, but I will give it another try.
    (The location is all wrong for that resaurant. There’s nothing around it!)

  16. PattiG says:
    May 20, 2004 at 13:33

    When I lived in Japan, okonomiyaki was my second-favorite treat after yaki-niku. I don’t like fish, so I was grateful when the menu had this carbolicious treat!

  17. Erica says:
    May 20, 2004 at 23:06

    Oh, how I love Pa Jun too… I really should learn to cook this stuff. Rose, I’m sure there is an okonomiyaki place on Robson (I recently read about another one in the newspaper) but the one I was referring to is called Clubhouse – it’s on West 2nd I think? Just over the Cambie St. bridge from downtown.

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