Since I came across Hiroyuki's great okonomiyaki recipe, it took us 3 attempts to create the perfect okonomiyaki for us. I am responsible for the dough and Ben does the rest.
Normally, we throw leftovers from Japanese meals into the dough, but today I have created a version from scratch.
Ingredients for 4 okonomiyaki (these are only rough guidelines, your mileage may vary):
1 carrot, about 75 g
half a zucchini, about 150 g
several cabbage leaves, about 100 g
5 to 6 medium-sized Swiss brown mushrooms, about 150 g
4 eggs
200 g white flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
200 ml water
50 ml milk
half a teaspoon instant kombu dashi (substitute with fat-free stock powder or Vegeta - as shown below)
Vegetable oil (we use peanut oil) for frying
Trim and peel the carrot. Wash the zucchini. Coarsely grate both.
Coarsely cut the cabbage into 1-cm squares. You should have about 1 cup (250 ml) full of cabbage squares.
(The blue shovel is a measuring cup for 1 cup.)
Sift the flour into a bowl. Add the baking powder and instant dashi (or stock powder or Vegeta). By and by, add the milk and water and stir to combine. Lastly, add the eggs and stir them into the dough.
Then add the vegetables and fold them into the dough. It should look like this now:
(If you like your mushroom slices thicker, you will need more mushrooms.)
Bring some oil in a pan (we use a rather small pan of 23 cm diameter) to medium heat. Ladle a quarter of the dough into the pan and cover. Fry for a minute, then scatter mushroom slices on top.
Cover and fry for 3 more minutes, then flip the okonomiyaki over, cover, and fry for 4 minutes.
It should look like this.
(The times and temperatures may vary greatly depending on your stove. You may have to experiment a bit until it works out perfectly.) Fry 3 more okonomiyaki like that.
Up to now, this recipe might sound heavily westernized ;) but okonomiyaki wouldn't be okonomiyaki without proper condiments, like this beni shouga:
We also use aonori, Japanese mayonnaise, and I use okonomiyaki sauce and katsuobushi (Ben doesn't).
(There is katsuobushi in the cereal container on the right.)
At this point, I'd like to thank Hiroyuki for doing his blog, which has been extremely entertaining and a constant source of inspiration!
Thank you for your kind words about my blog!
ReplyDeleteIt's amusing to see Japanese ingredients on a Swiss table (laugh). Beni shoga, mayo, katsuobushi, aonori, and even okonomiyaki sauce! (They must cost you dear, right?)
Swiss ingradients like brown mushrooms (I've never seen them before) and Vegata are also quite interesting. Keep up the good work!
Coincidentlly, I'm thinking of making okonomiyaki using leftover "yamato imo" (a type of yam) this weekend, when my son comes home early. I'll post about it when I do.
You're welcome :)
DeleteI do always spend a lot of money when I pay a visit to one of the stores in Zurich that carry Japanese products. But that is mainly because I buy larger supplies of sake there, which is a lot more expensive at my local supermarket. I love atsukan :)
Vegeta is not a Swiss ingredient. Originally, it comes from Croatia.
Agaricus bisporus, the common mushroom, is the one mushroom you will find in any store in central Europe. My Japanese friend calls them マッシュルーム. There is also a white variety.
We had shiitake in the fridge as well, but I wanted to make the recipe as westernized as possible, so European readers don't have too much trouble to recreate the dish.