Okonomiyaki (Japanese Pizza)

Submitted by Box Dog

Okonomiyaki means "whatever you like, grilled" in Japanese. It's one definition of "Japanese pizza" because, well, it does kinda look like pizza, and you eat it like one too. And did I mention it's piss easy to make?

Today we'll be making Osaka-style Okonomiyaki. It's also popular in Hiroshima, but it's a little harder to make and doesn't appear to pay off much more in the taste department!

Ingredients

Base:

• 1 cup flour
• 3/4 cup dashi (or water, see below)*Dashi
• 1 egg
• 1/8-1/4 of a cabbage

Toppings - any of the below:

• Chicken
• Roast pork or beef
• Squid, Octopus, other seafood
• Corn
• Mushrooms
• Onion

Garnishing - any of the below, if you can find it and actually want it:

• Katsuo-bushi (dried bonito flakes)
• Sakura-ebi (dried shrimps)
• Beni-shoga (red ginger)
• Ao-nori (green seaweed)

Sauces:

• Okonomiyaki sauce (or tonkatsu sauce)
• Mayonnaise

*Dashi is Japanese stock, used in heaps of different recipes. When made up it smells like smoked fish and seaweed. You can buy it from oriental grocers in sachets that come in boxes like the one to the right of the beer in the picture above. Just mix up a bit with some hot water. If you can't find it, it's okay - just use water.

Method

So firstly grab that cabbage and chop it up finely. Better to have too much than too little because it shrinks a little as it cooks, and it's mega cheap anyway. Get out as much of the white stem parts as you can.

Now break an egg into a large bowl and pour in the dashi/water, and the flour.

Then beat with a whisk until smooth.