Okonomiyaki

Today, thanks to a great reader suggestion, we made okonomiyaki, a sort of grilled-anything cabbage pancake. There are about as many variations of this as there are cooks, so I'm just showing my version - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBf194nb6_Q

it gives enough of a guideline for you to adjust it to your tastes. It's basically a pancake batter of flour, broth, egg and cabbage, flavored with shrimp, octopus, squid, pork, chicken and topped off with a special sauce, mayonnaise. What I love about this dish is that there are endless ways to present it and flavor it - so go wild. This is one of the first dishes I ate in Japan and it remains one of my favorites!

Every region has its own variation and I think the best is made with grated mountain yam (yama imo) instead of water, but if that isn't available, my version is an acceptable substitute. Some stores might sell "okonomiyaki mix," which contains some of the flavorings and yam powder. It gives the most authentic taste! If you don't have the mix, then try my way!

To make about 4 pancakes: Stir together a batter of 1 cup regular flour, 1 tsp. baking powder (optional, it lightens the batter), 3/4 c. broth (Japanese flavored broth dashi, consomme cube or plain water), 1 egg. Add 4 cups finely shredded cabbage and 1/4 c. chopped green onion. Stir to blend.

Heat griddle. Grease generously. Place meats on griddle and top with a quarter of the cabbage mixture. Allow about 1/2 c of meats per serving, which can be any mixture of chicken, pork, octopus, squid, shrimp, bacon, ham or a raw egg. Cook on both sides.

Toppings: We use okonomi sauce (or you can use tonkatsu sauce), mayonnaise, dried bonito fish flakes katsuo, powdered nori seaweed and red pickled ginger. If you cannot buy okonomi sauce, you can make a similar quick sauce by mixing 3 Tb. ketchup, 1 Tb. Worcestershire sauce and 1 tsp. soy sauce. Visit http://okonomiyakirecipes.nthmost.com/quick-okonomi-sauce-recipe/ for some other ideas.