Whatever You Like, Fried

Remember when J. was staying with me while she recovered from being run over by an SUV? Well, on the last night she was here, she made something called okonomiyaki for dinner. It is a kind of Japanese snack food, a cabbage pancake. The word, J. told me, translates roughly to “Whatever you like, fried,” which is fine by me.

Traditionally, you bind the chopped cabbage together with flour, dashi stock, egg, grated taro root, sweet potato flour, bonito flakes, and whatever else you like. You can mix in meat, shrimp, other vegetables, noodles…the list goes on. Then it gets pan fried with a few pieces of bacon on top (they will finish cooking when you flip it) and topped with bonito flakes, okonomiyaki sauce (sweet, tangy, brown, ineffable), and mayonnaise (ideally Kewpie brand*).

So this week, M. was coming over for dinner, and we had to figure out something interesting to make. I still had that half a head of cabbage tucked away in my vegetable drawer, and she didn’t seem put off at the idea of making something I know very little about. So we gave it a go, working very loosely from this Okonomiyaki recipe (cookies required, and not the good kind) from Just Hungry. For the record, M. is not only a charming dining companion, but also very handy as sous chef and staff photographer.

(The shots that are way overexposed are the ones I took).

My version still needs to be tweaked. I made the (probably novice) mistake of making one giant pancake instead of 2 smaller ones, and it sort of fell apart when we flipped it. That could also be due to the fact that I have yet to have that particular pan replaced under Calphalon’s amazing lifetime warranty. I will also be braver next time and buy some taro root, and maybe even make some dashi instead of just using water. And the ratio of cabbage to batter could use some adjustments, probably. I’ll update this next time I try it, but it’s too delicious not to share right away:

Totally Inauthentic Okonomiyaki

1/4 c flour
1/4 c + 1 Tbsp water
3 eggs
4 oz sweet potato, finely grated
1-2 Tbsp soy sauce
1-2 tsp fish sauce
Pickled ginger, chopped, to taste
2 c chopped cabbage (about 1/4 head)
2-3 scallions, chopped
4-6 slices Canadian bacon (or pork belly, or whatever)
vegetable oil
mayo
okonomiyaki sauce (for sale in Asian markets, or there are any number of recipes floating on the interwebs)
bonito flakes

Whisk together the flour and water, then mix in the eggs, grated sweet potato, soy sauce fish sauce, and ginger. Add the cabbage and scallions and mix it all together.

Heat a skillet over medium heat and drizzle in a little vegetable oil. When it’s hot, pour in half the batter and top with a few slices of the bacon (photo shows 1 large pancake).

Cover and let it cook for a while, until the egg has started to set a little. Flip and cover again until it’s cooked all the way through. Repeat for second pancake.

Drizzle with sauce and mayo, and sprinkle some bonito flakes on top.

We also made this Italian Parsley and Beet Salad from Gourmet. It is an absolutely gorgeous dish, but not as flavorful as we’d expected. It takes ages and ages to julienne the beets when you have lost the julienne blade for your mandoline, and your hands wind up stained red for a day. But it still takes less time than roasting beets whole…

Julienne a pound and a half of beets.

Mix in a quarter of a red onion, sliced very thinly.

Add a cup and a quarter of chopped parsley, and toss with the lemon/orange/olive oil dressing (we suspect there should be more of that than the recipe calls for).

Toss all together and let it marinate a little.

Serve with ricotta cheese.

*Yes, Lindsay, Kewpie makes mayonnaise. I didn’t know, either. The bottle even has a little baby embossed on it, though I hadn’t noticed until M. pointed it out.