Japanese Street Food Recipe - Okonomiyaki - Japanese pancake

"Okonomi" means favourite or as you like it and "yaki" means grilled so you can really add whatever you like to this savoury pancake recipe (i.e. vegetables, seafood, meat etc). This is a popular Japanese street food and I remember eating it at Japanese festivals with ingredients like octopus and shrimp in it. It's a popular Japanese street food.

I'm sharing this basic okonomiyaki recipe with you but please add your favourite ingredients or whatever you have at home in the fridge!

Ingredients:

100g plain flour

250g savoy cabbage (finely shredded)

2 spring onions/ scallions (finely cut diagnolly)

200ml dashi stock or 200ml water with 1 tsp of hondashi (instant fish stock granules)

4 eggs (preferably free range or organic)

6-8 slices of bacon/ rashers (depending on size)

For the okonomiyaki sauce/ tonkatsu sauce
3 tbsp tomato ketchup
4 tbsp water
3 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp sake or red wine
1 tbsp soya sauce

1 tsp sugar

To garnish

Okonomiyaki sauce/ tonkatsu sauce

Mayonnaise

Milled nori or dillisk seaweed, optional

Beni shoga (pickled red ginger), optional
Katsuobushi (dried fish flakes), optional

Vegetable oil (for frying)

Instructions:

1. Put all the ingredients for the tonkatsu sauce in a saucepan and leave to simmer for about 10 minutes until it thickens to the same consistency as tomato ketchup. Then set aside and allow to cool.

2. Place the shredded cabbage and spring onion in a large bowl and completely coat in flour.

3. Whisk the eggs and dashi together in a jug. Pour over the cabbage and mix well together.

4. Heat vegetable oil in a non stick frying pan on medium to high heat.

5. When the pan is hot completely cover the base of the frying pan in one single layer of bacon slices and fry for a few minutes.

6. Carefully place the cabbage mix on top of the layer of bacon until completely covered (depending on the size of your pan you may use most of the cabbage mix or only half).

7. Fry for a few more minutes then if you are not confident to flip the pancake do the following. Place a large plate over the frying pan and turn the pancake onto the plate. Now, slide the pancake with the uncooked part facing down onto the frying pan.

9. Continue to fry for less than 5 minutes on medium to low heat. When ready place on a serving plate with the bacon side of the pancake facing up.

10. To garnish, using a spoon/ brush cover the top of the pancake with tonkatsu sauce. Decorate with lines of mayonnaise and milled seaweed as shown in the picture on the left below. Finally top with katsuobushi and beni shoga (optional ingredients) as shown in the picture on the right below. 

Mini okonomiyaki pancakes:
You can make mini pancakes if you prefer. Simply place one slice of bacon on the frying pan and after frying for a few minutes carefully place a few tablespoons of cabbage mix on top of the bacon. Fry and garnish in the same way as the instructions for the large pancake above. 

Tips:
Traditionally a Japanese type of potato called nagaimo is grated and added to the batter to help make it lighter. This vegetable can be found in Asian stores.

Cucumber, carrot & wakame (seaweed) salad

This is a refreshing Japanese salad with a pickled dressing that can be served on the side with other dishes. 

Ingredients:

1 cucumber

2 large carrots (peeled)

2 tbsp dried wakame seaweed

For the dressing

100ml rice vinegar

3 tsp sugar

Half tsp salt

Instructions:
1. Put all the ingredients for the dressing in a clean empty jam jar or a small lunch box. Secure with a lid and shake the dressing a few times to allow the sugar to dissolve into the rice vinegar. Set aside.

2. Place the dried wakame seaweed in water for about 10 minutes and then drain on kitchen towel.
 
3. Cut the cucumber in half. Use a tablespoon to take the seeds out of the middle of the cucumber. Slice the cucumber into bite size pieces.
 
4. Use a peeler or grater to finely slice the carrots.
 
5. Place all ingredients in a large salad bowl.


6. Pour the dressing over the ingredients and mix well. Leave in the fridge for 20 minutes before serving.

Easy Japanese Meals - my Japanese Cooking Demos

I had my first Japanese cooking demo focusing on "Easy Japanese Meals" on February 13th in Miele Gallery Citywest Dublin. I was really pleased to kick off my 2014 series of cooking demos with a full house. Hopefully this will continue for the rest of the year. Thanks to all who attended and gave me such positive feedback on facebook and via email. 

My next demos are on March 6th and April 14th, I'm currently taking bookings with places still available. If you'd like to book a place send an email to fionasjapanesecooking@gmail.com or comment here. 

Here is a sneak preview of the recipes covered in the Easy Japanese Meals class:

- Refreshing Japanese salad

- Yakisoba

- Chicken katsu curry

- Poached fish in a teriyaki sauce

- And lots more.........

I'm attaching the article that Marie Claire Digby from the Irish Times wrote about my classes. I received an overwhelming response from the Irish public after the publication of this article. It looks like people living in Ireland have a real interest in Japanese food and culture. 

Steamed seabass with freshly sliced ginger and scallion

We had this dish for dinner tonight to celebrate Chinese New Year. It's a special time of year in our family as my brother-in-law (William) is Chinese. William is head chef in his own restaurant, Ngai's in Athy, Co. Kildare so his Chinese cooking is pretty good! I wish I could take credit for this dish but he showed me how to make it. Ngai's restaurant has a selection of authentic Chinese dishes on the menu including this one. I hope you enjoy it.

Gong Xi Fa Choi - Happy Chinese New Year

Ingredients:

Whole seabass

Thumb size piece ginger (peeled and thinly sliced into strips)

Few scallions/ spring onion (sliced into strips)

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tbsp soy sauce

Instructions:

1. Ask your fish monger to clean and scale the fish. 

2. Place in a steamer for about 7-10 minutes depending on the size of the fish.

3. Once cooked place on a large serving plate and toss the strips of ginger and scallion over the fish. 

4. Heat the vegetable in a saucepan until smoking hot.

5. Pour the oil evenly over the fish and then pour the soy sauce in the same way. 

6. Serve with steamed rice and stir fried Chinese greens.

Edamame hummus

 
This recipe is a healthy lunchbox filler or an easy party food.

Ingredients:
200g edamame
1 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tbsp olive oil
Half tsp sesame oil
Half clove garlic
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp water
Freshly ground salt and pepper (to season)

You'll need:
Pestle and mortar
Blender

Instructions:
1. Toss the sesame seeds on a roasting tray and place in a pre-heated oven for about 5 minutes.

2. Using a pestle and mortar, grind the hot sesame seeds until most of the seeds are cracked and ground.

3. Place the frozen edamame in a saucepan of boiling water, reduce the heat and simmer for a few minutes. Then drain.

4. Remove the edamame beans from the outer pod by using your fingers to gently squeeze the beans out of the pod. Remember you can't eat the outer pods!

5. Place all the cooked edamame beans, ground sesame seeds and the remaining ingredients in a blender and blitz until the texture is nice and creamy.

6. If you think the mixture is too dry then add a little more olive oil or water.

Tips:
- To add a little spice to this recipe add cayenne pepper or Japanese seven spice (nanami togarashi).
- This hummus goes really well with toasted pitta bread, carrot or celery sticks.

Extreme Greens Understanding Seaweeds by Sally McKenna

I was delighted to meet Sally McKenna and her husband John last year when we were interviewed together on the Sue Nunn show on KCLR 96FM. During that interview Sally spoke about her recently published book "Extreme Greens Understanding Seaweeds" so I got to experience first-hand her passion for seaweed and great knowledge of everything about it. According to Darina Allen it is "a book that needed to be written".

 After spending time in Japan as a foreign student many years ago I returned to Ireland completely fascinated by seaweed. I questioned why an island nation such as Ireland didn't use seaweed the same way as Japan. After reading the introduction in Sally's book it appears we somehow lost our knowledge and appreciation of seaweed that our ancestors possessed. Sally mentions in her book that in pre-famine days the order of work for the woman of the house was said to be 1. potatoes (prataí) 2. children (páiste) and 3. seaweed (feamainn). 

In the past few years Ireland has rekindled its love and appreciation for seaweed. Irish seaweed companies are starting to sell this wonderful resource in shops across Ireland so we can use it in our everyday cooking. 

If you have an interest in learning about seaweed then this book is a user friendly guide. While reading Extreme Greens, I felt Sally's close connection to nature and her passion for seaweed and everything it represents.

These are some of the things I like about the book:
- gives you general knowledge on all aspects of seaweed including drying, storing, foraging
- outlines the wonderful health benefits of seaweed
- practical approach to cooking with seaweed (incl tips for using it for children's meals)
- easy to follow instructions on how to make homemade cosmetics using seaweed

Other reviews written about Extreme Greens:

Huffington Post
West Cork Times
Darina Allen

Saba shioyaki - grilled mackerel recipe

 

A Japanese work colleague once told me that Japanese cooking is about bringing the flavour out of the food rather than creating complicated sauces to cover the taste of the food. This simple recipe called "saba shioyaki" demonstrates the Japanese way of cooking using only salt and letting the mackerel do the rest of the work. I'd encourage you to buy mackerel fillets from your local fishmonger to make sure that you get really fresh ones. Mackerel is known for not staying fresh for long.

I love cooking mackerel at home because it's really tasty and cheap! I bought these mackerel fillets for just over €3 from my local fishmonger.

This recipe will take a few minutes to prepare and then less than ten minutes to cook.

Ingredients:
Sea salt
Fresh mackerel fillets
Vegetable oil (for frying)

Instructions:

1. Generously season the mackerel fillets with sea salt on both sides.

2. Pour vegetable oil into a non stick frying pan and set the heat medium to high.

3. Once the pan is hot place the mackerel fillets on the pan skin side down and fry for a few minutes depending on the size. Then turn over and cook the other side for another few minutes until cooked through. The skin should be nice and crispy.

4. Serve with a salad or with rice and vegetables. Traditionally in Japan saba shioyaki is served with grated daikon (mooli) and soy sauce.