Okonomiyaki (It’s what you want!)

                        Okonomiyaki  (It’s what you want.)

It was 85 degrees in Denver on Sunday. You might say it was just a bit warm for Denver on April 1st. Nature’s way of joking with us. Of course today it is snowing which is really typical for spring in the Rockies. I say, Mother Nature, bring it on! We need the moisture. In any case; Sunday found me going to the grocery and buying what I needed to do my Passover baking and to get those care packages off to my kids. I must say-I did a pretty good job and those recipes are coming. But first—what you want!

I was perusing the web in case I missed any new recipes and one site I enjoy looking at is Food 52. Check it out. You see I needed fortitude before beginning my baking and frankly, my diet has been lacking in Asian cuisine. I get withdrawals if I don’t get it enough. And that’s when I saw it. Okonomiyaki-translated in Japanese means what you like or want. Well, I was wanting and going to the grocery, so I could pick up what I needed. In actuality, I didn’t need much. Okonomiyaki is a bit like egg foo yung, only better. And easy. And quick. And adaptable. And satisfying to my tummy. Well, let’s just cut to the quick and say I ate it for lunch, dinner and breakfast and in that order!

Pretty much you are on your own to customize this as you see fit. The basic recipe is great, but I saw a zillion recipes when I did some research. You can throw in bacon, ham, ground pork, dried sausage or leftover chicken. In Japan they even make special flour for this. The next time I will definitely get some pickled ginger and bean sprouts to add. Didn’t have those this time and they weren’t necessary but I think they would taste great and add some extra crunch. Recipes say to add bonito dried fish flakes to the top before you serve. I had it this way in a restaurant and it looks like the pancake is moving. Cool effect but I don’t recall that it improved the taste.

So go ahead and make this. It is what you want. All my favorite flavors-salty, savory and with a little sweet chili sauce on top you get that salty sweet thing going on. Yeah. OH YEAH.

                                     Frying the not so little pancakes

Okonomiyaki
Serves about 4
Time to Make: About 30 minutes total
Ingredients:

4 large eggs

1 t soy sauce

1 t sesame oil

1 t salt

1/3 c flour

2 c shredded cabbage (I bought the angel hair preshredded in a package)

1 bunch scallions chopped finely (These are really essential. Don’t skimp.)

3/4 c shrimp (I bought those teeny salad shrimp in the freezer case)

1/4 c chopped cilantro

1/3c finely shredded carrot

Sesame seeds to sprinkle

Directions:

Mix eggs, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt and flour together. Stir in rest of stuff. Heat a couple tablespoons of canola oil over medium high heat. Ladle large spoonfuls of egg mixture into hot skillet (like pancakes). Cook about 3 minutes on each side. (If you have bean sprouts I would add them on one side to give a nice crunch. If you wanted pickled ginger stir it into your mixture before cooking.)

Sauce (Yes, all good things come with sauce)

1/2 c mayo (light if you want)

2T soy sauce

2 t Sriracha (the good spicy stuff)

Mix all together in mixing cup with your handy dandy tiny whisk. Drizzle in stripes on your pancakes. Garnish with sesame seeds. And I added a little bit of sweet chili sauce. Yum!

That’s it. Now get started on your baking. You are well fortified and have enough salt in you that you can resist all that sugar.