Okonomiyaki

Ever since coming back from our great spring break excursion, everyone wants to know, “how was Japan?” Obviously, it’s a tough question to answer in time in which most people are interested in listening, but without fail I make sure to include mention of our favorite meal: okonomiyaki.

Often described (ridiculously) as “Japanese pizza” or a savory pancake, it’s far, far more than that. Like many foods, it changes from region to region, but we had ours in Hiroshima, a city known for (among other, less auspicious, things) its okonomiyaki.

This delicious dish is prepared entirely on a big, hot griddle. It starts with something akin to a crepe. After the batter is poured and spread sufficiently thin, a huge handful of shredded cabbage is added and a healthy portion of bean sprouts. At this point, the mass is easily six to eight inches tall. Spices are added and the heap is topped with two slices of pork that looks a lot like bacon, but is about three times a wide. Then, this entire mound of food is flipped to cook the pork and cook down the veggies.

In the meantime, the chef is nearby grilling some already cooked noodles on the griddle. You can choose from Japanese udon or Chinese mein. Les and I are udon people and chose it both times, but mein seemed to be popular among others.

After the pork is cooked and the whole lot has been compressed with a spatula, the pork/cabbage/bean sprout/crepe pile is placed on top of the grilled noodles.

Next, an egg is cracked, yolk broken, and the whole thing spread to cover about the same area as the crepe originally did. After a moment of cooking, the pork/cabbage/bean sprout/crepe/noodle mass is placed atop the egg, the entire stacked is flipped, brushed with a delectable, spicy-sweet red sauce, and served.

If you ever stumble across this creation on a menu in Japan or anywhere else, we highly recommend it.

See you in June!