Okonomiyaki

In the last two days or so, I’ve become obsessed with a food blog called “Closet Cooking.” It was started by a guy who realized one day that he was eating the same things over and over again, and wanted to spice up his daily dining experiences. So he dove right into the world of cooking and went from making grilled cheese sandwiches to inventing caramelized pear and gorgonzola quiches. Meanwhile, I’m making 30-minute skillet chicken parmesan…

One of the recipes on the blog that caught my eye was the one for Okonomiyaki. My experience with Japanese cuisine has been limited mainly to teriyaki and sushi, but I’m an avid watcher of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations, and I knew about okonomiyaki from his visit to Osaka. They’re basically just savory pancakes filled with whatever you want. In my case, I wanted lots and lots of vegetables to counter all the crap food I’ve been eating lately. Grated carrots and cucumbers, chopped green onions and cabbage. No bacon! Although I bet bacon would be really delicious in this…

I was almost done cooking before I realized that I didn’t have either okonomiyaki sauce or Japanese mayonnaise to spread on top of the pancakes. I wasn’t sure if okonomiyaki without sauce qualified as okonomiyaki, but I figured that as long as I had some kind of mayo on there I was in the clear. So, I whipped up some zesty Ranch mayo and drizzled that over my pancakes instead. I thought the tangy, creamy mayo was delicious, but Dan didn’t like it as much and chose to eat his okonomiyaki with sriracha sauce instead. I tasted a bite from his plate, and I can testify that the pancakes are delicious no matter which sauce you go with..

Recipe for Okonomiyaki can be found here.