Okonomiyaki Authentic Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is in traditional okonomiyaki? ›

Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き) is a savory Japanese cabbage pancake. I've seen okonomiyaki referred to as a “Japanese pizza” or “Japanese frittata” in the U.S. The batter is made with flour, tempura scraps (tenkasu), grated yam (nagaimo or yamaimo), and eggs.

What is Okonomiyaki? As a quick translation, okonomi (as you like it) + yaki (grilled) stands for a simple pancake batter made from flour, eggs and stock flavoured water (usually dashi), filled with cabbage and other tasty ingredients like pork, shrimp or corn.

As mentioned earlier, there are two main variations of okonomiyaki: Kansai-style (also called Osaka-style) and Hiroshima-style. The cooking steps above are for the Kansai-style, which is the style of okonomiyaki most commonly found in Japan.

In Osaka style okonomiyaki, all of the ingredients are mixed together and cooked together. In Hiroshima style okonomiyaki, all of the ingredients are layered almost like a cake. Soba or udon noodles are also added to Hiroshima-yaki in another layer as well. (Although they do add noodles to okonomiyaki in Osaka.

A type of pan-fried batter or savoury pancake, monjayaki is Tokyo's answer to okonomiyaki, the iconic dish of Hiroshima and Osaka. Monjayaki retains a slightly runny appearance much like melted cheese even when cooked – but the delicious concoction tastes better than it looks.

Along with takoyaki, this dish may rightly be described as Osaka soul food. While both dishes involve dissolving flour in dashi, okonomiyaki includes cabbage—a non-negotiable ingredient—usually along with pork, as well as whichever additional ingredients you like.

Okonomiyaki is traditionally made with dashi, the essential Japanese soup stock, so if you have it, please use it in place of the vegetable stock. Half a regular-sized cabbage is all you'll need for this recipe and you could also substitute with purple cabbage.

Okonomiyaki flour is made of unbleached wheat and soy flours, leavening and spices such as kelp for flavor. It's designed to rise naturally on its own, meaning you don't need to add extra ingredients like nagaimo to get thick, fluffy pancakes.

They are known to move or dance when used as a topping on foods such as okonomiyaki and takoyaki. It can be an odd sight upon first viewing if moving food makes you squeamish. However, it is nothing to be alarmed about. The bonito flakes move due to their thin and light structure upon the hot food and are not alive.

Okonomiyaki, hailing from Osaka, features a thick batter loaded with cabbage and ingredients mixed together and cooked like a pancake. Monjayaki, from Tokyo, stands out with a thinner, runnier batter and a melt-in-your-mouth texture. Ingredients are first cooked separately, and then the batter is added.

What is a fun fact about okonomiyaki? ›

The word "okonomiyaki" is derived from "okonomi" meaning "as you like" and "yaki" meaning "grilled. It's commonly referred to as being a Japanese pancake. Accurate to its name, okonomiyaki can be served with a variety of toppings which include everything from meat and seafood to vegetables and cheese.

Hiroshimafu-okonomiyaki is cooked by making layers of flour batter, yakisoba and pork, so each flavor and layer never get mixed, while Modanyaki is cooked by mixing and grilling okonomiyaki batter and yakisoba all together. Modanyaki is still Osaka styled Okonomiyaki but with Yakisoba in it.

Kansai style

Kansai-style okonomiyaki is the base on which other styles begin. A simple combination of cabbage, flour and egg cooked on an iron griddle and then topped with sliced pork and savory-sweet barbecue sauce, drizzled in Japanese mayonnaise and sprinkled with Aonori—powdered dried seaweed.

Yamaimo/Nagaimo

Japanese yam (either yamaimo which is mountain yam or nagaimo which is long yam), help give the batter a fluffy, bouncy texture. Sometimes people make okonomiyaki without it (just add more baking powder), but I prefer it since it really makes the texture much better.

Okonomiyaki is popular all over Japan, particularly in the Kansai region, which includes Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe, and in Hiroshima, some 300km down the Inland Sea coast from Osaka.

Katsuobushi (Japanese: 鰹節) is simmered, smoked and fermented skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis, sometimes referred to as bonito). It is also known as bonito flakes or broadly as okaka (おかか).

Modan-yaki is when okonomiyaki has noodles included as a layer. The noodles used are either yakisoba or udon noodles, and are cooked inside the okonomiyaki, in addition to the cut up pieces of proteins and vegetables.

For Kansai-style okonomiyaki, ingredients are mixed into a flour batter and then cooked as a single-layered pancake. In contrast, the Hiroshima-style layers its ingredients, beginning with a thin fried egg and crepe-like batter followed by vegetables, meat and stir-fried noodles.