{"id":16282,"date":"2014-06-10T16:47:36","date_gmt":"2014-06-10T14:47:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/?p=16282"},"modified":"2014-06-10T16:47:36","modified_gmt":"2014-06-10T14:47:36","slug":"negiyaki-%e3%81%ad%e3%81%8e%e7%84%bc%e3%81%8d-okonomiyaki-with-green-onions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/?p=16282","title":{"rendered":"Negiyaki \u306d\u304e\u713c\u304d (Okonomiyaki with Green Onions)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"oko_negip\"Those of you who remember my\u00a0passion for okonomiyaki will not be surprised to see one more version of this amazing savoury pancake. During\u00a0my experiments\u00a0I learnt that its versatility has no end.\u00a0Even white cabbage, the pillar ingredient of okonomiyaki, can be successfully replaced\u00a0with\u00a0bok choy<\/a>\u00a0and – as I discovered\u00a0during my last trip to Tokyo –\u00a0with “negi”, a Japanese cousin of our leek and\u00a0green onion.\u00a0Original negi is not available here, but now that green onions are cheap and sold in huge bunches, it is\u00a0a perfect moment to try to\u00a0copy this delicious light summer\u00a0version.<\/p>\n

For those who have never heard of okonomiyaki (\u304a\u597d\u307f\u713c\u304d),\u00a0it is\u00a0described either as a Japanese “savoury pancake”\u00a0or “pizza”. The name means\u00a0<\/em>more or less \u201cgrill what you like\u201d and resumes very well its versatile character. Okonomiyaki is composed of a batter, traditionally mixed with chopped or sliced white cabbage, and of a very generous choice of toppings,\u00a0which usually include a special okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise, katsuobushi (dried and shaved bonito), green onions, pickled ginger, ao nori (seaweed “flakes”)… The basic cabbage batter can be enriched with sliced pork, beef, raw calamar\u00a0or\u00a0dried shrimp\u00a0and it is often topped with thinly sliced pork belly, fried when the panckage is flipped. <\/em><\/span>There are two main variations of okonomiyaki: Kansai\/Osaka-style\u00a0(the one I “practice” and describe above), and a very filling\u00a0Hiroshima style, which contains also cooked noodles.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I don’t recall the name or the location of the place where I tasted this particular okonomiyaki, but I remember very well that I loved its surprising lightness. Negi, the Japanese plant used instead of the usual cabbage, has different\u00a0varieties; some are closer to Western\u00a0green onions; some are closer to the leek. It also depends whether the green or whiteish parts are used. In the okonomiyaki I had in Tokyo only negi’s green parts were\u00a0used and they were quite thin, so I decided to replace them with green onion’s green parts. I was worried my experiment would yield too harsh\u00a0flavours because negi is milder than green onions, but\u00a0luckily I was wrong: the green onion pancake was perfect! The taste was delicate and much lighter in taste than the cabbage or bok choy version. I think I should call it “summer okonomiyaki” because due to the huge amount of green onions, abundant in\u00a0the summer, and its pleasant lightness, this\u00a0is an ideal dish\u00a0for this time of the year.<\/p>\n

I have recently discovered that any okonomiyaki batter tastes much better when a crushed garlic clove is added, so this one includes garlic too. If you don’t like garlic, just skip it.<\/p>\n

Here are some other okonomiyaki versions I have posted:<\/p>\n

\"Okonomiyaki<\/a>
with Chorizo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Okonomiyaki<\/a>
with Bok Choy and Chicken<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Okonomiyaki<\/a>
with Chicken<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\"Okonomiyaki<\/a>
with Eringi Mushrooms and Bacon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"...with<\/a>
with Red Cabbage and Garlic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\n

TIPS:\u00a0Okonomiyaki batter mixture in powder can be bought in Japanese grocery shops or prepared from the scratch. Personally I am happy to prepare it from the scratch since it takes two minutes and I\u2019m sure it tastes better. My batter recipe\u00a0is usually composed of an egg, flour, dashi (Japanese stock), salt, pepper, baking powder and, last but not least, grated mountain yam (or yamaimo in Japanese), a slimy cousin of the potato (I find it in organic shops but it is sold in Asian groceries too) and I sometimes add a splash of milk. Here I have skipped the egg to make the batter even lighter, but if you cannot get the yam, replace it with one small egg.\u00a0Dashi is\u00a0not obligatory. When I don\u2019t have yam or dashi, I simply omit them, trying to keep the same pancake-like texture (milk or stock or even water can be used instead of dashi). The result is still delicious, albeit slightly different.<\/p>\n

The Japanese often top okonomiyaki with thinly sliced raw pork belly (it is put on top of the pancake and then is grilled when the pancake is flipped). I prefer by far smoked bacon and I have discovered the best product is dried and smoked bacon (though I’m not sure it is easily found everywhere). Smoked bacon goes perfectly with katsuobushi’s smokey aroma.<\/p>\n

Pickled ginger is one of the usual ingredients here, but I prefer to serve it aside rather than inside the batter or on top of it.<\/p>\n

Okonomiyaki sauce can be bought in every Japanese grocery shop, but I find it too sweet, so thanks to Hiroyuki<\/a> I have been preparing my own quick okonomiyaki sauce, mixing soy sauce, ketchup and Worcestershire sauce in ratios suiting my preferences.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Special equipment: a big pancake spatula is very useful to flip okonomiyaki<\/em><\/p>\n

Preparation: about 30 minutes<\/em><\/p>\n

Ingredients (serves 1):<\/em><\/p>\n

Batter:<\/em><\/p>\n

3\u00a0slightly heaped tablespoons wheat flour<\/em><\/p>\n

30 ml (about 1 oz)\u00a0dashi<\/a>\u00a0(Japanese stock,\u00a0home-made<\/a>\u00a0or instant) or milk or a mixture of both or chicken stock or simply water<\/em><\/p>\n

4\u00a0tablespoons grated mountain yam (yamaimo) \u00a0or 1 small raw egg\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

1 garlic clove, grated or crushed<\/em><\/p>\n

salt<\/em><\/p>\n

1\/4 flat teaspoon baking powder<\/em><\/p>\n

(pepper)<\/em><\/p>\n

10 long, thick green onion stalks, chopped (loosely they fill almost 2 US cups, i.e. a\u00a0bit less than\u00a0500 ml volume)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

(1 tablespoon of tiny dried Japanese shrimp; do not use dried Thai shrimp which is too big and too chewy)<\/em><\/p>\n

Toppings:<\/em><\/p>\n

3 very thin slices of pork belly (I always use smoked bacon and my favourite, if you can find it, is dried and smoked bacon)<\/em><\/p>\n

dried bonito flakes (katsuobushi)<\/em><\/p>\n

okonomiyaki sauce (or a mixture of ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce)<\/em><\/p>\n

mayonnaise<\/em><\/p>\n

chopped chives or spring onions<\/em><\/p>\n

(ao nori)<\/em><\/p>\n

(chili paste, oil or sauce, such as\u00a0Taberu Rayu<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n

(pickled ginger)<\/em><\/p>\n

1 tablespoon oil<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

In a big bowl combine the batter ingredients. Add the filling ingredients and adjust their amount (the mixture should be very thick, not liquid and the batter should only bind the ingredients together and not dominate them).<\/p>\n

Cut the belly or the bacon into pieces that will be easy to eat without destroying the whole pancake. (This is not necessary, but I found a long time ago it makes the eating process less messy and easier).<\/p>\n

Heat one tablespoon oil in a frying pan or on a smooth grill (called teppanyaki grill or la plancha).<\/p>\n

Put the okonomiyaki mixture in a more or less round-shaped heap\u00a0\u00a0and flatten it delicately, but not too much (you should be able to turn it over). My okonomiyaki is max. 1,5 cm\/about 1\/2 inch high.<\/p>\n

Cover the okonomiyaki with bacon\/belly pieces.<\/p>\n

Cover the pan and let it fry at medium heat for 5 \u2013 10 minutes until you see the upper part of batter starting to set. If you use an old-fashioned pan (steel or iron), you might have to turn down the heat to the lowest because it might burn.<\/p>\n

Flip the pancake over, cover once more and fry for another 5 minutes.<\/p>\n

Serve topped with (I always do it in this order): okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise, dried bonito flakes, chives or spring onion and chili sauce\/oil or paste or anything you wish.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Those of you who remember my\u00a0passion for okonomiyaki will not be surprised to see one more version of this amazing savoury pancake. During\u00a0my experiments\u00a0I learnt…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[82,71],"tags":[136],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16282"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16282"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16358,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16282\/revisions\/16358"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}