Best Recipe - Okonomiyaki World (2024)

FAQs

What city is famous for okonomiyaki? ›

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.

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.

The best think is to use regular flour, but then also add some yam starch or potato starch or rice flour to make the batter more sticky. See the Alternative Batter Recipes. Okonomi Sauce Substitutes: If you don't have Okonomi sauce on hand you can make your own.

There are two significantly different types of Okonomiyaki. First, the Kansai or Osaka style, in which the ingredients are all mixed into a batter and then grilled. Second, the Hiroshima style, in which a small crepe-like pancake is grilled and then other ingredients are layered on top.

Unlike in Osaka, the ingredients are not all mixed together – cooking a Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki involves layering of ingredients; first the batter, then the noodles, and then the toppings, which are piled high at the beginning and then flipped frequently while cooking.

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.

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.

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.

Okonomiyaki is sometimes translated into English as "as-you-like-it pancake". However, this may be misleading. Though it does consist of batter cooked on a griddle, okonomiyaki has nothing of the sweetness or fluffiness of pancakes, not to mention that it is usually filled with octopus, shrimp, pork, yam or kimchi.

Mixing too much will create a very dense, heavy pancake, so keep it light. Make sure you only add the batter to the vegetables at the last minute before cooking. If you leave the vegetables in the batter too long, the water will come out and you'll have a soggy mess that's impossible to flip without breaking.

How much does okonomiyaki cost in Japan? ›

Cheap street food like okonomiyaki, takoyaki, ramen, soba and udon costs between 500 and 1,000 JPY (4.60 to 9.25 USD).

Bonito flakes - known as katsuobushi in Japanese - are a strange food upon first sight. They are known to move or dance when used as a topping on foods such as okonomiyaki and takoyaki.

This fiber increases performance in the stomach and intestines, removes excessive fat, and works to expel cholesterol and salt from the body. Dietary fiber is easily ingested by eating Okonomiyaki, and it is great for your overall health.

Cook for about 5 minutes covered. After the bottom of the pancake is browned, flip it over and cook covered for another 5 minutes. Flip a third time and cook uncovered for 2 minutes. Take off the heat, plate and add toppings of your choice: mayonnaise, okonomiyaki sauce etc.

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.

Okonomiyaki, the very popular Japanese dish. A cross between an omelet and a pancake, cooked with numerous ingredients and drizzled with a thick, savoury sauce. Okonomiyaki is a typical treat of Osaka, Hiroshima and Tokyo.

While okonomiyaki is more popularly associated with neighbouring city Osaka, there are a number of excellent restaurants in Kyoto where you can enjoy this dish. It's inexpensive, unpretentious, and delicious. Unless you have gluten allergies, this is certainly a must-try.

In many restaurants, staff prepare and serve the okonomiyaki rather than having customers grill the dish themselves, as is customary. In 1970, on the occasion of the World Expo in Osaka, the dish became known throughout the country as an Osaka specialty.