Over at 100yendinner, the lovely Kanmuri has posted her 100-Yen Okonomiyaki — precisely 93-yen actually — which even includes beef!  That’s pretty luxurious in Japan.  ^_^

Kanmuri’s 100-Yen Okonomiyaki Dinner:

Beef: 50¥
Cabbage: 25¥
Egg: 18¥
Total:93¥

• This is not the exact recipe for Okonomiyaki but it is my simpler version of it.
• In a bowl mix half a cup of flour with half a cup of water. Add an egg and mix well
• Mince cabbage (a little less than 1/5 of a whole cabbage) and add it to the mix.
• Put about a table spoon of olive oil in a fry pan. Add the mixture and fry the same way you would a pancake. Add thin slices of beef or pork on top.
• Once the the okonomiyaki starts to brown, flip it over and wait for the meat to be cooked.
• Transfer in a serving plate and add mayonnaise, okonomiyaki sauce and aonori (green seaweed flakes) and serve!

I noticed that flour and okonomiyaki toppings aren’t in the ingredient price list.  I suppose it’s assumed that most people already have these on hand.

But the cost of a tablespoon of mayo and a half cup of flour wouldn’t jack the price up all that much.  All totaled, maybe it would come to about 150 yen — still impressive.

Whether you buy your ingredients in yen, dollars, or pounds, go give Kanmuri’s recipe a try and tell us how it works out for you!

Here’s a recipe for one large Kansai-Style Okonomi-Yaki pancake from Bob & Angie [english version]:

Ingredients: (for 1 serving)

50-60 g flour, 1 egg, 1 cup dashi, 1-2 Tablespoons grated yamaimo (mountain potato), 70 g cabbage.
As desired: mirin, salt, 20-30 g thinly sliced pork, 1/2 squid, 10-20 small shrimp, cleaned and shelled, 2-3 whole oyster, oil.

Preparation:

Batter:

1. In a bowl mix egg add yamaimo.
   (Powdered yamaimo can be used)
2. Add salt, a little mirin, then flour. Mirin removes the powdery taste.
   note: Okonomiyaki mix can also be used. Just add egg and water.

Filling; Add any combination of ingredients to cabbage.

1. Dice cabbage to 1-1.5 mm pieces
2. Cut pork into 3 cm. pieces. Remove skin of squid. Cut into small pieces.
3. Wash shrimp and drain.

How to make:

1. Add cabbage and filling to batter.
2. Pre-heat hot plate or fry pan. Cover surface completely with oil.
3. Pour batter into a circle about 20 cm in diameter.
4. Cook for about 5 minutes or until golden brown. Turn over with a spatula .
5. Cook for about 5 min until completely cooked.
   Be careful not to overcook or burn. Do not press down on it.
6. Before eating one or a combination of the following sauces:
   Mayonnaise, tonkatsu or okonomi sauce, Japanese mustard (wagarashi). Catsup or any strong flavored sauce will do.

There are more pictures of the process over on Bob & Angie’s website.

You can also find a great glossary of Japanese ingredients.

I find it interesting that they say not to press down on it.  Many people say the opposite, that you should press down a bit.  I’ll explore this in a future post.

The making of this humble subsistence food turned into a celebrated and specialized craft, with many restaurants serving only okonomiyaki.  The popularity of this dish, termed “okonomi – yaki” which loosely means “whatever you like, grilled”, grew and spread all over Japan, with many regions developing their own standardardized versions of it.  Over at JapanSugoi.com, there’s a fantastic overview of okonomiyaki and various ways it’s made in different parts of Japan (complete with patrons exclaiming “oishii!!” and “umai!!” in reaction to everything they eat — very Japanese TV).

My favorite style is Hiroshima okonomiyaki, often seen shortened to “Hiroshima-yaki”.  Here’s a photo I took in Kyoto during New Year’s (shougatsu) festival, where a bunch of guys in this stall were making what quickly became my favorite okonomiyaki recipe.

No okonomiyaki recipe is complete without okonomi sauce!  This somewhat mysterious, proprietary, very Japanese concoction can be made at home, but for the most authentic okonomiyaki experience, I say just buy the sauce.  You can find it at many Asian grocery stores, and it’s simply labeled “Okonomi sauce” or “Okonomiyaki sauce”.  If that’s not on the shelf, Tonkatsu sauce is quite similar, as is Takoyaki sauce.

Having trouble locating Okonomiyaki sauce in your area?  Amazon’s got it!