Osaka-style Okonomiyaki

Okonomiyaki is said to be Japanese-style pizza. This recipe makes Osaka-style okonomiyaki. There are lots of toppings.




Ingredients:
* 2 cup all purpose flour
* 1 1/4 cup dashi soup stock or water
* 4-6 eggs
* 1 - 1 1/4 lb cabbage
* 6 tbsps chopped green onion
* 2/3 cup tenkasu (tempura flakes)
* 12 - 18 strips of thinly sliced pork or beef
* For toppings:
* Ao-nori (green seaweed)
* Okonomiyaki sauce (or tonkatsu sauce)
* Mayonnaise

Preparation:
Pout dashi soup stock in a bowl. Mix the flour in the soup stock. Rest the batter for an hour in the refrigerator. Chop cabbage finely. Take about 1/2 cup of the batter (to make one sheet of okonimiyaki) in another bowl. Mix chopped cabbage (about 1/4 lb), chopped green onion (about 1 tbsp), and tempura flakes (about 2 tbsps) in the batter. Make a hole in the middle of the batter and add an egg in the hole. Stir the batter. Heat an electric pan and oil slightly. Pour the batter over the pan and make a round. Fry meat or your choice of toppings on the side. Cook 5-7 minutes and place meat (toppings) on top of the okonomiyaki. Flip the okonomiyaki and cook for 5-7 more minutes. Flip the okonomiyaki again and spread okonomiyaki sauce and mayonnaise on top. Sprinkle aonori over the sauce. Sprinkle katsuobushi (bonito flakes) and beni-shoga (red ginger) if you would like.

Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki

It's a kind of okonomiyaki popular in Hiroshima, Japan. Yakisoba noodles are usually added in Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki.

Ingredients:
* 1 cup all purpose flour
* 3/4 cup dashi soup or water
* 4 eggs
* 2 cups finely chopped cabbage
* 2 cups bean sprouts
* 12 pieces thinly sliced pork
* 4 packages pre-steamed chucka noodles for yakisoba
* Seasonings:
* yakisoba sauce or salt
* okonomiyaki sauce or worcester sauce
* mayonnaise
* Toppings:
* chopped green onion
* aonori (dried seaweed powder)

Preparation:
Mix flour and dashi soup stock to make okonomiyaki batter. Heat and oil a large skillet or iron plate. Spread a scoop of the batter into a thin round over the pan. Place a handful of cabbage and bean sprouts on top of the batter. Place pork slices on top of the vegetables. Pour some okonomiyaki batter over the ingredients. Flip the okonomiyaki over with spatulas. Cook it on low heat until meats and vegetables are cooked. Meanwhile, fry yakisoba noodles on the side and lightly season with okonomiyaki sauce or salt as you like. Replace okonomiyaki with spatulas on top of yakisoba noodles and press on the top firmly. Fry an egg on the side an break the egg york with spatula. Replace the okonomiyaki on top of the fried egg and again press on the top firmly. Serve the okonomiyaki on a plate with the egg side up. Repeat this process to make more okonomiyaki. Spread okonomiyaki sauce or worcester sauce and mayonnaise on the okonomiyaki. Sprinkle chopped green onion and ao-nori (dried seaweed powder) on the top.

Setsubun Fortune Rolls

February 3 is setsubun known as bean throwing (mamemaki) festival. We throw happy beans (roasted soy beans) at home, saying "oni wa soto. fuku wa uchi" which means "go away devils and come in happiness." Then, we eat thick sushi rolls (fortune rolls), facing to the good fortune direction for the year without talking. The good fortune direction is east-northeast in 2009.
It's the day before the first day of spring on the lunar calendar.People throw roasted soybeans around houses and at temples and shrines to drive off bad luck and to bring good luck in. It's a custom to eat the same number of beans as one's age, hoping for good health and happiness.
Eho-maki (fortune rolls) are futo-maki (thick sushi rolls) eaten on the night of Setsubun. To be related with the Seven Deities of Good Fortune called Shichifukujin, seven fillings are traditionally rolled in a sushi roll. For example, simmered shiitake mushrooms and kanpyo (dried gourd), cucumber, rolled omelet (tamagoyaki), eels, sakura denbu (pink sweet powder), and seasoned kouyadofu (dried tofu) are used. These ingredients represent good health, happiness, and prosperity. So, rolling the fillings means good fortune.
Usually, sushi rolls are sliced into bite-sized pieces. But fortune rolls shouldn't be sliced since slicing indicates cutting good fortune.
To eat fortune rolls, face toward the good fortune direction of the year at first. The good fortune direction is where the fortune god, Tokutoku-shin, stays. The good fortune direction changes every year. Then, hold a sushi roll and eat it, making wishes. You shouldn't talk until you are done with eating a whole sushi roll. It's said that good fortune will be gone if you talk.
Good luck!