Okonomiyaki

So, this should have been posted back in February when we made this with Iris for the first time, but right after this is about when I started feeling the first trimester blahs and didn't do much "extra" for awhile.

I've keep getting pestered by my best friend Lindsay, who got to try said dish, because she would like to try and recreate it at home.  Without further ado...

The hardest part about making okonomiyaki here is finding the nagaimo root (also called yamaimo in some places) to make them with.  Luckily, they also sell the yamaimo flour, and after making it the first time, we used that afterwards, for easiness sake.  (Although, I'm considering trying it out with regular flour sometime, just to see how it turns out.)

So nagaimo (I should have taken a picture... I always forget to take pictures until we're in the middle of it and I realize, I may want to remember what we did...) is this interesting root that when you grate it, it not only turns all slimy and goopy, but it also makes your hands itch like crazy.  Probably you should wear rubber or latex gloves when doing this to save yourself some grief.  (or just put your hands in plastic baggies).  Here's Iris showing how slimy/goopy it is after grating:  (ps peel the skin off before you grate it)

 The main ingredient in Okonomiyaki is cabbage, which is great because it's so cheap and whenever I need it for a recipe, I always end up with tons left over, so this is a great way to use up leftover cabbage!

 As always, green onion...

 Mix flour and eggs (with chopsticks, if you want to be authentic...)

 Then dump in the grated nagaimo, green onion and add cabbage until it's the "right" consistency- it's pretty thick with vegetables, but everything is wet and still all sticks together.

 This is just thinly sliced pork chop, but you could really use any thinly sliced meat.  In Japan, they use mostly seafood- shrimp, squid, fish...  but other meats are also used.

 Ladle the batter into a nonstick skillet heated to medium.  I believe we sprayed with non-stick spray at first and decided we didn't need to after that, but it probably depends on your pan.

 Then lay the strips of meat on top and

 Cover the pan so it can kind of steam for about 5 minutes.

 You'll know it's time to flip because the meat will have lightened in color.

 The other side should be a nice golden brown.  Finish cooking for about 4 more minutes, or until the other side looks cooked.

 Japanese people all have different preferences for what they put on top of their okonomiyaki, but Iris likes Okonomiyaki sauce (a given) and Japanese mayo.  (It's similar enough to our mayo, that you could use American, but we, of course, wanted to go completely authentic :D)

 The Okonomiyaki Sauce wrapper actually has a recipe for Okonomiyaki on it too, btw.

 I have no idea what these are called, but they're little fish flakes.  To me, they smell like fish food, but when with Romans...  We also sprinkled some blended, dried, Nori (seaweed) flakes.  Voila!  Delish!  These are sooo filling.  We decided after this that we would make them a bit smaller in the future.

 We decided to try to Mochi for dessert.  I had heard of them, but had no clue what they were.

 They're kind of like ice cream balls with some kind of weird coating on the outside.  It's a little be gelatinous, but drier than gelatin, more cakey.  It's kind of cakey, yet jiggley.  That's the best way I can describe it.  The ice cream inside was good, but I didn't love the outer coating.

PS we based our first attempt on this recipe- it gives a LOT more detailed descriptions about what everything is.  However, we didn't use all the same things they used.  Basically, once you have the batter of eggs, flour, nagaimo and cabbage, you can add to it whatever you want.  I believe we used water instead of dashi stock as well.  We didn't add the tenkasu or beni shouga either.

Update: 8/3/12 I made Okonomiyaki for the first time without Iris and decided to try using some leftover bacon for the meat on top.  It was yummy! (and already sliced thin :D).  Also, I have a large, rectangular electric skillet and I did them in there so I could make 4 at a time.  Worked well.  I think I put it at about 350 degrees.

Sushi!

I know with all the Japanese food we've been making around here, you've all been wondering when we would try sushi.  Well, you can finally rest peacefully.

Some of the ingredients we chose to have on hand:

cucumber, Japanese fish sausage, avocado (not typical Japanese)

Imitation crab (that's the best we could find...)

Tamagoyaki (basically just egg.)

This is what the fish sausage package looks like

We decided to use this powdered vinegar packet for the rice, since neither of us has made sushi before and it seemed easier.  It was easy.

This is the dried seaweed (Nori) we used, though there are a bajillion different ones to choose from.  I don't think it matters which you pick...

I love the ingredient list.

We bought the sushi mat for a few dollars at an Asian market- the two sides were not the same and we weren't sure which was the top.  Both sides seemed to work equally well, so I guess it doesn't matter.  (We are professionals and our expertise should definitely be trusted.)  Then you put on the nori and spread out the rice.  I think it's better not to let it be layered on too thick, or your roll gets really fat.

This one has cucumber, fish sausage and tamagoyaki (egg).

The only tricky part is just making sure you tuck the end under so that it gets rolled up.  Make sure you press and squish it all together rather firmly.

Iris's first sushi roll!  **sob**

We started out taking pictures of every one so we could remember what we used, but I quickly forgot to do that, and we just threw all kinds of things in there every time with no real system.  This one is fish sausage, cucumber, avocado and crab.

After awhile, we started getting a bit more creative and rummaging around in the pantry and fridge.  I got out a can of tuna and we put some lettuce in this one as well as Japanese mayo.  (though you could use regular mayo just fine...)  We decided the ones with mayo in them were our favorite.  I wonder what kinds of flavoring things they do at restaurants?

My first sushi roll :)

I discovered that it's easier to cut them cleanly if you have a cup of hot water handy for dipping your serrated knife in.

Here's the cut roll..

Minus the ends.  They never look pretty so I just ate them. (all of them... let's just say I didn't really have any room for sushi by the time we were done...)

Oh, and we saw these at the Asian market and decided to get them (again) because we really like them.  It's just breaded shrimp that you fry up in hot oil until golden.

Iris got some Japanese cartoons up on Youtube to entertain the kids.  There was no talking in this particular one and The Frog thought it was hilarious.

 The finished product!  (We made way too much FYI.  iI's much better on day 1 than day 2.  I think we ended up cooking 6 or 7 cups of rice and did probably 12 rolls.)

Both of the kids liked the sushi!

Peach tended to unroll hers and eat the insides first.

I think The Frog liked to dip them in soy sauce (but I thought the soysauce was over-powering)

By the end, we got a little crazy with our insides.  We did one with egg and cream cheese and some fish thing (that one was really good).  We also did a kimchi one (i know, it's Korean, but Iris loves the stuff) and we used Iris's very last pickled plum.  When her mom sent them, she shared them with Jay and I.  She just popped hers in her mouth and said, "I love these!!" So Jay followed suit, while I timidly took a small bite.  After an amazing look on Jay's face, (that looked something like below) he spit it out in the garbage, and I commented on how there was no way I could finish mine because it tasted like someone had just poured salt on a cube of salt and asked me to eat it.  I'm telling you, this thing was SALTY!!!

So anyway, she took her last one and cut it up small and put it in a sushi roll.  It still made Jay do this:

I quite agreed, but at least he didn't spit it out this time :)

I love that Peach transfered her stickers from herself (you can see them above) to Iris and how they are still upside-down.

We decided that some more color would have been pretty... maybe some red or yellow bell pepper or slightly cooked carrot?

Anyway, it's official!  We like sushi :)

An apology to those who are finding out on my blog and deserve a phone call and deserve a phone call...

Here are a few unrelated things I would like to remember/feel the need to share.

 My favorite Japanese treat has come out with a grape flavor!  Iris's mom knows it's my favorite, so she sent us some to try.

The verdict?  It tastes exactly like grape bubblegum.  I prefer the original.

 This is what Peach does when you're eating something and she wants some...  Except she comes at you like this, like you had better hurry and share or she might eat YOU!

 Another classic Peach face.  She is such a spaz sometimes.

Oh, and here's me on a typical morning, changing Peach's diaper.

 And The Frog requested we take the next one.  He's been requesting photos of himself and his achievements lately.  This next achievement is probably one of the top 10...

 And Peach looking adorable as usual.  How can you say no to this?

 This is a stuffed raccoon I found in the garden when I prepped it.  It had decided to hibernate in the dirt, under the leaves, all winter long.  I somehow convinced Peach to release it from her clutches long enough for me to throw it in the washer.  (but not the drier.  It's wet here...)

 It's one of her new favorite things.

This is after helping me make some bread.  She knows how to make it look like serious work.

Oh yeah, have I not mentioned I'm preggo?

huh...

Yep.