Osaka-style Okonomiyaki

Okonomiyaki is commonly known to be Japanese-style pizza. This recipe makes Osaka-style okonomiyaki with lots of toppings. Instead of using all-purpose flour, I used whole wheat. This may explain the browner than usual color of my okonomiyaki. I found there were too much eggs and had to strain off the excess. I also replaced green onions with leeks. Instead of using pork or beef as the recipe calls for, I added scallops.

Kew Pie mayonnaise has to be one of the best. I once tried to make it and it was absolutely disastrous. I never thought of making mayonnaise again since then. I wish they would translate the many different Kew Pie on the shelf, not just to Thai but to English, or maybe Chinese or Malay....some form that I can comprehend.... I ended up picking one that was sold at the most number of bottles than others. They must have figured higher demand requires higher supply?
I like to watch bonito flakes. They seem so alive, moving in a worm-like motion. I used to think they were live anyway.

Ingredients:

• 2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cup dashi soup stock or water
• 4-6 eggs
• 1 - 1 1/4 lb cabbage
• chopped scallops
  
• 6 tbsps chopped green onion
• 2/3 cup tenkasu (tempura flakes)

• For toppings:
• Ao-nori (green seaweed)
• Okonomiyaki sauce (or tonkatsu sauce)
• Japanese Mayonnaise (Kew Pie)
• Katsuobushi (bonito flakes)
  

1. Put dashi soup stock in a bowl. Mix the flour in the soup stock. Rest the batter for an hour in the refrigerator.
   
2. 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 cup), 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.
   
3. Heat pan and oil slightly. Pour the batter over the pan and make a round. Cook 5-7 minutes and place scallops on top of the okonomiyaki. Flip the okonomiyaki and cook for 5-7 more minutes.
   
4. Flip the okonomiyaki again and spread okonomiyaki (tonkatsu) sauce and mayonnaise on top. Sprinkle aonori over the sauce. Sprinkle with katsuobushi.
   

Japanese for Second First-Kiss Anniversary

So I named the first time we kissed. I have a mixed feeling: 1. it's been two years. 2. it feels longer than two years. Both in good sense. It feels as though we should have known each other longer than two years. And at the same time, given the events and circumstances surrounding us, it's incredible that 2 years have quietly gone by without much warning.
Same time last year, I marked our First First-Kiss Anniversary with a handmade card. On one page it's a camel posing in front of a temple. It symbolizes the location and witness to our very first kiss: in front of Golden Temple in Yunnan, China, next to a camel. You can tell I made the card because I screwed up the lamination.

True to the spirit of "handmade" and "original", I decided to mark our Second First-Kiss Anniversary with a skill I had yet to develop 365 days ago - COOKING. Not very creative? But I'm making a huge step by going JAPANESE!!! To show how serious I am about the idea, I bought a few Japanese dining wares, too.
What an experience shopping for Japanese ingredients. For example, there's Nori that I needed for sushi roll, not to be confused with Ao-Nori that's to be sprinkled on the Okonomiyaki. And there's also dashi that come with different packaging, forms, shapes, brands and flavours. What about Katsuoboshi and Katsuo? I also owe it to the Japanese housewife who kindly motioned me for Tonkatsu sauce as I was desperately looking for Okonomiyaki sauce.

I learned a very important lesson this afternoon as I was attending to the cauliflower - ALWAYS wash your vegetables. There was a worm on one of the florets. I got freaked out at first and relieved after - I knew people at Fuji didn't lie and sell me non-organic cauliflower. The worm can testify to the non-usage of insecticide.

And so to display my love for the man whom I co-habit with, I made for him Chawan Mushi, Cauliflower and Quinoa Sushi Roll, Osaka-style Okonomiyaki and a non-Japanese inspired Salt-Kissed Buttermilk Cake. In return, he got for me a wristlet that is ABSOLUTELY me and his happy face.