Okonomiyaki

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A man prepares okonomiyaki in a restaurant in Hiroshima, Japan

Cheese and shrimp okonomiyaki (above) fully seasoned with sauce, mayonnaise, katsuobushi and aonori in Osaka, Japan

Lantern beckons customers into an okonomiyaki restaurant

Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き, Okonomiyaki^?) is a pan-fried Japanese dish cooked with various ingredients. Okonomi means "what you like" or "what you want", and yaki means "grilled" or "cooked" (cf. yakitori and yakisoba); thus, the name of this dish means "cook what you like, the way you like". In Japan, okonomiyaki is usually associated with the Kansai or Hiroshima areas. Toppings and batters tend to vary according to region.

1 Kansai area
2 Hiroshima area
3 Other areas
4 Okonomiyaki in Japanese popular culture
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Kansai area

Kansai (Osaka)-style okonomiyaki is a pan-fried batter cake. This is the style of okonomiyaki found throughout most of Japan. The batter is made of flour, grated yam, water or dashi, eggs and shredded cabbage, and usually contains other ingredients such as Welsh onion, meat (generally pork or bacon), octopus, squid, shrimp, vegetables, kimchi, mochi or cheese. Okonomiyaki is often compared to an omelette, pizza, or pancake, and as such is sometimes referred to as "Japanese pizza" or as "Japanese pancake" or in Vancouver, BC they are sometimes referred to as "Japizza's" or "Japcakes". Many okonomiyaki restaurants are set up as grill-it-yourself establishments, where the server produces a bowl of raw ingredients that the customer mixes and grills at tables fitted with special hot plates.

In Osaka (the largest city in the Kansai region), where the dish is said to have originated, okonomiyaki is prepared much like a pancake. The batter and other ingredients are fried on both sides on either a hot plate (teppan) or a pan using metal spatulas that are later used to slice the dish when it has finished cooking. Cooked okonomiyaki is topped with ingredients that include okonomiyaki sauce (similar to Worcestershire sauce but thicker and sweeter), nori, fish flakes, mayonnaise and ginger. When this style of okonomiyaki is served with sliced cabbage and a layer of fried noodles (either ramen or udon worked into the mix, it is called modanyaki (モダン焼き: "modern yaki"). Negiyaki (ねぎ焼き, Negiyaki^?) is a thinner offshoot of okonomiyaki made with a great deal of Welsh onion.

[edit] Hiroshima area

In Hiroshima, the ingredients are layered rather than mixed together. The layers are typically batter, cabbage, pork, optional items (squid, octopus, cheese, etc.), noodles (soba, udon) topped with a fried egg and a generous dollop of okonomiyaki sauce. The order of the layers may vary slightly depending on the chef's style and preference, and ingredients will vary depending on the preference of the customer. People from Hiroshima tend to claim that this is the correct way to make okonomiyaki.

[edit] Other areas

In Hamamatsu, Takuan (a Japanese pickle) is mixed in okonomiyaki.

In Okinawa, okonomiyaki is called hirayachi (ヒラヤーチー) and is thinner than in other areas. People cook it at home, so there are no hirayachi restaurants in Okinawa.

[edit] Okonomiyaki in Japanese popular culture

Rumiko Takahashi's manga Ranma ½ features a young, entrepreneurial okonomiyaki chef named Ukyo Kuonji. Ukyo wears okonomiyaki spatulas strapped to her clothing at all times, and uses the utensils for arts both culinary and martial.

In an episode of Samurai Champloo, the character Fuu orders okonomiyaki at a restaurant with cheese made from mochi.

In the manga version of Yu-Gi-Oh!, alongside with takoyaki and yaki soba, okonomiyaki is one of the few refreshemnts sold at the Domino City High annual school carnival as mentioned in Volume #1.

In several episodes of Azumanga Daioh, the character of Tomo harasses the Osaka-native Ayumu Kasuga about the rumored way in which Osakans enjoy their okonomiyaki (with a "full bowl of rice"), because where Tomo and the other students come from, okonomiyaki is considered a meal in and of itself, without need for an extra entree. She and her classmates clearly feel this is another bizarre Osakan trait and want to know if Kasuga — whom they quickly re-name "Osaka" — does the same. The show makes several jokes pertaining to Osakan stereotypes, much like how people in other states in the USA assume that everyone in Texas wears cowboy hats, or everyone in California owns a surfboard. The okonomiyaki question is never answered, but like the other Osakan stereotypes, Kasuga most likely does not have a full bowl of rice with her okonomiyaki.

In Volume #2 of CLAMP's manga Tsubasa, Syaoran and the group go to an okonomiyaki restaurant, and there is a short explanation of the dish in the translation notes in the back of the book. Kurogane attempts to flip his own okonomiyaki, but in the Kansai tradition, the chefs insist upon doing it themselves.