Okonomiyaki is one of those street food dishes that you see everywhere in Japan but is a very personal topic to all involved in making or eating them. Today I decided to jump into the okonomiyaki pool with my own local Hawaii take on it using what I had in the fridge.
Affectionately called "Japanese Pizza", okonomiyaki is essentially cabbage, flour, and eggs. After that you add whatever your taste buds feel like having. Today, that meant SPAM and mushrooms.
Prepping the "toppings"
I recommend you try this at home. Once you figure out what you want on your dish, it's pretty simple and satisfying.
Mix in with your cabbage, flour, water, and eggs
Griddle as you would a hamburger and add bacon
I used yakisoba sauce rather than okonomiyaki sauce as a personal preference
As you can see, the cabbage compacts nicely after it softens.
Add Kewpie Mayo if you want to feel like you're in Osaka
Some weeks are busier than others. This is one of those weeks where a lot of things are happening at the same time and I barely have time to think about new things to cook or foods to explore. Still, I don't want to leave the 1 or 2 of you who read this blog without material from me so I decided to share my favorite foodie movie of all time: Tampopo
Released in 1985, this movie is about one woman's quest to make understand the nuances of making ramen after being told by a passing truck driver that her noodles are terrible and takes her on an adventure of personal and culinary discovery. What I like about this movie is that it is very quirky and unapologetic about it's feelings on food and foodies alike. Right from the beginning we are invited in on a conversation between a "master" and a "student" talking about how to approach a bowl of ramen correctly thereby maximizing the eating experience.
As the movie goes along we meet a lot of interesting characters and the camera becomes us in this journey and a few times will move from the main character and change physical directions in the middle of a scene to follow a complete stranger just because they seem to be more interesting at the time. If you've ever seen someone running and wondered where they were off to, this movie tries to answer those types of questions.
From a foodie standpoint, this is also where I learned about established my love of Omurice. This particular scene in the movie spoke to me when I first saw it and really illustrates how even the simplest of foods can be viewed as the finest haute cuisine depending on your point of view.
Despite having been released over 25 years ago, I still really love this movie. If you love food and have some time, put this on your Netflix list and give it a lookie-loo. If my description still doesn't entice you, how about the fact that the film score are excerpts from Mahler's 1st and 3rd Symphony?
