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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) 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, but is widely available throughout the country. Toppings and batters tend to vary according to region.

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 oddly compared to an omelette, pizza, or pancake, and as such is sometimes referred to as "Japanese pizza" or as "Japanese pancake", though as unique as those foods are, so is okonomiyaki. 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. They may also have a diner style counter where the cook will prepare the dish right in front of you.

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, japanese 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) is a thinner offshoot of okonomiyaki made with a great deal of Welsh onion.

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 amount of cabbage used is usually 3 - 4 times the amount of Osaka style. It starts out piled very high and is generally pushed down as the cabbage cooks. 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.

Other areas

In Tokyo, a liquid, runny variant of okonomiyaki called monjayaki is popular.

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.

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 arts.

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 yakisoba, okonomiyaki is one of the few refreshments sold at the Domino High School 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 (nicknamed "Osaka") does the same. The okonomiyaki question is never answered, but as with 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 Chronicle, Syaoran Li 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.

In NANA, Nana Osaki's mother works at an okonomiyaki restaurant after abandoning her daughter. The daughter that she had later with the restaurant owner, Misato, later wrote a letter to Nana mentioning her family restaurant.

Also, in Hana-Kimi (Hanazakari no Kimitachi e), Shuichi Nakatsu is Mizuki Ashiya's friend and he's from Osaka, where takoyaki and okonomiyaki is popular. He takes Mizuki to a popular okonomiyaki store where he works and cooks some food for Mizuki just like homemade Osaka food.

In an omake of the Bleach anime, Ichigo Kurosaki was once shown eating okonomiyaki with the Vizard. He complains that he wanted some rice to eat, and was immediately offered that. When Ichigo notes that okonomiyaki and rice both contain carbohydrates, implying that he may not be eating a balanced diet, the Vizard altogether exclaims that it is "natural."

In Boys Over Flowers (Hana Yori Dango), both the manga and the Live Action, Tsukasa Domyoji's older sister, Tsubaki, had to cook okonomiyaki in order to win the Miss Teen of Japan contest. Tsubaki was the only contestant who knew how to make it because Tsukasa wanted to eat it when he was younger.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Okonomiyaki.
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