Okonomiyaki Recipe

Okonomiyaki

Due to my recent venture into a Japanese grocery in Midtown Manhattan, I was inspired to make my own okonomiyaki (Japanese Pancake). This dish is savory, and not sweet as the usual American breakfast pancakes are. I based this recipe on this one, but made a few modifications of my own because

1. I was lacking some ingredients like red pickled ginger, tempura flakes, seaweed powder and bonito flakes
2. I'm vegetarian (most of the time)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cup stock or water
• 1 egg (per batch, this makes about 4 batches)
• Dole classic coleslaw mix
• Canned corn (about 2 tbsp per batch)
• 4-6 tbsp chopped green onion (I didn't have this but I would use it if I did)
• 1/2-3/4 cup tenkasu (tempura flakes)  2 tbsp crushed French's fried onions (per batch)
• A dash of powdered ginger
• 12-18 strips of thinly sliced pork or beef
• vegetable oil
• For toppings:
• ao-nori (dried seaweed powder)
• okonomiyaki sauce (buy at Japanese grocery, for example Sunrise Mart)
• mayonnaise (kewpie brand, buy at Japanese grocery)
• katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) *optional
• beni-shoga (pickled red ginger) *optional
  

Preparation:

1. Put flour in a large bowl. Pour water/stock and mix to make batter. Rest the batter for about an hour in the refrigerator. 
2. To make one sheet of okonimiyaki, take out about 1/2 cup of the batter in another bowl. 
3. Mix about 1/4 bag of the coleslaw mix, about 1 Tbsp of chopped green onion, 2 tbsp corn, a dash of powdered ginger (depending on how ginger-y you want it) and about 2 tbsp of tempura flakes crushed fried onions in the batter. 
4. Add an egg in the batter and stir. (*Tip: The batter needs to be mixed in for a bit with the coleslaw and egg so the consistency is less like putty)
5. Heat an electric pan or skillet and oil lightly. Pour the batter in the pan and make a round shape. Cook for about 5 minutes. (*Tip: Check the cooking side at 2 1/2 mins to make sure it hasn't burned, flip if you think it's brown enough)
6. Meanwhile, fry a couple slices of meat on the side and place the meat on top of the okonomiyaki. 
7. Flip the okonomiyaki and cook for about 5 minutes or until cooked through.
8. Flip the okonomiyaki again and spread okonomiyaki sauce and mayonnaise on top. Sprinkle aonori over the sauce. Sprinkle katsuobushi and beni-shoga if you would like.

I experimented a bit with sprinkling Worcestershire sauce on each side as I cooked one of the pancakes. I also used more oil with one, and less oil with one. Your cooking time will be less if you use more oil/heat and the pancake will be crispier. If you're not into crispy okonomiyaki (which isn't the standard), then use low to medium heat, and less oil. Either way, it tastes GREAT! Bon appetit! :)

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Posted in: recipes,vegetarian

Vegetarian Secrets for Quick, Everyday Meals

Amy's Mattar Paneer, and Mock Salmon

Since I started the whole vegetarian thing I've been asked the question "Isn't it difficult?" plenty of times, and many more questions regarding nutrition, especially "Where do you get your protein?" Well, the answer to the first question is, surprisingly, "not really". I find there's plenty of restaurants in New York city that cater to vegetarians, and there are a lot of possibilities for cooking. Now, it's not always an option to cook a whole meal from scratch, because I do work full-time. So I usually go halfway and just alter whatever quick meals I may have. My secrets (which may just be common sense to some people) for everyday quick meals are the following:

1. Frozen Entrees (Amy's, Cedar Lane, Morningstar Farms, Tandoori Kitchen)
2. Spices
3. Alter, alter, alter until you're perfectly happy

Most frozen entrees will not be as good as freshly cooked meals. Therefore what I do is add some or all of these spices:

1. Garlic powder
2. Onion Powder
3. French's Fried Onions - This may sound terrible, but what I do is just sprinkle a tiny bit on top for the taste and texture
4. Fried Garlic (from Asian grocery store) - Same as above
5. Chili
6. Salt (in moderation)
7. Pepper

Some entrees will need even more adjustments, like I usually add some coriander, cumin, and garam masala to Indian food. Sometimes I sprinkle in some diced, fresh onions or green scallions.

As for the questions regarding nutrition, I try not to take any chances so I take Women's Centrum vitamins every day. For protein I eat a lot of legumes, such as chick peas or garbanzos, which have 15 grams of protein per cup, and I do eat dairy so cheese adds to my protein intake as well. Tofu and other soy products are also a good source. Morningstar Farms makes some great fake meat products that usually consist of vegetable protein and some starch. Their Maple Flavored "Sausage" Patty is one of my favorites. I also recently discovered a pretty great online store for vegetable mock meat called Vegecyber. Their products have saved my butt plenty of times when I'm in the mood for something "meaty". I had their mock salmon with the Amy's meal I had above. Some of my other favorites are their vege. lamb chunks, vege. BBQ ribs and vegan bacon slices. Believe it or not the bacon slices actually taste pretty close to bacon when fried to a crisp (I use Smart Balance cooking oil, to make it somewhat heart-healthy). I was a little concerned about the ingredients in the fake meat, so I looked them up and here's a sample:

Vegan Bacon - Non-GMO Textured Soybean Protein, Non-GMO Soybean Protein (Powder), Wheat Fiber, Wheat Protein Concentrate, White Pepper, Sea Salt, Brown Sugar, Soybean Bean Oil, Natural Vegetarian Seasoning, Monascus Powder.

Definitely not scary-sounding.

To summarize, basically the only reason I can be vegetarian is because I live in New York city, and have access to all these awesome products.

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Posted in: grocery,vegetarian