Easy Okonomiyaki(Japanese Savor Pancake) Recipe

Before

After

Okonomiyaki is probably my favorite Japanese food. It's like a pancake, but for dinner. It's also one of the most versatile and easy to cook. It's a balanced meal all in one. It has flour, meat, and vegetables. Okonomiyaki traditionally uses cabbage and thin strips of pork. My okonomiyaki is simple and tends to be dryer and thicker than you usually get at a restaurant. I usually use ground beef or tuna and just like my fried rice recipe, I keep to my rule of three different vegetables, three colors. It's great and anyone can make it. This recipe makes about 3 pancakes and serves 3-4 people.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of flour (about)
• 1 1/2 cups water (about)
• 1 egg
• 150 grams ground beef
• 3-4 cabbage leaves
• 1 carrot
• 1 leek(large green onion) or use regular onion
• 5 grams hondashi fish stock powder(bouillon)

Topping:

• okonomiyaki sauce(like worcester sauce)
• mayonnaise
• katsuo-bushi(bonito fish flakes)
• ao-nori power(blue seaweed). I really like this, but was out this time.

Directions:

1. Finely dice the cabbage and cut other vegetables into small pieces. 
2. Brown the ground beef in a frying pan, then add the vegetables and cook lightly together. 
3. In a large bowl, combine the flour, water, egg, and fish stock powder.
4. Add the stir fry to the batter and mix everything well.
5. Use a ladle to spoon the batter on the frying pan one large pancake a a time. Fry and flip.
6. Serve with sauce, mayonnaise, bonito flakes and seaweed powder. Sometimes the fish flakes will dance on top because of the steam. Enjoy.

Goya Tsukudani(Salty-Sweet Bitter Melon)

Goya(bitter melon) is infamous in Japanese cuisine for its health benefits. It is widely grown and used in the tropical island of Okinawa. Although very healthy, it's quite bitter. However, one very palatable way to eat it is Goya Tsukudani. It's quite sweet with a hint of bitterness. This is a great side dish with rice. The Chimen jakko(small dried anchovies are a good source of calcium and widely used in Japanese cooking.


Ingredients:

• Goya(bitter melon).....300 grams
• soy sauce....50 ml
• sugar....100 grams
• katsuo-bushi(bonito flakes...10 grams
• vinegar...30 ml
• Chirimen Jakko(small dried anchovies)....10 grams
• roasted white sesame...2 tsp.

Directions:

1. Cut and wash the goya. Scrape out the seeds.
2. Cut into thin slices and lanch in boiling water.
3. Remove from water and squeeze out excess water.
4. Combine soy sauce, sugar, and vinegar and bring to boil.
5. Add goya and simmer over medium heat.
6. Add bonito flakes and anchovies and simmer out the liquid.
7. Sevre with sprinkled sesame seeds.

After cooling, the mixture can be frozen. Thaw and serve with rice anytime.

Chikuzenni 筑前煮 (Sauted Chicken with Root Vegetables)

There is chikuzenni 筑前煮, a stew with chicken, renkon(lotus root), carrots, mushrooms, and takenoko(bamboo shoots).　Chikuzenni is especially popular in late fall or winter. The steaming root vegetables and meat and savory broth keep a body warm in the cold winter months.

Time, about 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• chicken thigh or other white cut ..................300 grams/10 oz.
• dried shittake mushrooms ................................8
• gobo(burdock root).................................................100g/half a stick
• carrot.............................................................................1
• rennkon(lotus root).................................................100g/ about 1
• mirin(cooking sake....................................................5 Tblsp.
• Soy sauce.....................................................................5 Tblsp.
• dashi stock...................................................................200ml
• cooking oil

Directions:

1. Cut chicken into small chunks, season with salt and mirin.
2. Cut vegetables into bite sized wedges. Cut burdock root at an angle. Soak burdock and lotus root in vinegared water.
3. Put 1 Tblsp. cooking oil in a pan and saute the chicken. Add the vegetables and cook everything together.
4. Add the dashi stock and mirin and soy sauce. Bring everything to a boil, then reduce to low heat and simmer until everything is tender.
5. Seve with steamed snow peas if desired.

How to make Burdock Root Tea(Gobo-cha)

Burdock root (gobo/ごぼう)is a long, skinny root vegetable that is commonly eaten in Japan.  It has a slightly crunchy or even woody texture and has a mildly sweet, pungent, dark flavor. It's long been prepared with pork or other vegetables in cooking. Burdock root is not generally available in America, but cn be purchased at your local Asian grocer.

Recently in Japan, drinking burdock tea(gobo tea/ごぼう茶) has become the latest health craze. This is after a prominent Dr. Yoshinori Nagumo appeared on T.V., promoting burdock tea as an anti-aging and weight-loss agent. For many, the most convincing evidence of burdock root's effects is Dr. Nagumo himself. He's been drinking several cups of burdock tea daily for over 20 years. The doctor, now 58, looks like a man in his 30's and in photos taken 20 years ago, he looks older than he does now! Medical exams show that his bones and blood vessels are like that of a man in his 20's.

If you get burdock root, making this healthy, anti-aging tea is quite simple

Benefits of Burdock Root

• Contains inulin, a natural dietary fiber that helps in digestion and alleviates skin problems.
• Burdock peel contains sapoinin, which lowers cholesterol and cleanses the blood.
• Has strong antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial effects.
• Provides optimum nutrition to the glandular and immune systems, liver, kidneys, blood, lungs, and nerves.” Contains chromium, iron, magnesium, silicon, and thiamine.
• High in vitamin C

Directions:

1. Wash the burdock root well and peel the skin with a peeler. If not using it for cooking, you can shred the entire root.
2. Spread the peelings out in the sun for half a day or so. 
3. Roast in a frying pan over medium heat, stirring often until it turns golden brown.
4. Cool and store in an airtight container or jar. 
5. Brew about 3g of dried burdock in a teapot for about 3 minutes and drink.

Other Burdock Tea Sites

Food for Life

Gobo Kingdom (Dr. Nagumo's site, Japanese only)