Yesterday was my Japanese lesson and we incorporated another cooking lesson into it. We made Okonomiyaki, a savory Japanese pancake. Okonomi means "what you like" and yaki means "grilled" or "cooked". Here is the basic recipe for the Okonomiyaki we made but there are several variations of this dish depending on what you like. Some additions are mochi, pork, and cheese. As usual the recipe below was not measured but based on the amount of flour we used will make 2 large pancakes.

Okonomiyaki

Approximately 2 Cups of flour- Kona
Baking Powder
Potato Starch- Katakuriko
1 Egg- Tamago
A couple splashes of Soy Sauce- Shoyu
A small amount of Salt- Shio
A small amount of Sugar- Sato
Water- Mizu
Shredded Cabbage- Kyabetso
Chopped Green Onion- Tamanegi
Shrimp- Ebi
Okonomiyaki Sauce
Mayonnaise
Mustard
Bonito Flakes

Mix the first seven ingredients in a large bowl, it will form a sticky dough. Then add water until it becomes the consistency of pancake batter. Then add the cabbage and green onion and mix together. On a griddle or in a large omelet or crepe pan put a little Canola oil and cook the shrimp for a few minutes till done. Spread the shrimp out on the pan and pour the batter over so they are completely covered. Let the batter cook through on one side and then flip over to finish cooking the other side. Put the pancake on a plate and top with Okonomiyaki sauce making vertical and horizontal lines. Do the same with the mayo and mustard. (Traditionally you would use a spicy Japanese mustard that I did not have.) I did not have mayo in a squeeze bottle so what I did was mix the mayo with a little mustard and then dolloped it over the pancake . Finally add the Bonito flakes on top. This is when my teacher pointed out they start dancing. :) You'll see. This was really delicious and I will be making it again and again.