Day 141 - My Place, Cairns - "Okonomiyaki" (Chinese cabbage pancakes)

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Another weekend gone, another out-of-town guest to send off. My Sydney mate Tim and I had a great weekend, creating some awesome memories! One more meal before seeing him off to the airport.

During his schooling, Tim spent a good amount of time in Japan. I've been picking his brain for the last couple of months now, getting as much info and ideas on what I would see or do if I'm to visit that area of the world for a quick trip next year (late spring?). Hmm ...

Speaking of house guests, over the last few months I've caught a few in the house:

Our place, mostly on the outside, crawls with gheckos ...

I caught a Huntsman spider in our shower one day (thankfully these are not harmful - but they're heavy enough to make noise when they run across a bathtub, as I learned that night). *shudder*

And, for good measure, my canadian housemate Jeremy caught a huge snake (a python?) on camera just outside our front door. No sight of the critter since then ... but I remain confident he's keeping our house rat-free. :)

Since we were talking so much about Japan anyway, Tim figured he would cook me one of the few Japanese dishes he knows how to make: "Okonomiyaki" (Chinese cabbage pancakes)

** Confession: we cheated and bought pre-packaged sauce mixes. Below, here's how you make them from scratch!

Ingredients: (per serving)

50-60 g flour
1 egg
1 cup dashi
1-2 Tablespoons grated yamaimo (mountain potato)
70 g cabbage
Oil

Wagarashi
Okonomiyaki sauce
Tonkatsu sauce

Note: Powdered yamaimo can be used

(As desired: mirin, salt, 20-30 g thinly sliced pork, 1/2 squid, 10-20 small shrimp, cleaned and shelled, 2-3 whole oyster)

Method:

Batter:

1 - In a bowl mix egg add yamaimo.
2 - Add salt, a little mirin, then flour. Mirin removes the powdery taste.
3 - (Optional) Add any combination of ingredients to cabbage.
4 - Dice cabbage to 1-1.5 mm pieces .
5 - (Optional) Cut pork into 3 cm. pieces. Remove skin of squid. Cut into small pieces. Wash shrimp and drain.

How to assemble:

6 - Add cabbage and filling to batter.
7 - Pre-heat hot plate or fry pan. Cover surface completely with oil.
8 - Pour batter into a circle about 20 cm in diameter.
9 - Cook for about 5 minutes or until golden brown. Turn over with a spatula .
10 - Cook for about 5 min until completely cooked.
11 - Be careful not to overcook or burn. Do not press down on patties.

Before eating, add one or a combination of the following sauces: Mayonaisse, tonkatsu or okonomiyaki sauce, Japanese mustard (wagarashi). Ketchup or any strong flavored sauces will also do.