Okonomi-yaki Vegetarian Version ベジタリアンお好み焼き

Okomoni-yaki お好み焼きis a type of a Japanese savory pancake. It is especially popular in the cities of western Japan such as Osaka 大阪 and Hiroshima 広島 where many restaurants specialize in okonomi-yaki. Many years ago we had okonomi-yaki for lunch when we visited Himeji castle 姫路城. We went to a  local  okonomi-yaki restaurant we happened to see on our way to the station. The okonomi-yaki we had there must have been “Hiroshima-style”. We don’t remember the details of the dish we ate but we were both seriously under-whelmed. So, we have not tried it since then even on subsequent visits to Japan.

Recently, we got together with some good friends, who had recently visited Japan. They mentioned that they really liked okonomi-yaki. The wife is a vegetarian and, apparently, she had vegetarian okonomi-yaki in Japan and really liked it.  When they got back home they tried to recreate their enjoyable Japanese experience. Her husband called around to various Japanese restaurants in the area and while okonomi-yaki was on the menu of several of them none of them offered “vegetarian” okonomi-yaki.  They were extremely disappointed. Seeing how disappointed they were, my wife suggested that even though we were not particularly wild about the okonomi-yaki we had in Japan, maybe, given our access to Japanese ingredients and our experience in using those ingredients, we could make a vegetarian okonomi-yaki for our friends. Since we have never made one before, we had to study and experiment with this a bit.

We learned that there are two basic styles; Osaka and Hiroshima-styles. In both, two essential ingredients are a batter made of dashi broth and flour and shredded cabbage. In the Osaka style, the ingredients are mixed into the batter and cooked like a pancake. Hiroshima-style makes a thin pancake and layers it with the cabbage, noodles, and fried eggs. To make this at home, Osaka-style is easier, so that’s what we decided to make.

In terms of getting the sauce and premixed flour for okonomi-yaki, “Otafuku” U.S. web site is the best place. The “Otafuku” Japanese web site has instructions (in Japanese) and videos on how to make either Hiroshima or Osaka-style okonomi-yaki at home. It appears most of the items such as vegetarian sauces, and tempura bits are available from the US Otafuku site. We got their okonomi-yaki kit (which included a vegetarian “Otafuku” pre-mixed flour and two vegetarian sauces; one the traditional sauce and one a spicy sauce) as well as a bag of vegetarian tempura bits. (Traditionally the tempura bits have dried squid or shrimp in them so it required some effort of make sure the tempura bits I got were vegetarian.)

As a test, we first made an okonomi-yaki in the non-vegetarian traditional style with thin strips of pork belly. Although the “Otafuku” pre-mixed flour I bought was vegetarian this was the first okonomi-yaki I ever made and I wanted to see how something made with the correct mixture of ingredients would turn out. The resulting okonomi-yaki was pretty good. So, I got adventurous and decided to make a vegetarian version from scratch using a recipe I found on the internet. I made the pancake batter with cake flour, grated nagaimo 長芋 (Japanese mountain yam) and homemade vegetarian broth. We topped this with mayo, spicy “otafuku” sauce, “aonori” 青のり dried laver, and “kizami shoga 刻み生姜” julienned pickled ginger. The “spicy” sauce was not too spicy but gradually the heat creeps up on you. Although, the pancake we made was the size usually served to one person, we divided the pancake between the two of us and it was more than enough. This was quite a decent okomomi-yaki. (Infinately better than the one we remembered). The difference between using the “Otafuku” pre-mixed flour vs homemade vegetarian batter was subtle but the homemade one was a bit more moist maybe due to the grated “nagaimo”.

Ingredients (makes one 7-8 inch pancake)
50 grams cake flour
40 grams vegetarian broth*
1 egg
40 grams grated Nagaimo 長芋
100 grams shredded cabbage (I basically eyeballed the amount)
4-5 fresh shiitake mushroom caps, thinly sliced
Abura-age 油揚げ, half (optional, I used it to suggest the flavor of pork meat in a vegetarian version)
finely chopped scallions (3-4 tbs but the amount is arbitrary)
1 tbs vegetable oil

Tenkasu 天かす tempura bits (3-4 tbs but the amount is arbitrary)

Topping
Mayonnaise (the authentic Japanese mayo is Kewpie)
Okonomi-yaki sauce (I used the ones I got from Otafuku; one regular and the other spicy, both are vegetarian)

Julienned ginger in sweet vinegar (Kizami-shouga 刻み生姜), store bought
Dried “Aomori 青のり” laver 

* I made this from kelp and dried shiitake mushrooms. Add dried kelp (3x2inch) and 3-4 small dried shiitake mushrooms to cold water and let hydrate for 30 minutes. Then place the pot on a low flame. When it starts boiling, turn off the heat and let it steep for 1-2 hours until the broth cools to room temperature. Remove the kelp and shiitake mushrooms.  

Directions:
Mix the flour, broth, and egg to make a batter, add the cabbage and mushroom and cook in an 8 inch non-stick flying pan with vegetable oil on medium low flame, Top with the tempura bits and, (if using) place the fried tofu on the top (#1 in the composite picture) and continue cooking for 3-4 minutes. and then flip the pancake (#2). Place the lid on the pan and continue cooking for 3 more minutes then flip it again (#3). Let it cook for 3 more minutes with the lid off . 

Smear on the mayo, scatter the ginger (#4). Smear on the sauces and sprinkle on the aonori. Serve hot (the first picture).

The two versions of okonomi-yaki we made (the non-vegetarian version is the subject for a separate post) were much better than what we remembered. The pickled ginger and a combination of the traditional and spicy sauce are a “must have” really making the entire enterprise. 

Air-fried Baby Corn エアーフライ ベイビーコーン

We like to have local (meaning North American) seasonal produce like corn and blueberries when they are in season. Although we have already had fresh corn quite a few times this season, we realized we have not had fresh baby corn for some time. In general fresh baby corn is not readily available in the local grocery stores but we found that Weee carries it so we ordered some. We pondered how to cook it and decided to try air frying. We served this with miso-marinated grilled Chilean sea bass, cauliflower puree, ratatouille and sautéed green asparagus (picture #1). I cooked the fish in a dry stainless steel frying pan covered with parchment paper to produce a cooked effect similar to grilling. All worked well and the baby corn added as a nice crunchy and refreshing side.

we did not do anything special to the corn. Just coated it with olive oil and seasoned it with salt and pepper. We air fried it at 370F for 15 minutes but it did not brown. We raised the temp to 450F and cooked an additional 5 minutes which produced a nice browned surface (picture #2).

I am not sure air frying has any improvement over simply sautéing. Either way baby corn is a summer treat.

Watermelon sherbet スイカのシャーベット

We recently got a very good “seedless-mini” watermelon. Although this was a mini-watermelon, there was still a lot of it. We finished about half but time was passing and we were afraid it would go bad. So we came up with the idea of maybe preserving it a bit by somehow freezing it. We consulted a few recipes and decided on making watermelon sherbet (picture #1). It appears, the essence of the recipes is to freeze individual small chunks of watermelon placed far enough apart so they do not touch each other (picture #2). The frozen watermelon is pureed in a food processor/blender along with a liquid sweetner such as simple syrup until it forms a slush/sherbet. Some recipes call for adding lemon juice which we did not do. In any case we winged it and, with some difficulty, (read: considerable difficulty) made sherbet (#1). (After some consideration maybe this process would have gone better if the frozen pieces had been considerably smaller. We’ll try that next time.) The resulting sherbet was not as smooth as we hoped and was sort of a hybrid between granita and sherbet. After it was completely frozen, the only way we could get it out of the container was to scrape the surface like you would for granita (picture #3). As a result it required a bit of effort to put together a serving for desert. Nonetheless it was a very cool refreshing dish. The taste of watermelon came through strongly. Above all else we were able to finish the watermelon before it went bad.

We did not follow any particular recipe but got the general idea and winged it. We used about half a mini-watermelon (x2 of what is seen in picture #2).

Ingredients:
About 4 cups of watermelon, cut into small chunks (picture #2).
1/4 cup of simple syrup (equal amount of sugar and water)
Additional hot water as needed.

Directions:
Freeze the watermelon chunks arranged on a parchment paper lined baking pan so that the watermelon chunks do not freeze together (#2 again). (The process may go better than it did for us this time if the frozen chuncks are considerably smaller than those shown in the picture.) Add the frozen watermelon chunks and the syrup to a blender. Puree until smooth. (We did this in two batches using the Vitamix blender and this was a difficult procedure. We had to add hot water several times and use the “plunger” that comes with the Vitamix to push down the unblended watermelon chunks so they could be pureed). After some struggle, we accomplished a “sherbet-like” consistency. (We tasted it and it was nice smooth and sweet). (After some thought maybe the process would have gone better if the frozen pieces were considerably smaller. We’ll try that next time.) We placed the it in the plastic container in the freezer (picture #3).

We had to scrape of the surface like granita to serve (picture #3) since it was rather solidly frozen.

So, this was partial success but we did not waste good watermelon and it was a quite refreshing summer dessert if not quite a sherbet in consistency. 

Miso Sauce with Green Perilla 大葉味噌

This is a variation of flavored. miso dipping/sauce. Miso can be flavored with kinome 木の芽 (young leaves of the Japanese pepper tree),  Yuzu (Japanese orange), other Japanese citrus or perilla (shiso or ooba in Japanese). Since our herb garden is mass producing Japanese green perilla “Ooba 大葉”, I made “Ooba-miso 大葉味噌”. This is a versatile condiment. We first tried it with cucumber sticks (picture #1). For that iteration, I used regular miso and the condiment came out a bit salty. I adjusted the saltiness by adding some Japanese broth and sugar especially since after cooling the sauce was a bit too stiff. This worked out well after the adjustments. The perilla really added nice flavor. I have also made a dipping sauce for fresh cucumbers using sweet “Saikyo miso 西京味噌” . I suspect if I used that instead of the regular miso in the perilla sauce the sauce would have come out less salty. Maybe I’ll try that next time.

There appears to be some variations in the recipe. I looked at several and came up with the simplest.

Ingredients:
40 leaves of Japanese perilla leaves, finely chopped
6 tbs miso
4 tbs mirin
4 tbs sake
1 tbs dark roasted sesame oil
4 tbs ground white sesame (I re-roasted the white sesame seeds and coarsely ground them in a Japanese Suribachi)

2-3 tbs Japanese dashi broth (optional)
1-2 tsp sugar (optional)

Directions: 
Add the miso and sesame oil to a small frying pan and mix well. Add the mirin, and sake. Cook on low heat stirring constantly for several minutes until slightly thickened. Taste and if needed add the sugar. Add the perilla and stir. Add the sesame seeds. Adjust the thickness by adding dashi broth or water.  It became thicker when refrigerated. The miso mixture can be stored in a clean glass jar (picture #2). It should last several weeks in the refrigerator.

Air-Fried Pork Tenderloin without Panko Crust エアーフライ豚のヒレ肉

When we order pork tenderloin from the grocery store, it comes two to a package. This time when we got the two tenderloins we experimented with cooking them in the air fryer. So we made one by marinating, then breading it with pre-browned panko and cooking it in the air-fryer. (Discussed in a previous blog.) It was a great success. With this success, we tried cooking the other tender loin that came in the package by marinating it and then air-frying it without the panko crust. This was another success! Unlike the last time instead of relying on a specified cooking time I relied on reaching an internal temperature of 145F and that turned out to have occurred at about 20 minutes. The meat was perfectly done. I served the pork slices with julienne salad or “kizami sarada 刻みサラダ” and skinned Campari tomato soaked in cold Japanese broth.

Again, I used a mixture of mayo and miso to marinate the pork. This is just a note so that I can remember what I did.

Ingredients:
1 pork tenderloin, cleaned and trimmed (trimming can be used in other dishes).

Marinade:
2 tbs mayonnaise
2 tbs miso (this time I used the same amount of miso and mayo)
2-3 tsp mirin

Directions:
Mix the marinade ingredients and place it in the Ziploc bag. Add the pork. Cover all the surface and massage. Remove the air as much as you can. Let it marinate for 20-30 minutes in room temperature or couple of hours under refrigeration. Before cooking remove any excess marinade by hand and cook 450F or until the center register 145F.(In this case it took about 20 minutes) (Picture #2).

The increased ratio of miso did not change the flavor much. The surface got nicely browned. Although the meat was perfectly cooked and moist, “air-fried with panko crust” version appears to have retained moisture a bit better.  Certainly not having browned panko crumbs make this method much easier.