Happee Monkee

Okonomiyaki is a Japanese-style savoury pancake which you can add all kinds of ingredients (okonomi means “favourite” in Japanese and yaki meaning “grilled” or “cooked”). The usual dressings involves chopped cabbage, thinly sliced pork, corn, shrimp, squid, basically it’s up to you what you like in your pancake. The best way experience to have okonomiyaki is to cook your own on a teppan or hot plate table in an okonomiyaki restaurant. In Tokyo, there is another type of okonomiyaki called monjayaki. Monjayaki is a liquid, runny variant of okonomiyaki.

If you’re gung-ho and decide to cook your own okonomiyaki without assistance, this is how you go about it.

First, you wait for the hot plate to warm up, then drizzle some oil. While the oil is warming up, remove the meat from the bowl of ingredients (which the server will provide you once you made your order). Stir up the remaining ingredients. Make sure to stir it up quickly to let air into the batter. By doing so, the okonomiyaki will be soft once cooked.

Pour the batter on the pan and shape it circularly. Or at least, attempt to. Using the small spatulas, round the batter by gently shaping it from the edges. When it has been shaped, lay the meat on top of it. Then grill the pancake until the bottom turns brown (approximately 5 minutes).

Now, this step requires both skill and speed. The key is to do it in one go without hesitation. Think like a samurai. Flip the okonomiyaki in one smooth step using the spatulas. Flipping it lets the meat cook, and let the juices spread throughout the okonomiyaki. Grill it until this side too turns light brown (another 5 minutes). Flip it over again for good measure. If you wish to grill it evenly, flip it a few more times. Flipping it twice, however, is quite enough.

Top it with okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise, ao-nori (green seaweed), and katsuobushi (bonito flakes). Divide and conquer!