Okonomiyaki Recipe & Facts

Do you know the famous Japanese dish called Okonomiyaki? In this article, we will see some curiosities and a recipe for this famous Japanese pancake or crepe.

Okonomiyaki [お好み焼き] are savory Japanese pancakes filled with meat, seafood, and vegetables. They can be topped with mayonnaise, Katsuobushi, Nori, pickled ginger, and a sauce similar to Tonkatsu sauce (breaded pork cutlet).

The batter for Okonomiyaki is made with flour, vegetable broth or Dashi, eggs, and chopped cabbage. It is topped with green onions, onions, meat, bacon, cheese, octopus, squid, shrimp, vegetables, mochi, and whatever you want.

To finish, a small line of mayonnaise covers the entire Japanese pancake. The order of the layers can vary depending on the style and preference of the cook, and the ingredients can also vary depending on the customer’s preference.

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The Origin of Okonomiyaki

The word Okonomiyaki literally means “what you want fried.” The word Yaki (焼き) means grilled or fried, while the word okonomi (お好み) means what you want, desire, or like.

We can even notice the presence of the ideogram (好) which means to like and love. It got this name because there are no limits to its recipe; you can fill it with whatever you like or desire.

A researcher named Tekishu Motoyama says that the Japanese crepe may have been derived from the dough of funoyaki, a wheat dough from the 16th century. It was created by Sennotikyuu, where he mixed water, sake, and flour to make a flat dough. This recipe was dipped in miso, but this tradition disappeared at the end of the Edo period.

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After Funoyaki, Mojiyaki and several other variants emerged. It was only after the great Kanto earthquake in 1923 that people began to cook these crepes, which soon became popular and turned into the phenomenon known as okonomiyaki.

Around 1912 in the Taisho Era, in the city of Kyoto, Issen Yoshoku was becoming popular, another possible predecessor of Okonomiyaki that was filled with Worcestershire sauce and chopped green onions.

Curiosities and Types of Okonomiyaki

Okonomiyaki is the pride of Osaka. Any informed tourist visiting Osaka goes straight to Dotonbori street to eat Okonomiyaki. In Osaka, the dish is also called butatama. In Kyoto, Okonomiyaki is usually made with a darker green.

In Hiroshima, okonomiyaki is considerably more difficult to prepare. The ingredients are always more chopped than mixed. The layers are typically made with cabbage, bacon, and optional items (squid, octopus, cheese, etc.), and there are even versions with yakisoba and fried egg.

Monjayaki is popular in Tokyo; its difference is that they are more consistent. The result is a crispy pancake with a burnt cheese texture. While okonomiyaki is a pancake for one person, monjayaki is prepared as a giant pancake for a table.

In Okinawa, okonomiyaki is called Hirayachi. They are thinner and prepared at home. They are not typically sold in restaurants.

Other types of okonomiyaki are:

Negiyaki – A thin pancake filled with Negi. (Type of onion)
Modanyaki – An okonomiyaki with a bottom layer of fried noodles (yakisoba or yakiudon);
Matsuri Okonomiyaki – Sold at festivals and events, made in large quantities, usually has standard ingredients like bacon and cabbage;
Hashimaki – A version rolled around a chopstick;