Last: weather again
Next: this week i have mostly been listening to I Am Kurious Oranj

April 10, 2005

okonomiyaki

"Chris", you say, "what is all this talk of technology, when all I really want are your obsessive posts about food?". Well, let's try and restore the balance to 95% food 5% technology that this weblog tries to hit.

I had a wonderfully foodie time in Hong Kong and Tokyo - more on that in later posts. Normally I come back from these trips craving homely European food, however this time, I came back wanting more and more Japanese food (I've also been craving fish and chips and Bakewell tarts and lots of other things I can't get).

The Japanese store in Helsinki, Tokyokan, has done brisk business this week. My first new dish to try and master is okonomiyaki - Japanese pancake/omelette/pizza. I'd been to an okonomiyaki restaurant in London quite a few times, but had never really thought about making it myself, for some odd reason.

The first attempt wasn't great - the batter consistancy was too liquid, the veg were shedded too thick, and rather than use common sense and make appropriately sized okonomiyaki, I just threw the whole mix in the pan, making something too spectacularly big to flip or cook evenly.

My second attempt tonight was far more satisfying. I used less water (real okonomiyaki batter made with shredded yam doesn't need water) - 80ml, plus a dash of the kimchi chili liquid to 100g of okonomomiyaki flour mix (normal flour plus a dash of dashi powder is probably equivalent). Then I added the cabbage and kimchi, which I'd grated pretty fine in the food processor - easier to just chop fine I think. Then an egg, and mix mix mix.