OkonomiYUCKY

One of my personal goals while we were here was to learn how to cook more Japanese food than I did while in the states.  What I didn't realize was that I would not have a choice in that--if I want to feed my family and not spend several thousands of dollars on groceries, I have to learn how to cook Japanese food.

 

I found these youtube videos called Japanese Cooking 101.  They feature two Japanese ladies who take you through cooking a Japanese dish step by step.  They will also explain ingredients that are unfamiliar and appropriate substitutions if you can't find them. 

 

Nathan has become a little obsessed over these videos.  He now can't find one that he hasn't already watched.  He will watch one and then report to me his opinion on the dish.  He will say, "Mom, you should make this one, it looks good." or "Mom, don't make this one, it has mushrooms in it!" or "Mom, this one is a type of sushi, we should make it." or "Mom, we don't have the dishes for this one, you can't make it."

 

The kids think they are starving in this place.  What they can't seem to grasp is that Japanese food is very different from American food.  You can eat and eat and eat a ton of Japanese food, but you won't ever really get that heavy, full feeling in your stomach.  Because they don't ever feel that heavy feeling, they think they are hungry all the time.  ALL. THE. TIME.  It's driving me nuts.

 

They did feel full when we had okonomiyaki at the Perry's home, however.  Because of this, Nathan and I sat down and watched Japanese Cooking 101 on how to make okonomiyaki.  Sister Perry told me that she always makes it with a kit, but I can't find the kit anywhere.  I needed to learn to make it from scratch. 

There are a few important ingredients that I had to find in the grocery store before I could make this Japanese dish.  The box in the top left of this picture is called Dashi.  It's fish bouillon.  The bottle is okonomiyaki sauce. The bottom left package is dried fish flakes.  The last package is a mixture of sesame seeds, seaweed, and some dried wasabi.  Once I found these ingredients, Nathan and I were ready to try out our experiment.

 We made a thin pancake batter type mixture and mixed it with almost a full head of shredded cabbage.  Plopped it in a pan, waited for a couple of minutes, and then put two strips of bacon on it before flipping it to cook the other side.  While the second side was cooking, we spread okonomiyaki sauce on the top.

After both sides were cooked, we put them on plates and spread mayo, fish flakes, and the seaweed mixture on top.  Then, we braced ourselves for the opinions of the family......

 The Picky One loved his cooking, and ate almost two full ones!  This is a lot for him!!

 Audra didn't like the looks of it, and didn't want to eat anything.  Raymond fed her, and she managed to eat about half of it. 

We got enthusiastic approvals from everyone except Tayla.  The final verdict was that this okonomiyaki was better than Sister Perry's.  I think the difference was that it was from scratch instead of a kit, as well as that our seaweed also contains sesame seeds and dried wasabi--gave it a little kick.  The fact that Nathan helped cook it also made it taste better as well, of course.
Tayla didn't care for this dish at the Perry's home, and she didn't like it any better when Nathan and I made it either.  She made up a new name for it:  okonomiyucky. 

Still, Nathan and I are very proud of ourselves that we conquered how to make this dish.  We will have it a lot while we are here.  It's pretty cheap to make, it's good, and most importantly, it actually makes the kids feel full!