Okonomiyaki

I’m so excited when seeing this recipe on TasteSpotting. It brought back the memory when we travelled in Japan in 2007. Okonomiyaki or Japanese pancake is made of plain flour, water, egg, mixed with cabbage and other vegetables and meat or seafood. The combination varies a lot, and I guess we can pretty much mix and match the ingredients to what we like. The topping also varies from the okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise to bonito flakes.

While in Japan, we had okonomiyaki in two different regions: Nara and Hiroshima. Each region gives a different touch to the dish. In Nara, the okonomiyaki is regarded as the speciality of the area. The recipe I tried is pretty much the Nara/ Osaka’s style of okonomiyaki. In the restaurant we ordered the dish in Nara, the okonomiyaki is cooked on a flat top in our own table (click here to see our blog post when we were in Nara).

Hiroshima’s style okonomiyaki has its ingredients layered rather than mixed together. The one we ordered also had noodles in it. Absolutely loved it!! See here for our blog post in Hiroshima.

Here, I made a vegetarian okonomiyaki consisting of cabbage, carrot and spring onion. It’s a very easy dish to make and yet tasty and filling. The okonomiyaki sauce is a must and the mayonnaise gives a nice touch and cute presentation. I put the mayo inside a plastic bag, then snip 1 corner of the bag with scissors (small cut only), then pipe the mayo over the okonomiyaki.

(from recipe by Matt in his blog ‘Food for Friends Yeah!’)

(makes 2)

Okonomiyaki

• 130 gr plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 150 ml water
• 3 eggs
• 100 gr washed and shredded cabbage (tough parts removed)
• 1 carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons finely sliced spring onions
• salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• extra sliced spring onions, for garnish

Simple Okonomiyaki sauce

• 3 tablespoons tomato ketchup
• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Mayonnaise

• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

Step 1. Mix the flour and baking powder together in a large bowl. Add the water and whisk until most of the lumps have gone. Add the eggs and continue to whisk until combined. Add in the cabbage, carrot and spring onion, season with salt and pepper and mix together.

Step 2. Place a non-stick frying pan on a medium heat and pour in the olive oil. Once it’s hot, spoon in the mixture and use the spoon to flatten it to around 1.5cm thick. Push in the edges to keep it round in shape. Cook for around 5-7 minutes. Once the edges start to brown carefully flip over and cook on the other side for a further 5-7 minutes. Once cooked through, slide onto a plate.

Step 3. Mix the Okonomiyaki sauce ingredients together and spread over the okonomiyaki. Then combine the mayo ingredients together and drizzle or pipe the mayo over the sauce. Sprinkle with chopped spring onions.

It’s a simple and easy to make vegetarian dish. It certainly makes me want to go to Japan again…!

xxx,
Inge

 

Thai-style pork parcels

‘I love fresh basil and coriander’

This recipe is another one from the cookbook ‘Egg’ by Alex Barker. With the eggs, we’ll make simple omelettes to make parcel wrappings. For the fillings, it’s Thai-inspired stir fry mince pork cooked with fish sauce, tomatoes, chillies and herbs.

Fresh coriander is used in the book. Since I have fresh coriander and basil in the fridge and cannot decide which one I should use, I decided to use both herbs. The mince pork filling is tasty; it’s sour, salty, spicy plus you get the fresh flavour from the herbs. What a contrast to the delicate taste of the eggs. Best served with hot steamed jasmine rice 🙂

Thai-style pork parcels

(adapted from ‘Egg’ by Alex Barker, 2000)

(makes 4 parcels)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 300 gr minced pork
• 3 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 4 red chillies, finely chopped
• 1 small handful fresh basil leaves
• 1 small handful fresh coriander leaves
• salt and black pepper
• extra basil and coriander to garnish

Omelettes

• 6 eggs
• 1 tablespoon Thai fish sauce
• 4 teaspoons olive oil

Eggs and fish sauce

Step 1. Heat the oil in a wok, add the garlic and onion, and fry for 3-4 minutes until soft. Add the pork and fry for about 8 minutes until lightly browned.

Step 2. Stir in the fish sauce, sugar, tomatoes, chilli, salt and pepper; simmer until slightly thickened. Mix in fresh basil and coriander.

Step 3. To make the omelettes, whisk together the eggs and fish sauce. Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Add a quarter of the beaten egg mixture and tilt the pan to spread the egg into a thin, even sheet. Cook until the omelette is just set, then spoon a quarter of the filling into the center. Fold into a neat square parcel by bringing the opposite sides of the omelette towards each other – first the top and bottom, then the right and left sides.

Step 4. Place the parcel onto a plate, folded side down. Repeat with the rest of oil, eggs and filling. Garnish with fresh basil and coriander and serve with steamed rice.

Thai-style pork parcel served with steamed jasmine rice

It’s seriously good 🙂

xxx,
Inge

 

Omelette

One of my fave breakfast dishes is fried egg. Fried, scrambled, sunny-side up or omelette served with toast, bacon, tomato, mushroom, spinach or baked beans… whatever you fancy.

The omelette I often make was inspired by the omelette I had in Marriot hotel, Jakarta. I stayed there for about 3 months during my work assignment in Jakarta. I had the buffet breakfast in the hotel every morning and loved the omelette they serve. The chefs cooked them in front of the guests. And after 3 months I saw them making the omelettes, it would be so wrong if I can’t make it myself, wouldn’t it?

Be creative with the ingredients to compliment the egg; diced tomato, diced mushroom, diced bacon, diced capsicum, etc.. This morning I made the omelette with diced tomato, chopped parsley and grated parmesan.

Omelette
(serves 2)

• 4 eggs
• 1 ripe tomato
• 2 tablespoons grated parmesan
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Ingredients for omelette

Step 1. Cut the tomato into 8 wedges and discard the seeds. Dice the wedges.

Step 2. Crack the eggs into a bowl, add chopped parsley, season with salt and pepper and beat lightly.

Step 3. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a small non-stick frying pan over small fire. Pour half of the egg mixture onto the pan, add half of the diced tomato, leave for about 10 seconds, then lightly scramble the egg and fry for about 10 seconds.

Pour the egg onto the pan

Add chopped tomato to the egg mixture

Lightly scramble the egg

Step 4. Push the egg to half of the pan, scatter 1 tablespoon of cheese on top of half of the egg, then fold the other half of the egg on top of the cheese.

Scatter the cheese on top of half the egg

Fold the egg

Step 5. Fry the egg for about 30 seconds or until golden brown, turn over and fry for another 30 seconds or until golden brown. Do the same for the remaining ingredients.

Fry the omelette until golden brown

Omelette

xxx,
Inge

 

Egg and Avo on Toasted Bagel

One of  my favourite breads is bagel. Bagel has a shape like a doughnut and it is more dense , chewy and a bit sweeter than normal bread.

Bagel is nice to be enjoyed on its own. Just simply halve, toast them, and spread with margarine.

This morning I added an omelette and avocado slices on the toasted bagel. I thought this combination works really well.

Avocado is considered as one of the best superfoods. Nutrients information of avocado can be found here: http://www.avocado.org.au/nutrition/nutritional_information.aspx

Egg and Avo on Toasted Bagel

(serves 2)

• 1 bagel, halved
• 1 avocado, halved then sliced
• 3 eggs

Step 1. Crack the eggs on a bowl and lightly beat them with a fork. Season with salt and pepper.

Step 2. Put a little bit of olive oil in a small frying pan and heat over a medium fire.  Cook the eggs to your liking. I like the eggs folded, not scrambled. Pour the egg mixture, after 10 seconds, fold the eggs continuously until it’s cooked (but not browned) – this will take about 30-40 seconds.

Step 3. Toast the bagel in the toaster.

Step 4. Arrange the avocado slices on each of the bagel halves and top with the omelette.

Egg and avo on toasted bagel

Served with the healthy juice, this is a perfect breakfast to start your Sunday.

xxx,

Inge