One of the best family trips we've taken was to Japan, and its food capital, Osaka. I could not have been more pleased to visit a traditional home and learn some classic street food recipes at Osaka Street Food Cooking Class. An Izakaya, found all over Japan, is a casual place that serves Japanese pub food, but in my opinion more elevated that at an American, Irish or British pub. The foods we cooked in Osaka could be found at an Izakaya so I share them here. The first recipe we made was the Okonomiyaki which is like a Japanese omlet. The trick is to roll it just right on the grill so it can be eaten on a stick on the go. Here’s the traditional recipe.
1 egg
1/2 a cup of flour
2 tbsp dashi (found in Japanese specialty stores)
3/4 cup water
1 large carrot
1/3 cup cabbage
2 TBSP grape seed oil
Shiso leaf (optional)
Mix the first four ingredients in a bowl until the mixture is smooth. Then slice the carrot and cabbage very thin and add it to the batter.
Heat the oil and add the shiso leaf. Pour half of the batter on top of the leaf trying to form a rectangle. When the edges begin to cook, clip the chopsticks around one side of the pancake and roll it carefully. Repeat with the remaining batter. If it begins to fall apart you can leave it to cook the traditional way and enjoy as a regular pancake.
You can top with the traditional Okonomiyaki sauce (1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce, 1 tsp soy sauce, 3 TBSP ketchup and 1 TBSP mayonnaise) but I prefer a simple squirt of mayo or spicy mayo.
Udon Noodle Soup
We also made a fanastic Udon noodle soup. I never realized how easy it could be to cut your own noodles.
2 cups of flour
1/2 cup of water
1/2 tsp of salt
Broth
5 cups of water
1/2 tsp of Dashi powder (can be found in Japanese section of supermarket or on Amazon)
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp mirin
1 tsp salt
To make the dough for the noodles, mix the flour, water and salt in a bowl. Combine to form a ball, then wrap in plastic wrap and place in a quart sized ziplock. With no shoes, step on the plastic wrapped dough for 3 to 5 minutes to knead. Now it should be a disk shape.
Sounds strange, but we were told to place the wrapped dough in the waist of our pants or a large pocket for 30 minutes to allow it to rise quickly. As the instructor explained, it needs this body heat or else would need an entire day. After the 30 minutes, place the dough (you can be making something else while you wait) on a well floured table or board and roll out. Fold the the dough over so it’s doubled, and cut into thin strips. Place dough strips in a pot of boiling water and cook for 2 minutes separating the noodles with chopsticks as they cook. Drain and rinse with cold water before placing in bowls. Combine the broth ingredients in a pot now and bring to a boil. Pour over the noodles and serve.