My first Okonomiyaki

Okonomiyaki is often referred to as a "Japanese pancake" and for the most part that's an accurate description. It's comprised mainly of a thick batter and cooked like a pancake but there are many variations which include anything from cheese to ramen noodles as well. There are two main types though: Osaka-style and Hiroshima-style. The main difference being that Osaka-style involves mixing all the ingredients together before cooking, where as Hiroshima-style employs a layered cooking technique. For most people though, Osaka is considered the birthplace of the dish, making that variety the more popular/prevalent style.

It's one of my all-time favorite dishes, however I've never been compelled to make it myself for fear of creating an abomination accompanied by a huge mess. I also view myself as a spectator of Japanese cuisine and since I didn't grow up around these foods it makes me less confident to make them myself. On two occasions I found myself trying to make sushi at home, was severely disappointed with the results and vowed never to do it again.

However, after committing years of interest into Japanese culture/cuisine I figured it was time to stop being a pussy and get knuckles-deep in some okonomiyaki batter. It also helped that I found myself in Mitsuwa where they carry okonomiyaki flour/mix which would make the process a lot easier.

Clockwise from the left: katusobushi (bonito flakes), panko, spring onion, cabbage, eggs, bacon and okonomiyaki flour (not pictured: mayonnaise and okonomi sauce)

The Twelve Days of Japan: Oishii desu!

EHHH??!!??
[/Japanese voice]

I've really fallen behind on these posts, but now I finally come back to you with a detailed account of my trip to Japan this April!

Get ready because you're in for a lot of reading....

From the makers of Pocky, here's Curry!

Kare Raisu (Japanese curry rice) is bit of an anomaly to most people, at least it was to me when I first heard of it. However it's one of the most popular Yoshoku (Japanese interpretation of Western cuisine) dishes in Japan and has about a million different variations. Wait... I probably already talked about this in my previous post about microwave-ready Curry Rice.

Curry Rice On The Go

Today I decided to make some Japanese curry rice (kare raisu) at my office for lunch. For those of you not familiar with the dish, here's what it normally looks like:

As you can (kinda) see, it's not really anything like Indian curry, except it does use curry powder/garam masala. It's more like a thick stew with curry spices, apparently it's based on "English curry"... I could Google it to better inform myself, but I don't feel like it.

Normally kare raisu is made with potatoes, carrots, onions, some kind of meat, various spices and quite often something sweet like apple and/or honey. It's very popular in Japan and is eaten in restaurants and made at home; families and restaurants usually have their own secret recipes. Per the name, it's served with short-grain sticky rice, or sometimes over a big piece of fried pork (tonkatsu). And... sometimes over spaghetti... the Japanese have some interesting takes on Western food, but I'll talk about that some other time.

Doctor Strangebrew or: How I Learned To Stop Complaining and Love Tea [part 1]

This morning it just dawned upon me that I could take my Ito En fandom to new heights by spending about two hours looking at their website via the Internet Archive (www.archive.org). They only have archives from 2005-2009, but I went ahead and looked through most of them and jotted down some notes pertaining to how their product lineup has changed over the years.

Technically the first time I became aware of Ito En was in 2006 when I went to Japan for the first time. It was during cherry blossom season and I remember walking around Ueno Park doing some hanami. Up until then I was taking the gaijin approach to eating and was mostly going for stuff I was familiar with, but kept on seeing people drinking this stuff out of green bottles. I was getting thirsty from walking around in the sun all day and when I went to get some lunch I ran into one of the million vending machines selling the stuff. I figured if everyone else in the country was drinking it, I should probably give it a try. I don't even think I knew what it was before then either; I probably assumed it was tea but had no idea what kind. It wasn't until much later that I realized it would be my first bottle of Ito En's flagship beverage: Oi Ocha.

Example of "real" Oi Ocha bottle from Japan

That first taste I took... was completely awful. I'm sure a lot of other Americans have the same reaction too, mainly due to our country's preference to sugary/flavored beverages. Oi Ocha is pure Japanese green tea, no flavor or sugar added, but to me it just tasted like they brewed fresh grass clippings and bottled it. I really had a hard time finishing the entire bottle too, in fact I think I did end up throwing away the last 1/4 of it; it had gotten especially gross after it started to get get warm in the sun, too. It would a long time before I would ever cross paths with Ito En again, or even figure out what it was that I had drank that day in Japan.