
We went to a dinner party at our friends 100+ year old house with new kitted out kitchen and were excited to try something new, Japanese okonomiyaki. This grilled pancake, ala whoever is making them, gets embellished upon with many ‘toppings’ including: pork, scallops, octopus, dried shrimp, dried white fish, smoked oysters, diced cheddar cheese, tenkasu (tempura bits), nori strips, corn niblets, julienned carrots, spinach, scallions or Japanese pickled ginger.
The savoury pancake batter is made with shredded cabbage, flour, eggs, dashi, grated nagaimo (Japanese mountain yam), this yam is ooey gooey and makes the ingredients stick.
When the batter is on the two flat iron grills, we add our toppings, “get in there everybody, do what ever you want”, so we made 8 different ones! D subconsciously made a ‘pizza’ one with cheese and pork. The best tasting one was the hostess’ who went over the top with toppings, the Asahi gave her the freedom to, “Go big or go home”, is her advice.
It dawned on me that everyone’s toppings were quite telling of their personalities. First there was an over-thought lean one with barely any toppings with one featured ingredient -the architect. Then there was a perfectly balanced veg and seafood pancake, ingredients evenly spaced, a mix of colours -the foodie yoga teacher. The male web developer made a pizza. And the artist trapped in the graphic designers body went overboard with a mountain of flavour, claiming the beer made her do it. What would Jung say?
Sharing okonomiyaki was a fantastic and inclusive social approach to eating, the tenets of old Japanese eating culture bring us back to the family and friends, that made us all very happy.
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