Hello everyone,

I really enjoy nailing a great recipe and when I do I love sharing it with all of you. Today I want to share with you all my recipe for the Japanese dish Okonomiyaki.

You may have seen that a few weeks ago I competed in another episode At It Again: Beat Bobby Flay (Season 15 Episode 8). Everyone had been waiting for a rematch and this was it! Unfortunately is was a little anti-climatic for me. Despite not having the outcome I wanted I am glad that I did the show. It's also fun to be on set and competing. 

Also, I was really proud of my dish, any chef will tell you it's difficult to put together gnocchi in under 20 minutes. I knew it was a risk but in life as in cooking you have to make decisions and go full speed ahead. 

The dish that never was, that is to say the dish I had planned to Beat Bobby Flay with, is awesome and I want to share the recipe with you.

Okonomiyaki, was marketed as Japanese pizza when I was younger and to me it's nothing like pizza. There are definitely a few styles of this dish and some of you may know the  monjayaki style. I happen to like the okonomiyaki that I ate when I was visiting Japan last spring and specifically in Hiroshima. This version is basically like two thin crepes with noodles and whatever local ingredients you choose sandwiched in the middle topped with the almighty combination of kewpie mayonnaise and okonomi  sauce a little red pickle ginger aka the gangsta benishoga. 

The photo leading this entry is of the okonomiyaki I had before boarding a boat to the island Miyajima. Below is the okonomiyaki recipe and if you make it be sure to share and tag me on social media! Would love to see. 

Okonomiyaki Recipe 6 servings

Ingredients for Okonomiyaki batter       

• 1 cup  All Purpose Flour

• ½ teaspoon salt

• 3 tablespoon Mirin

• 1.25 cups  Water

• In a bowl mix together flour, salt and sugar. In another bowl combine mirin and
  water together. Add iquid to dry , whisk together and refrigerate.

For Tempura Batter for Agedama

• ½ cup  Tempura Flour    

• 3Tbsp  Corn Starch or Potato Starch

• 2.5 tsp Vinegar

• ¾ cup  Water

• ¼ teaspoon Salt

• Oil for frying

Put lour together in a bowl. In another bowl combine vinegar and water. Combine iquid to dry and mix together with a whisk. Strain batter and chill. Once atter is chilled put it into a measuring cup. Get fryer oil to 375 degrees. ently pour batter into the hot oil. Take out with strainer and drain. Reserve.

For Okonomi Sauce

• 1 ½  cups   Ketchup

• 2/3cup Worcestershire sauce

• ½ cup Honey

• ¼ cup  Peach Puree

• 2 tablespoon  Apple cider Vinegar

  Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.
  

• 9 cups  GreenCabbage  (Shredded Savoy is preferred)

• 1 ¼ cups  Kimchi (roughly chopped)

• 3cup Agedama      

• 6cups  Bonito Flakes (Katsuo Bushi) (1/4 cup ground down in a mortar and pestle)

• 8 cups  Yakisoba Noodles Fresh

• 1cup Bean Sprouts

• 2cups  Green Onion(thinly Sliced)

• 1.5 pounds       Thinly slicedpork belly

• 1 cup  Miso, Red

• 6    Eggs

• ½cup  Aonora

• 1cup   Beni Shoga

• 1.25 cups  KewpieMayo

• 2.25 cups OkonomiSauce

• Oil

Heat up flat top or 3 non stick pans to medium high heat. Dunk yakisoba in hot waterfor 2 minutes, drain well. Add a Tbsp of oil to the first pan and add thenoodles then add 1 oz of water.. When noodles are almost cooked (3 minutes) add2.5 tbsp of okonomi sauce. In the second pan add 1tsp of oil and wipe outexcess. Ladle 2 ounces of batter into the pan and swirl around with ladle toget an even layer of batter. Sprinkle ground bonito then add 1.5 cups ofcabbage, a little less than a ¼ cup of kimchi on top of the batter and scatter
1 tbsp of bean sprouts and 2 tbsp of green onions. Then scatter ¼ cup of the gedama on top.

Transferyakisoba on top of the okonomiyakyi with the cabbage in it. Heat up a tbsp. ofmiso and add the pork belly to it then place that on top of the noodles.

In athird pan add ½ tsp of oil and cook an egg sunnyside up then smash it and
smooth it with a rubber spat to get a thin omelette. Put the omelette on top of
the pork and flip it over.Withthe “pancake” side up brush liberally with the okonomi sauce. Garnish withlines of the kewpie mayo and dust with aonori, bonito flakes and 1.5 tsp of thebeni shoga.