モダン焼

I miss my husband's cooking. Not that my husband ever cooked a lot, but now that he is working at his new job he almost never has the time or energy to do much in the kitchen. Luckily he finally gave in to my begging and agreed to cook dinner tonight, choosing the very thing that I miss the most: okonomiyaki (savoury pancake).

He cooked it at the table on the teppan (tabletop skillet), which helped make it seem less like work and more like fun. Above is his first one: a standard okonomiyaki, with a batter made of flour, grated yamaimo (yam), cabbage, dashi (Japanese stock) powder and benishouga (pickled red ginger) and topped with pork, okonomiyaki sauce and katsuobushi (bonito flakes).

And then he made a special treat: modanyaki (okonomiyaki with noodles). He started by dry sauteing chukamen (chinese style noodles, the same kind as for yakisoba) with a little salt and pepper until they were just a bit crispy.

Next he added okonomiyaki sauce (like a lighter, sweeter version of HP sauce) to the noodles and sauteed them a bit more, then moved them aside and started an okonomiyaki.

The noodles were placed on top of the okonomiyaki, and then more batter was poured on top.

Thinly sliced pork was added on top of that.

The whole thing was flipped over (it takes great skill to keep it all in one peice) and cooked till the pork was crispy.

Then it was flipped over again and drizzled with okonomiyaki sauce.

The sauce was left to cook a bit, then katsuobushi was sprinkled over it and it was cut in two and served. And then he did it a few more times, and we ate until we were stuffed.

I was going to include the recipe, but I've just realized there are already several good okonomiyaki recipes on the web and that modanyaki is simple enough that it doesn't really need its own recipe. This recipe is from a kid's site, but I like it because it has very clear instructions with pictures and includes a recipe for the okonomiyaki sauce. To make it into modanyaki just saute the noodles as above, using my basic instructions. (Note that the recipe in the link doesn't include dashi powder or yamaimo. Neither are necessary but using them will improve the flavour or texture, so add them if you like: a dash of dashi powder and a Tbsp of grated yamaimo will do.)

Comments

[Dana Koyama]

I love it when my DH cooks, too! He cooked oden last night and it was delish! I haven't seen modan yaki, but I can imagine it was VERY GOOD!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/danakochan/

[Dana Koyama]

I love it when my DH cooks, too! He cooked oden last night and it was delish! I haven't seen modan yaki, but I can imagine it was VERY GOOD!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/danakochan/
Dana Koyama

[Kat]

I love modanyaki! You are so lucky :)

[Melissa Maples]

Oh wow, that looks incredible... I'd probably miss it, too.

[Lori]

That modanyaki looks so delicious. I haven't had okonomiyaki for several months and now I do miss it! :)

[Janet]

OMG. I've been sick for a week with NO appetite, but when I saw this...my mouth just started watering! Ohhhh I want some!

[Amy]

Thanks for the comments! Janet, I hope we've recovered and have your appetite back!

Dana, your husband's oden looked great! With gyu suji AND potatoes it is classic Man Food-- my husband would love it. The last time I made oden didn't include potatoes in the oden and he was mightily disappointed.

[Mama BoK]

Lots of brownie points for the man..!!