the official Kit Kelen Ozi-yaki
recipe
product of decades of lazy cooking
and distraction
is
it a pizza?
is
it a pancake?
is
it a flying omelette of sorts?
this
is a matter of conscience
and
something you must decide
…
Ozi-yaki involves these ingredients :
cabbage
finely diced
spring
onion attacked with kitchen scissors
sunflower
seeds
pumpkin
seeds
tofu
(a whole little packet)
half
a dozen eggs of the happily laid variety
potato
flour or tapioca flour
boiled
potatoes and/or sweet potatoes and brown rice
caraway
could also be nice
quantities
wise
stick
to the half dozen eggs and just experiment with everything else
till
you think you’ve got it right for you
who
knows?
it
may be your mission to invent a new yaki
(already
there are
Okonomi-yaki
(the original)
Ozi
(this one)
Arab
(with homous and tabouleh)
anyway,
you may ponder this at your leisure while sizzling in the pan
but
first
put
all of the abovementioned ingredients in
a bowl
and
with carefully washed hands
squeeze
the lot with love
until
you feel it’s of a consistency
to
cover the bottom of a well olive-oiled pre-heated pan
cook
on a high heat
turn
it round in a circle as soon as you can
(without
dismembering)
keep
turning
but
keep the lid on for most of the time
(I
mean except when you’re turning of course
unless
you have that particular superpower)
remember
this requires your attention
don’t
have a cigarette
don’t
take the dog for a walk
don’t
read the next chapter of your novel
pour
yourself a drink
and
sip and watch
till you feel the crisping in your bones
and
take a peak under to check too
is
it time to flip?
this
is a deep question
you
must answer it your own way
but
when you feel it is time to flip
do
it cleanly
with
panache
(and
if it doesn’t flip pancake style
if
it for instance falls apart
then
back to the yaki-engineering drawing board for you!)
so
(assuming
we’ve flipped)
let
the flipped one sit
keep
the lid off it
take
another sip
turn
it once more
then
turn the heat off altogether
give
it another three or four minutes of your divided attention
cut
into as many bits as mouths there are
plate
it, as they say
chopsticks
beside
and
on the table you’ll need
okonomiyaki sauce
mayo
seaweed
flakes
fish
flakes
or
whatever you find in the Japanese section of your Asian grocery and decide that
you like or would like at least to try in order to find out what you like…
nori – furikake – little batter bubble things – cut
up your own sheets of seaweed
(folding
and scissors, guillotine? you decide)
pour
on the sauces as much as you like
but
with a view to longevity
then
sprinkle on the various sundry flakes as wished
the
mixture with half a dozen eggs does four people
(probably
four average sized frypans)
or
two people for two nights
keeps
in the fridge fine three days (i.e. a third night is possible)
so
if you like it and you’re lazy and by yourself
you
could have it three nights in a row and thus have minimal washing up over this
time
…
but probably a more varied diet with less rich sauces would be better for you
…
then again, who am I to judge?
the
principle of okonomiyaki
is
simply to cook what you like
which
means what you can best accept from what’s available
(in
the garden or in the icebox)
fried,
with great sauce and stuff on top
that
is really the concept
it
was poverty food to begin
and
still today it’s popular food, people’s cooking
of
course it will evolve in other hemispheres
so
how are things in yours?
perhaps
the deepest question of all will be
when
can a poem be a pancake?
and
where’s the poem after you’ve eaten?
these
are questions only you can decide!
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