Reportedly, the sound of the okonomiyaki sizzling away sounds like "jyuu~ jyuu~".

'Jyu' (十) also happens to mean '10' in Japanese.

Hence, it's only natural that the 10th day of the 10th month, or "jyu-jyu" must be okonomiyaki day...

HAPPY JAPANESE OKONOMIYAKI DAY (10th October)!

We're psyched for the occasion and we're celebrating it with a local twist, by adding cai poh (pickled radish)!

Cai poh shines brightest paired with egg as evidenced by local favorites like cai poh omelet and chai tao kway (fried radish cake). Okonomiyaki too with it's fragrant eggy profile is perfectly poised to take advantage of the umami burst and crunch from the condiment. 

Okonomiyaki, translating to “cooked as you like it”, is a hands-on customisable dish. In the izakayas (pubs) of Osaka customers grill their own pancakes to create their own delectable edible art. Now you too can set up your own izakaya experience at home with BRUNO!

Delving into the deets

Cai poh

For this recipe, you’re going to want sweet cai poh. This sweetness won’t be cloying, instead, it’ll boost the savoury elements in this dish amping-up the dish's umami factor. 

Pre-minced cai poh has a tendency to get lost in the mix, try to attain whole chunk cai poh if possible, this is usually available at your local wet market. When mincing these chunks of cured radish with a knife or via food processor, leave some bigger lumps and these will leave crunchy flavour bursts scattered throughout your okonomiyaki.   

Toppings  

We stuck with a traditional sliced pork belly topping for our okonomiyaki some other popular ingredients include:

• Chopped squid
• Prawn
• Oyster
• Bacon
• Smoked duck
• Cheese
• Natto

Okonomiyaki mix

We used the Otafuku okonomiyaki kit for this recipe as it lessens the workload and gives us great results every time. Otafuku's Okonomiyaki kit comes conveniently packaged with almost everything you'd need to make okonomiyaki for 4 persons.

Otafuku products are available at most supermarkets and specialty marts.  

Giveaway!

Stand a chance to win an FREE Otafuku Okonomiyaki Kit this okonomiyaki day! Simply follow @brunohotplatesg and @otafuku_global on Instagram, and comment on the following Bruno Test Kitchen YouTube video stating:

1. One location where BRUNO products are available,
2. One location where Otafuku products are available,
3. And your Instagram username.

Contest ends 21st October 2021, and is limited to Singapore residents only.

Recipe (feeds 4 - 5 persons)

Steps:

Okonomiyaki batter 

1. In a bowl whisk the okonomiyaki and yam powder with water till you have a clumpy pancake batter, don’t overmix or your pancake will become dense and chewy! 
2. In a larger mixing bowl, add your cabbage, spring onions, and cai poh then give these veggies a quick toss. 
3. Crack the eggs in and beat all the ingredients together until the components are well incorporated. 
4. Add the pancake batter to the mix and stir it in too.  
5. Finally, sprinkle the tenkasu over the top and roughly mix those in too.    

Cooking

1. Prepare your BRUNO Hotplate with the flat plate attachment, turn the heat to LOW - MED, and give it a minute to come up to temperature. 
2. Sparingly oil the surface of your hotplate and ladle a scoop of the okonomiyaki mix onto the hotplate. Flatten it to your desired thickness with the back of a spatula.
3. While one side of the pancake cooks, layer the pork belly slices on the top. You can layer them laterally, or create a beautiful lattice design with the pork slices
4. After the first side has cooked for some time (3 - 5 minutes depending on thickness), flip the okonomiyaki with a large spatula. Leave to cook for 3 - 5 minutes more. 

Decorating

Design your okonomiyaki with the sauces for a pretty bespoke pancake.

Try out some of these easy designs:    

Decorate the okonomiyaki by dispensing the okonomiyaki sauce on top in a tight zig-zag pattern, following up with the mayonnaise in the same manner. With a bamboo skewer, zig-zag up and down the surface of the sauce to create a pretty chevron design. 

Web: 

Apply okonomiyaki sauce generously. Then, add mayonnaise in a spiral motion from the center. With a bamboo skewer trace eight lines in the sauce outwards from the center of the pancake. Repeat tracing eight lines inwards to complete the design.

Get creative: 

With the okonomiyaki as your canvas and sauces your paint, get lost in your next work of edible art, like this Miffy embossed cutie:

Garnish

To serve, adorn each patterned pancake with a dusting of aonori, more cai poh, and generously sprinkle with bonito flakes.

Serve "as you like it" and enjoy~