Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き) is a pan-fried Japanese dish cooked with various ingredients. Okonomi means "what you like" or "what you want", and yaki means "grilled" or "cooked". Thus, the name of this dish means "cook what you like, the way you like". In Japan, okonomiyaki is usually associated with the Kansai or Hiroshima areas. Toppings and batters tend to vary according to region.

KANSAI STYLE
Kansai (Osaka)-style okonomiyaki is a pan-fried batter cake. This is the style of okonomiyaki found throughout most of Japan. The batter is made of flour, grated yam, water or dashi, eggs and shredded cabbage, and usually contains other ingredients such as Welsh onion, meat (generally pork or bacon), octopus, squid, shrimp, vegetables, kimchi, mochi or cheese. Okonomiyaki is often compared to an omelette, pizza, or pancake, and as such is sometimes referred to as "Japanese pizza" or as "Japanese pancake". Many okonomiyaki restaurants are set up as grill-it-yourself establishments, where the server produces a bowl of raw ingredients that the customer mixes and grills at tables fitted with special hot plates.

In Osaka (the largest city in the Kansai region), where the dish is said to have originated, okonomiyaki is prepared much like a pancake. The batter and other ingredients are fried on both sides on either a hot plate (teppan) or a pan using metal spatulas that are later used to slice the dish when it has finished cooking. Cooked okonomiyaki is topped with ingredients that include okonomiyaki sauce (similar to Worcestershire sauce but thicker and sweeter), Nori, Fish Flakes, Mayonnaise and Ginger. When this style of okonomiyaki is served with sliced cabbage and a layer of fried noodles (either ramen or udon worked into the mix, it is called modanyaki (モダン焼き or "Modern Yaki"). Negiyaki (ねぎ焼き) is a thinner offshoot of okonomiyaki made with a great deal of Welsh onion.

HIROSHIMA STYLE
In Hiroshima, the ingredients are layered rather than mixed together. The layers are typically batter, cabbage, pork, optional items (squid, octopus, cheese, etc.), noodles (soba, udon) topped with a fried egg and a generous dollop of okonomiyaki sauce. The order of the layers may vary slightly depending on the chef's style and preference, and ingredients will vary depending on the preference of the customer. People from Hiroshima tend to claim that this is the correct way to make okonomiyaki.

OTHER AREAS
In Hamamatsu, Takuan (a Japanese pickle) is mixed in okonomiyaki.

In Okinawa, okonomiyaki is called hirayachi (ヒラヤーチー) and is thinner than in other areas. People cook it at home, so there are no hirayachi restaurants in Okinawa.


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