Try Okonomiyaki, a Savory Japanese Pancake

By Sandy Hu

I’m still reliving my trip to Japan and the wonderful meals we had. Whether an o-bento from the fabulous Japanese department stores that devote their basements to prepared foods and food gifts, to portable eki-ben meals from the train station, to ramen shops and izakaya, to more formal restaurants, our meals in Tokyo and Kyoto were uniformly artfully presented and well-prepared.

In Tokyo’s Asakusa district, after a temple festival, we wandered into an okonomiyaki restaurant. Often called Japanese pancake or Japanese pizza, okonomiyaki more accurately describes a savory, dense pancake filled with such ingredients as chopped cabbage and sliced pork, beef or seafood, then topped with okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise and a generous sprinkling of katsuobushi, shaved bonito flakes. The bonito (skipjack mackerel) fillets are steamed, aged, dried and shaved so thinly they look like wood shavings.

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Impress with Panko

By David Hu

Panko, Japanese breadcrumbs, is a hot ingredient these days, having moved out of Japanese kitchens and into the mainstream, appearing on fine dining menus across the country – and now even at Wendy’s! The difference between panko and western breadcrumbs is that panko has ragged, craggy surfaces, making for a crispier and lighter coating.

A classic Japanese dish that is synonymous with panko is tonkatsu – thin slices of pork that is coated in panko and fried until golden. While I often order tonkatsu when I eat out, it is extremely easy to make at home. It only requires five ingredients plus bottled dipping sauce, and shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes from start to finish.

Tonkatsu is usually served on a bed of shredded cabbage with a dip of tonkatsu sauce, available in most Asian markets or in the International products aisle of your supermarket. If you can’t find it, you can make a sauce with ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce as a substitute.

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Celebrating the New Year, Japanese Style

By Sandy Hu

For a Japanese-American kid growing up in Hawaii, there wasn’t a more exciting time than the New Year. Our holiday season was far from over after Christmas. New Year’s brought firecrackers and feasting.

On New Year’s Eve, we kids, dressed in our new Christmas bathrobes, were out on our porch all night, blasting firecrackers, ostensibly to chase away evil spirits. We did it for the sheer thrill, reveling in the bang and flash. The Camel brand produced smaller firecrackers for beginners; the Duck brand was twice the size, making a more substantial explosion. Our arsenal, also included cracker bombs, sparklers, roman candles and bottle rockets.

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Japanese Food Fast

By David Hu

Every culture has its convenience foods. Having just returned from Japan, I’d like to share a Japanese quick meal, a simple noodle soup, using just a few ingredients from an Asian grocery. This main dish soup should take less than 15 minutes of total time to prep and cook.

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Food Adventures in Japan

By David Hu

I just got back from Japan last week and after unpacking, I look forward to checking out my photos. Beyond the standard pictures in front of this shrine and that landmark, this time I had chronicled my trip with a new type of photo – food porn – the close-up shot of that meal you’re just about to eat.

I don’t normally take pictures of my food but I did want to share my Japanese culinary experience on Special Fork, so I snapped away. As it turns out, it’s a nice way to remember great meals like the excellent sushi at Tokyo’s world-famous Tsukiji Fish Market, where delicious morsels are made with tender raw fish fresh off the boat. Or the lavish 11-course dinner at a country inn in Fukushima, renowned for having hosted one of Japan’s emperors.

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