Seaweed Tamagoyaki

I usually make tamagoyaki for sushi but I made this for lunch yesterday and it went pretty well with steamed rice.  I used a sushi rolling mat to roll the tamagoyaki after frying it and it made some lovely ridges on my tamagoyaki.  It's a good idea to strain the beaten eggs so that you don't get the white spots on the tamagoyaki, from the egg whites that were not beaten well. Well you can probably guess that I was in a hurry or was simply just too lazy to do that extra step.  I think the whites spots look nice on the tamagoyaki! Well it's your take on it.

Ingredients

4 large eggs
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 nori or seaweed sheet
1 teaspoon cooking oil

Directions

1.  In a mixing bowl beat the eggs sugar and salt together and set it aside.
2.  Heat a frying pan on medium low and spread the cooking oil all over the frying pan.
3.  When the pan is hot pour in the beaten egg and spread the egg all over the frying pan. Quickly
     place the nori sheet on the egg before it starts to set.
4.  When the eggs are half set i.e. the bottom is getting firm but the top is still watery, fold the edges
     of the omelet over the nori sheet to follow the shape of the nori sheet.
5.  When the omelet is like almost done, start folding the omelet like a swill roll with a flat spatula f
     from the shorter edge. You should be able to make like 3-4 folds. Cook the rolled  omelet for
     about a minute or so until the omelet feels firm and there is no uncooked eggs oozing out from the
     roll.
6.  Once the omelet is done, transfer it to a sushi rolling mat and roll it firmly over the omelet. Secure
     both edges of the rolled sushi mat with a string or rubber band.
7.  Once the tamagoyaki(omelet) is cool, remove the sushi mat and slice the tamagoyaki.

Okonomiyaki

This is my daughter's favorite dish.  She is the only one in my family that likes this dish so  much that I only make it when she is back. This time I made it because she is back for her summer holidays. I'm so happy that she is back for the long summer holidays. The family is now complete again. 

Ingredients

2 cups cabbage, finely sliced

• Oil
• Okonomiyaki Pancake Batter

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• a pinch of salt
• a pinch sugar
• a pinch of baking powder ( I didn't use this, this time)
• slightly less than 1/4 cup of water
• 1 packed of yakisoba noodles ( I used Myojo Yaki-Soba noodles)
• 2-3 tablespoons of okonomi sauce (I used Otafuku Okonomi Sauce)
• 2 eggs
• 
  
• Okonomiyaki Toppings

• Okonomiyaki sauce
• Japanese mayonnaise (I used Kewpie mayo)
• Katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)
• Dried green seaweed powder (Aonori)
• Green onions, finely chopped
  Pickled ginger (I did not use this)

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, combine the flour, salt, sugar and baking powder (if using).
2. Add the water and whisk the batter well. Leave it in the fridge for about 20 minutes to an hour.
3. Heat a skillet on medium low heat and grease it lightly with some cooking oil. Pour the batter and spread it out thinly.
4. Next top the batter with the finely sliced cabbage and spread the cabbage evenly so that it covers the okonomi pancake.
5. When the cabbage is half cooked, heat another pan on medium high heat. 
6. Once the pan is hot, add a little bit oil to the pan and add the noodles. Loosen the yaki soba noodle and stir fry for about a minute.
7. Next add about 2-3 tablespoon of the okonomi sauce and stir fry the noodle until it is fully cooked. 
8. Layer the noodle on top of the cabbage that is cooking on the skillet and spread it evenly over the cabbage.  
9. Heat another skillet or non-stick pan on medium low heat. Add in some oil and crack the two eggs into the skillet when the skillet is hot.
10. Spread the eggs out in a circle so that the diameter of the egg is close to the diameter of the pancake.
11. Immediate lift the pancake with cabbage and noodle and topple it over the half cooked eggs.  This can be quite tricky to do. I used two spatulas to lift the pancake. 
12. Use a spatula and gather any cabbage or noodle that has fallen out around the egg so that the pancake, cabbage, noodles and egg are all in a nice circle.
13. The eggs should have been cooked by now. Turn off the flame. Remove the skillet from the stove. Place a clean serving plate directly over the okonomiyaki and turn the skillet over so that you get the pancake at the bottom of the plate and the egg omelet on top of the serving plate.
14. Drizzle some okonomiyaki sauce over the egg omelet and spread it out evenly.
15. Pipe out some mayonnaise on top of the okonomiyaki and garnish it with the bonito flakes, aonori, green onions and pickled ginger.