Okonomi Yaki is a Japanese stuffed savoury pancake.

When people say stuffed, they mean either that the other ingredients are folded into the batter, or that other ingredients are put on top the pancake and then more batter spooned on top of them.

The other ingredients can be anything from seafood to meat to veg.

The batter has yamaimo yam in it, which binds moisture in, making the pancake juicy, and giving it a soft, fluffy texture, like a dumpling.

You don't eat them with chopsticks. There is a special, flat, iron spatula called a "kote" in Japanese to eat them with.

They are served with a sauce such as tako yaki or tonkatsu. Worcestershire sauce & mayonnaise are also traditional (sic), but now a special thick, brown sauce called "okonomiyaki sauce" has also been developed.

At Okonomi Yaki shops in Tokyo, they are cooked right in front of you on grills.


Substitutes
You can't substitute the yams that are known in the West. Find instead one of the recipes that don't call for yamaimo (there are some), or use okonomiyaki flour.

History
Okonomi Yaki probably developed from funo-yaki, sweet dessert pancakes made from the 1500s on.

Food writers speculate that it and other yakis developed from a crepe that a man named Senno Rikyu made for his tea ceremonies during the Azuchi-Momoyama era (1568-1600.) The crepe was cooked thinly, then brushed with miso, and rolled up and served.

Okonomi Yaki emerged around the 1930s, probably from Dondon Yaki, as more ingredients were added.

Language Notes
The name Okonomi Yaki means "as you like it."

Acknowlegements
Lapointe, Rick. Okonomi-yaki, as you like it, and you will. The Japan Times. 28 July 2002.

Noch ein Tipp: Okonomiyaki wird noch leckerer, wenn man Yamaimo (auch
Yamatoimo genannt), ein Knollengemüse aus Japan ähnlich wie die
Kartoffel, reibt und zum Teig gibt (die geriebene Masse wird ziemlich
klebrig). Leider finde ich in Deutschland selten Yamaimo, aber es gibt
in manchen Asia-Läden ein Pulver aus Yamaimo zu kaufen, zum Anrühren.