Incredible Red & Smoked Cheese Okonomiyaki

Peachy Canyon Incredible Red & Smoked Cheese Okonomiyaki

The backing spice aromas of this Zinfandel interplay well with the savory okonomiyaki sauce. The melted smoked cheese is addictive. Adding nagaimo (taro root) makes the batter fluffy. Mix the batter just before grilling, as the vegetables will release moisture as time passes. Enjoy the unique flavors of the smoked cheese and okonomiyaki sauce with the wine in place of the typical mayonnaise.

(Serves 2 / Cooking time: 20 minutes)

■ Ingredients
Thinly sliced pork belly 100g
Cabbage 350g
Smoked cheese 100g
30g green scallion onions
A 20g Tempura bits (agetama)
A 15g red ginger
90g flour
200 ml of dashi (fish stock), cooled and ready to use
50g nagaimo (taro root)
2 eggs
2 teaspoons salad oil
Okonomiyaki sauce to taste
green seaweed flakes to taste
dried bonito flakes to taste

Instructions
1. Roughly chop the cabbage, cut the smoked cheese into 1cm cubes and chop the green scallion onions into small pieces. Add [A] and mix to combine.

2. In a separate bowl, mix the flour with a whisk to break up any lumps. Add the dashi broth in two parts, then add the grated nagaimo with their skins and mix further.

3. Just before frying, take half of the mixture in step one and step two and combine with one egg.

4. Heat 1 teaspoon of salad oil in a frying pan over medium heat, pour the mixture in step 3 into a circle and place half the pork belly slices on top. Cover and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. When one side is done, turn the pork belly side over and steam it again, covered, for 5 minutes.

5. Flip once more and brush the top with the okonomiyaki sauce and sprinkle with aonori and bonito flakes. Repeat with the remainder of the mixtures.

Key Points
Use your favorite stock, such as katsuo dashi or other broth.