Nairobi Gourmet: Okonomiyaki お好み焼き

Okonomiyaki is the one of a Japanese savoury pancake which contains a variety of ingredients. You can add almost anything in it. Okonomi-yaki means, grille what you want. Therefore, literally you can add anything you want in it. Osaka is the famous okonomiyaki place. My friend Aki-chan from Osaka cooked this okonomiyaki for me and her husband. I used okonomi-yaki source which Saito-san left for us! In fact, source is very important and we must use ‘Otafuku source’ to enjoy proper okonomi-yaki.

Yey, this is how we cook Okonomiyaki. In japan, we use special teppan for okonomiyaki; however, here in Nairobi, it is hard to get one. Left side of picture below is ‘Before cooking pancake’ and the right side of it is ‘Now cooking pancake.’

You have to wait until both side of Okonomiyaki-grilled enough. DO NOT Push the pancake which you are grilling it. It will spoil the softness of Okonomiyaki.

Well done. This is Okonomiyaki.
On the top of grilled Okonomiyaki, we put some green laver an Japanese mayonnaise.

Here we go!! Yey, now we can eat it!!

We love okonomiyaki!.

By the way, I was born in Osaka, where the okonomi yaki is aid to have originated.

Nairobi Gourmet: Home Made Banana Cake

I know that people may ask me “Why Gourmet? Seriously???”

I baked Banana Cake, Yey!
I used no butter but olive oil instead 🙂
Can you believe that I did not use a scale at all?
It is simple but good for your breakfast.

Enjoy the bananas’ natural sweetness and feel refreshed by flavor of olive!

If you want to use scale, below is recipe.
1. well ripen bananas: 100-120g
2. wheat flour: 100g
3.  caster sugar: 100g
4. egg: 1
5. milk: 30g
6. Olive oil or vegetable oil: 30g
7.baking soda: 3g

In basic, mix all ingredients following order below and bake it in an oven with 170℃ for about 45 mins.
(Mix banana → egg → sugar → baking soda → milk → oil → flour)

It is so easy! If you have an oven, you should try it!

ケーキ型と、ケーキ作成のために使ったヘラは、先日日本人学校で行われたバザーでゲットしました！！とっても助かってます。ありがとうございます！

Nairobi Gourmet: Alexandre Bakery and Pastry Shop

Strawberry cake@ Alexandre Bakery, Yaya Center. Yummy strawberry cake which is not available everyday. You can enjoy it at 500Shil without Tax.(I remember it was much cheaper when I bought it last year… probably, they increased prices) It is a bit expensive though, worth to try it when you really really want to eat a nice one.

 

 

My another favorite is chocolate tart. It reminds me of chocolate tarts I fell in love with when I visited France. Only because of that, I repeatedly visited Paris…

 

It locates at the ground floor. You can also enjoy French style breads and sandwiches. On 1st floor, you can also enjoy French dishes at same restaurant. I have never tried it yet, I hope that I can try it once!