Hamamatsu Nagaimo (Mountain yam) cake

When I was abroad in Japan, there was a little hole-in-the-wall okonomiyaki place across the street from where I lived. Though the view was tempting, I did not end up going until a week before I was scheduled to leave. When I entered, the only remaining place to sit was right in front of the giant teppanyaki grill surface. Though that spot was very hot from the grill, it was the perfect space to converse with and observe the The two sweet middle aged women who ran the shop (they were willing to engage their limited English with my limited Japanese). I ordered the standard okonomiyaki, but another dish they prepared stood out to me. It was a cast iron pan filled with a white substance. They put the pan directly on the grill under a lid. Later, they added a sunny side egg on top. The owner explained this was a cake make of nagaimo, or mountain yam. I wanted to come back and try the dish, but alas I had to leave Japan.

After seeing a similar dish in my Maagachi Korean cookbook I was inspired to recreate the dish back in the US. It was delishcious, even better than I imagined.

Ingridients:

• Mountain yam (山药), peeled and grated. I hear it may be wise to use gloves for this step since the skin can be irritating. I think the freshgogo people already cleaned mine though.

• dashi soy sauce

• normal soy sauce

• egg

• green onion

Directions

• Mix grated yam with dashi soy sauce and normal soy sauce. Test for saltiness at this step, this preparation is often eaten raw. Can also mix in green onions, though I did not do so in the previous time I made this.

• Use paper towel to wipe oil on a seasoned, small cast iron pan.

• Place yam mixture in cast iron pan. Make a divot in the center.

• Crack in egg. (Could also do this later, I don’t think the yam overcooks)

• I put this directly in a (400 degree?) grill, I’m guessing it can be baked as well.